Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : April 1840, Vol. II, No. IV

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HUNTS

M E R C H A N T S ’ MAGAZINE.
APRIL,

1840.

A rt. I.— TH E COMMERCIAL LEA G U E OF T H E
HANSE-TOW NS.
T he vast political, moral, and intellectual changes, which originate in
commercial actions, and spring from extended maritime operations, are
eminently worthy the attentive observation of every enlightened mind,
and are calculated to awaken a noble pride in the hearts of those who
compose the mercantile portion of community.
The early history of society is replete with evidences, that point out
the numerous benefits which have resulted to every state from inter­
course with distant nations; while, upon its more modem pages, shines
forth the chronicle of those great advantages which commerce showers
upon mankind.
From its infant struggles upon the continent of the east, where bar­
barism in all its shapes prevailed, hindering its advancement, and beat­
ing to the earth the barriers by which its founders sought to insure its
protection, until, increasing in size and strength, it stretched forth its
mighty arms and clasped a western world in its embrace, we see it
throwing benign influences wherever its prevalence is experienced, and
bountifully bestowing wealth, power, and greatness, upon the empires
of the earth.
In looking back upon the ancient countries of the world, and marking
the character, the pursuits, and the intellectual advancement of their
inhabitants, the superiority evinced in these respects by that portion en­
gaged in commerce, and who were bound together by its interests, is
powerfully striking. Different cities, however distant from each other,
and with whatever dissimilarity there existed to distinguish their reli­
gious, their civil, and their political institutions, and with all the variety
of habits and customs, language and color, which prevailed, seemed,
even in the earlier periods of the world, to be connected together by the
chain of common and mutual interest which commercial intercourse
had forged; and to be encircled by one broad, entire, and universal
band, enclosing them in terms of the closest alliance.
In glancing at the city of Tyre as it existed in its ancient unrivalled
V O L . I I . — n o . iv.
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splendor, when styled Queen of the Sea, the riches of all nations rolled
in upon it in glittering profusion; the industrious, patient, laborious,
and intelligent character of its people, stands out in hold and bright
relief from the barbarism and intellectual darkness which distinguished
most of the nations around i t ; and within its walls could then he found
foreign merchants, whom the courtesy and kindness of its inhabitants
had invited from almost every portion of the globe, and whose interests
were carefully and studiously protected and fostered by the wisest and
most politic system of maritime laws which the age presented. In the
midst of the wealth, power, and grandeur which the commerce of this
great city had reared, we see a band of its citizens emerge from the
ponderous gates that guarded its rich treasures from the fierce nations
by which it was surrounded, and impelled by the spirit of foreign adven­
ture, which the vast commercial relations of their native city had crea­
ted, expatriate themselves from their kindred and homes, and launch
forth upon their pathless course ; and after marking out the foundation
of another mighty city, build up its glorious pile, until the name of
Carthage was heralded throughout the world for its might in war, its
strict undeviating good faith in peace, the wisdom of its internal govern­
ment, and the just and permanent principles upon which its political
institutions were founded, and as the grand centre of trade for half the
nations of the earth. Its extended commerce bestowed upon its inha­
bitants the most princely wealth, and those enjoying the highest and
most honorable stations in its government, were proud of being engaged
in foreign trade, forming, as it did, the great pillars upon which rested
its glory and power. Its fleets swayed the empire and sovereignty of
the sea, and even mighty Rome, after a bloody and doubtful struggle of
more than forty years in humbling the haughty rival which, begirt in
wondeful strength, had dared to dispute its unlimited superiority, was
compelled to deprive Carthage of its commerce, ere its power could be
subdued and conquered.
The map of more modern nations presents numerous cities, whose
commerce, like that of those we have mentioned, has encircled them
around with the barriers of strength and safety, has filled them with the
glittering riches of distant lands, distinguishing their inhabitants for
superiority of intelligence and intellectual refinement, and causing them
to be feared and respected throughout the half barbarous empires by
which they were surrounded. The powerful aid which commerce has
afforded in redeeming mankind from barbarism and ignorance, in free­
ing them from the chains of despotism and tyranny, and in alleviating
their moral and social condition, is exemplified upon almost every page
of history to which we turn, and is so familiar to the minds of the pre­
sent age as to render its detail here unnecessary, and even uninteresting,
besides being foreign to the object which we now have in contempla­
tion. Our present purpose is to unroll from the records of by-gone
ages, and spread out to view, the history of a commercial confederacy
which was formed in the north of Europe in the early part of the twelfth
century, at a period when most of the nations inhabiting the eastern world
were sunk in gloomy ignorance, dark and fearful barbarism, and slavish su­
perstition.
At the time we mention, commercial enterprises were extremely
hazardous, and the cultivation of peaceful pursuits entirely neglected.




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275

W ar was the element in which men lived, and the sword the arbiter,
and mailed warriors the tribunal to which they appealed. Safety, with­
out power and might to win and guard it, was unknown ; and quiet and
security, unless girt about with strength and steel, were not enjoyed.
Surrounded by such dangerous materials, it became necessary for those
desirous of engaging in employments whose ultimate return would be
wealth, to devise some means by which a protection in its enjoyment
could be secured ; and a powerful confederacy, cemented by the bond
of common interest, seemed the only mode by which it could be accom­
plished. Influenced by such considerations, Hamburgh and Lubec, ac­
cording to some authorities, and Bremen and Amsterdam, according to
others, were the first who entered into a league with each other for
their common safety, and for protection from the fierce nations by which
they were encircled. These cities carried on a small commerce which,
even at this early period, impressed the uncultivated, yet eager minds
of their inhabitants, with an idea of the riches which its more universal
extension would bestow upon them, and grasping the hand of friend­
ship which each held out, a solemn engagement of a close political
alliance was made between them. Numerous other cities soon joined in
the League, and the concentration of well organized naval and military
power which it presented, formed a terrible scourge to the pirates of
the northern seas, against whom its force was directed, and aided
greatlyin subduing andpunishing the barbarian hordes which had so long
devastated the surrounding countries.
The associated cities were not confined to those situated upon the seacoasts, but those in the interior, which were indebted to them for sup­
plies of commodities, emanating from the industry of more civilized and
enlightened lands, looking upon the confederacy as a bulwark of strength,
and as furnishing a magazine of war which would be hurled against
every aggressor that should invade its rights, were eagerly desirous of
connecting themselves with it; until swelling the circle within which they
were contained, before the end of the thirteenth century it embraced every
considerable city in all those vast territories extending from Livonia to
Holland.
The commerce in which the cities composing the League were enga­
ged, rapidly increased, their ships returned from distant climes heavily
freighted with the rich treasures and costly luxuries which a more advan­
ced refinement in the arts had created, and every succeeding year, as it
rolled on, marked an increased internal prosperity in their condition, and
chronicled their continued external influence upon the surrounding na­
tions.
The mighty influence exercised by this great confederacy soon at­
tracted the attention of all Europe. The monarchs around saw with
wonder and astonishment the vast strides with which it was advancing
towards the consummation of unrivalled power, and its political organi­
zation seemed new and strange to those accustomed to govern by the
exercise of unlimited despotism and tyranny. No crowned head con­
trolled its movements, no single mind directed its actions. Its vast and
complicated interests were managed with the utmost simplicity, and the
great results which flowed from its operations were produced by a com­
bination of wisdom, emanating from a senate of the cities composing it,
instead of being subjected to the capricious will of a single imperial lord.




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The supreme legislative authority of the entire League, was vested in
deputies chosen from the different cities and towns of which it was com­
posed, who assembled in one great congress, where were proposed and
discussed all those important measures which were adopted by this high
deliberative body for the government and protection of the mighty in­
terests which it controlled. All questions, which were calculated to un­
settle and disturb the harmonious relation existing among the different
members of the confederacy, were submitted to the consideration of the
congress, where the dignity and wisdom that prevailed, never failed to
insure their satisfactory settlement and amicable adjustment.
It was here, also, that the nature of the intercourse between the League
and the adjacent powers was marked out and defined, and its foreign
policy settled and determined. Vast negotiations with the surrounding
sovereigns of Europe were carried on by means of this great assembly,
which met once in three years, and oftener whenever the occasion call­
ed for their united deliberation and action. The city of Lubec was
considered the capital of the League, and here the meetings were usually
held, although no place was absolutely fixed upon for the sitting of the
congress. The letters of convocation specified the principal subjects
which would be brought under consideration, and were sent to the dif­
ferent cities comprised within the bounds of the confederacy, for the
purpose of apprizing them of all those great questions which were likely
to be deemed of paramount interest; and an opportunity was thus pre­
sented of selecting such deputies as were most distinguished for wisdom,
sagacity, and statesman-like views, upon the emergencies to be present­
ed. The professions or employments of individuals chosen to this sta­
tion did not constitute the requisites by which their competency was
.determined. The merchants were by far the most numerous, but law­
yers, artists, and even clergymen, were appointed, the great object being
to send those who were best calculated to represent the interests of their
native city, and who, possessing talents of a high order, combined with
a noble independence of character, and the most sterling integrity of
motives, would assist in the greatest degree to give dignity and weight
to the deliberations of this great council.
The decrees pronounced by it were promulgated with much formal
solemnity, and in a manner calculated to give them the most universal
publicity; and their execution was put in force and carried out by
measures in their nature both prompt and powerful.
The high office of president of the congress was filled by one of the
burgomasters of Lubec; and from its prorogation to its convocation,
the magistrates of that city were vested with great powers in directing
the foreign and internal affairs of the League.
Such is a brief and general outline of the nature and form of a
government which, as early as the thirteenth century, shone forth upon
the despotic countries of benighted Europe, casting abroad upon its
dark face the flashing rays of a political beacon-light which is now burn­
ing so brilliantly upon the eastern and western hemispheres.
The causes which could have produced this remarkable change in the
theory and practical application of human government, must, at this early
age, have been strikingly powerful. The nations of Europe were swayed
by cruelty and fierce oppression ; and the thunderingof warring elements
raged in fearful tumult from the soft sunny fields which bordered it




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277

upon the south, to the cold frowning regions of the north, that towered
upward in sullen and gloomy majesty, more frightful in their solemn
stillness than the warlike barbarians by whom they were inhabited.
The system of feudal government which prevailed, reared itself in
stem ferocity against the few and feeble attempts that were made to
reduce the power of the haughty noble, and lower the high and bloody
prerogative which was wielded against the rights and liberties of the
suffering serf, who groaned under an accumulation of tyrannical impo­
sitions.
Superstition and cruelty stalked abroad, and, under the mask of reli­
gion, filled half the eastern world with the honors of war and carnage,
and combining the dark and terrible anathemas of the church with the
arm of civil government, strengthened by the sword, the minds of the
mass of men, by their influence, had become chained with ignorance and
error, their rights as freemen were hardly known, and the principle,
that the many and the weak must bow the knee to the powerful few,
seemed laid upon the age with a hand of iron.
The influence of chivalry, which during the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries shone brilliantly forth throughout all Europe, was but little
calculated to smooth the rough and boisterous waves that pervaded the
swollen torrent of warlike action, which rolled along gathering power
and might as it proceeded ; and formed but a feeble and ineffectual
check to the onward march of despotism, and the consummation of ar­
bitrary and unlicensed cmelty and oppression.
No one will pretend to deny that this institution was productive of
great and beneficial changes in the actions and feelings of men, and
that it smoothed and softened the rough and turbulent passions of the
age, by introducing the interchange of courtesy and knightly gentle­
ness ; creating a deferential respect, and even veneration, for the fairer
and weaker sex; and raising up champions to defend the unprotected,
and to punish the strong and powerful oppressor. But these results
availed little towards ameliorating the political condition of great na­
tions, and did not penetrate sufficiently deep to uproot and tear out
from the foundation of human governments the corroding evils which
ages of barbarism had imbedded within its centre. Instead also of
serving to create a distaste for scenes of war and violence, the spirit of
chivalry seemed rather to court their presence ; and the glittering honors
by which the achievement of glorious knightly deeds was rewarded,
were calculated to encircle the profession of arms with superior allure­
ments, and to render the civil and peaceful pursuits of men less honored
and respected.
Looking upon this dark picture of European society and national
government, the mind is filled with wonder as it contemplates the en­
larged political freedom enjoyed by the members of the Hanseatic con­
federacy, and is led to consider upon the mighty advantages which are
the results of united commercial action, and which flow from intercourse
with foreign countries.
In examining the nature of the political fabric upon which the League
rested for support, its simplicity and republicanism stand boldly and
beautifully forth from the dark, complicated, and despotic systems by
which it was surrounded, and serve powerfully to show the immense
influence which commerce exercises in rearing up the altar of national
liberty, and in perpetuating the freedom of mankind.




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While almost every nation in Europe was ruled by the imperial
sceptre of a single hereditary monarch, and the smallest districts were
under the absolute dominion and control of some haughty lord, and
when the science of rational government seemed forever buried beneath
the towering pillars which supported the feudal system, we see this great
confederacy linked in the voluntary unity of common interest, bound to
sustain its members by the most solemn compact— building up its strength,
not by the employment of the sword, wielded by physical power, but
through the influence of its free political institutions, the vast riches of
its citizens, combined with their intelligence, and superior advancement
in the arts of civilized life.
The laws by which the cities of the League were governed, were not
the result of capricious tyranny, misguided zeal, or blind ignorance, l.ut
proceeded from the solemn deliberations of a high council, chosen by
their citizens, whose wishes were consulted, and whose best interests
were represented. The principle of self-government was here exem­
plified, at a period and during an age of almost unexampled tyranny
and imperial sway; and civil and political liberty flourished, in the
midst of nations whose subjects were chained in ignorance and slavery
by the influence of monarchial power.
In consequence of the superiority we have mentioned, the advance­
ment of the confederated cities in wealth, refinement, and military and
naval greatness, was singularly rapid. As their resources were develop­
ed, the greatest efforts were put forth for the extension of their com­
merce, and having, by the number and strength of their ships of war,
acquired the mastery of the northern seas, they next endeavored to se­
cure a monoply of the entire trade of which these waters were the me­
dium, and in this manner to enjoy the same unrivalled dominion over
the Baltic, in the north, as was exercised by the Venetians over the
Adriatic, at the south. For the purpose of effecting this great object,
both the purse and sword were brought into active requisition. That
which could not be acquired by negotiation and gold, was taken by
force; and in this manner large privileges and immunities were gradu­
ally obtained from the sovereigns of northern Europe, until they became
the undisputed masters of these seas, and had secured the whole foreign
commerce of Scandinavia, Denmark, Prussia, Poland, and Russia.
This extension of their commercial intercourse and maritime power,
may at first appear to spring from inordinate ambition, spurred on by a
thirst for wealth, but was in reality necessary to the protection and safe­
ty of their commerce, which was ever in danger of being destroyed by
the hordes of piratical cruisers which swarmed the Baltic, committing
acts of robbery upon every vessel within their reach. The necessity
for this empire of the seas, arose from the dark barbarism which every
where prevailed, and which, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
mantled nearly the whole of Europe in the deepest gloom.
International law was then but little known, and piracy and robbery
existed to an alarming degree. It was almost impossible to distinguish
friends from enemies, and property belonging to the citizens of one
country was indiscriminately plundered by the citizens of another.
The flag which a ship carried furnished no security to others of her
peaceble intentions, for her national character afforded but a poor gua­
ranty of neutral conduct during a time when the vessels of almost every
nation in Europe were engaged in piratical expeditions.




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279

Under these circumstances, the acquisition of the sovereignty obtained
by the confederacy over the seas of northern Europe, was of the utmost
importance, not only in facilitating its intercourse with foreign lands,
and in affording security and safety to its rich commerce, hut as it kept
a powerful fleet of armed ships constantly employed upon these waters,
the fierce and sanguinary pirates who infested them were captured
and destroyed, the robbers that prowled about the shores were exter­
minated, and peaceful pursuits, social order, civilization, and intellectual
refinement, assumed the place of war, anarchy, and barbarism.
The beneficial results which flowed from the great measures that
were adopted by the League, for the purpose of compassing within its
jurisdiction this broad expanse of sea, and in order to render its cities
the rich centre of a vast trade to which other portions of the world
should be as tributary sources, pouring in their glittering streams of
wealth, bountifully repaid the sacrifices by which they had been ob­
tained ; and by the introduction of literature and science, the establish­
ment of a more enlightened and liberal system of national government.,
and the taste for civil employments which was created, powerfully aided
in dispersing the heavy clouds of gross ignorance andfearful error that for
centuries had overshadowed northern Europe.
It was during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, that the con­
federacy was in the enjoyment of its highest degree of splendor and
power. Nearly eighty cities were then bound together by the chains
of commercial interest, acknowledging no earthly power as their supe­
rior, and looking only to their consolidated strength for protection against
the mighty monarchs by whom they were surrounded. They were dis­
tributed into four great classes or circles, with one large city at the
head of each. Lubec, founded about the middle of the twelfth century,
was at the head of the first circle, with numerous subordinate cities un­
der it, among which were Hamburgh, founded by the great Charle­
magne in the ninth century, and which had now become a large and
powerful city, Bremen, Rostock, Wismar, and many others.
Cologne was the capital of the second circle, comprising twenty-nine
large towns.
Brunswick occupied the head of the third circle, consisting of eighteen
towns, while Dantzic, having under it eight rich cities in its immediate
vicinity, besides many that were more remote, stood at the head of the
fourth circle.
Courts of judicature were established in each of these capital cities,
in which were determined those numerous questions that so frequently
arose out of the complicated mercantile transactions in which their in­
habitants were engaged. The judges who presided were selected on
account of their wisdom and superior acquirements, and their decisions
were usually based upon the broad principles of universal justice. The
rights of the humblest citizen were respected, and the avenging penal­
ties of the law were visited upon the rich and powerful with the same
degree of severity as they were inflicted upon the poor, weak, and un­
protected. A noble equality of freedom prevailed throughout the cities
composing the confederacy, while the system of maritime jurisprudence
which it had established, and the fabric of international justice it had
reared, extended the protection of liberal and enlightened laws to the
foreigner and the stranger.




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With sucli universal and uninterrupted prosperity smiling upon the
numerous cities of the confederacy, with respect to their political and com­
mercial advancement, and the freedom and happiness of their citizens,
the immense power and influence which they so securely enjoyed, can
hardly be considered, in magnitude and extent, beyond what must have
flowed as a necessary consequence from the statesman-like policy which
was adopted.
Their commerce had created enormous wealth, which, at this early
and barbarous age, was an agent almost omnipotent, in calling into their
service powerful bands of warriors to defend their interests, and pro­
tect them in the enjoyment of their rights and vested privileges. The
nature of their government, although varying in different cities where
local feelings and customs controlled its practical application, was uni­
versally the same in its results, conferring the blessings of almost un­
restrained civil freedom upon the thousands of citizens who inhabited
them, and blazing brilliantly forth upon the map of Europe— an exam­
ple and a guide to the dark empires that slumbered around. Their
intercourse with foreign nations, while it served to enrich them with the
most unbounded wealth, had imbibed their citizens with a patriotic love
for the political institutions by which they were controlled, and filled
their hearts with the warmest zeal in the adoption of vigorous measures
to perpetuate them unimpaired. This determination nerved them in
battle with a double strength, and fortified them against the assaults of
rude and savage foes, with a power more potent than a triple covering
of steel. Their military, like their civil councils, were conducted by
minds of a nobler and more intelligent mould than swayed the destinies
of surrounding states, and the generals who led on their armies, and the
officers conducting their powerful navy, were men of long and arduous
experience, oft tried courage, brilliant talents, endowed with great sagacity,
and enjoyed the confidence and respect of those under their command.
A system of perfect subordination everywhere prevailed, which, oppo­
sed to the anarchy and confusion that reigned around them, presented a
tower of strength too mighty to be easily overthrown, and the numerous
and powerful allies who joined them, under the title of confederated
cities, were continually swelling their strength, extending their influence,
and adding to their greatness.
While the military prowess and naval valor of the confederated cities
inspired the neighboring monarchs with those mingled feelings of fear
and respect, which are ever entertained by the despotic rulers of disor­
ganized and barbarous nations towards the more enlightened, wiser
governed, and more powerful countries of the earth, the private pro­
perty of foreign subjects, found within the jurisdiction of their laws, was
held sacred, and the rights of its owners carefully secured and protected;
and during a period when the goods of the shipwrecked foreigner were
grasped and retained by the armed lords upon whose lands they chan­
ced to be thrown, the confederated cities, with every element for un­
limited and vengeful retaliation in their hands, at once overthrew this
system of piracy and plunder which for centuries had prevailed, and
by one broad, and universal decree declared that every species of proper­
ty found in this situation should be returned to its original owners, and
that every city found violating this provision should he expelled from all
connexion and intercourse with the League.




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281

If we reflect upon the extensive commercial relations of these cities,
and the immense quantities of treasure which their citizens were con­
tinually transporting upon the high seas, this measure may seem the
offspring of self-interest, directed by the hope that other governments
would eventually follow their example, and thus open a wider and surer
avenue to ultimate prosperity and greatness; but whatever considerations
may have been the active agent in producing this innovation of enlightened
humanity upon the dark customs of feudal times, its conception and
promulgation should not be deemed the less meritorious, nor can the glo­
rious and happy results which have flowed from its adoption and exe­
cution, be attributed to any source save to the influence which commerce
ever exerts in humanizing the laws and usages of mankind.
Having examined the nature of those great interests, which it was the
object of the confederacy to enlarge and foster, the power which was
consolidated to effect this purpose, and the just andpopular manner in which
it was wielded to secure internal harmony and unity of action, and to
punish external aggression, and secure the admiration and respect of sur­
rounding nations, we shall next notice a few of the numerous and im­
portant trading franchises and privileges which its citizens enjoyed in
distant lands, and under the guardianship and pledged protection of fo­
reign princes.
As the formation of the League had originated from a desire to en­
large the commercial action of the various cities by which it was com­
posed, and by extending their intercourse with distant nations, finally to
acquire a monopoly of the entire commerce of northern Eurojie, and
England, the execution of this scheme was embarked upon, at an early
period, by the establishment of factories in foreign countries, to serve as
great magazines and store-houses, through the medium of which the rich
merchandise of distant climes was eventually furnished to almost half
the world.
The principal of these were situated at Bruges in the Netherlands, at
Novogorod in Russia, at London, and at Bergen in Norway, and the
vast and rapid changes which their introduction into these cities created
in their wealth and power, their political and social condition, and in the
occupations and pursuits of their citizens, were productive of results
which served powerfully to develop their slumbering resources, and to
aid in the introduction of those refined tastes and intellectual enjoyments
for which foreign trade creates the elements, smoothes the path, and es­
tablishes the foundation.
The richest and most extensive store-house of the League was estab­
lished at Bruges in the Netherlands, which in consequence became at a
very early period one of the greatest commercial cities in Europe. The
science of navigation, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was
so little known, that a voyage from Italy to. the Baltic, and back again,
could not be performed in a single season; and, as the cities of the League
carried on a rich trade with this country, it became necessary to estab­
lish a magazine at some intermediate situation for the safe keeping of
the valuable merchandise, of which the Italian and Hanseatic merchants
were the bearers, and Bruges was chosen, as well from its convenient
location, as on account of the superior privileges and enlarged freedom
which the government of the Low Countries, unlike most of the sove>
reignties of Europe, had conferred upon its inhabitants..
VOL. I I . — n o . i v .
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A concentration of immense wealth within this favored city was the
speedy result of its selection as the recipient of those rich commodities
which the adventurous merchant sought to introduce to the minds of men,
to whom the elegant luxuries that mark an advance in the cultivation of
the finer arts were novel and unappreciated. The wool of England,
which for ages has formed the grand staple of her wealth, the products
of northern Europe, that combined to furnish a large portion of the ne­
cessaries and comforts of life, and the rich spices and dazzling fabrics
of Indian lands, were profusely centred in this magnificent emporium.
The fairs which were there held, exhibited the rarest productions of
which the world could boast, and called forth a display of perfection and
costly beauty, in manufactures and the arts, which in their infancy pro­
mised the glorious mould of early perfection and maturity. They were
frequented by the merchants of distant cities, and by the subjects of fo­
reign countries who were desirous of securing for ultimate profit and
personal enjoyment the many glittering commodities which were spread
before them.
The introduction of foreign articles of use and luxury into this city,
was productive of an astonishing effect upon its numerous citizens, and
created a thirst for knowledge and improvement, which, gradually ex­
panding from their great centre, finally illuminated the entire Nether­
lands. The existence of establishments for the manufacture of wool
and flax in that country, can be dated so far back as the time of Charle­
magne, but they met with little encouragement from the rude spirits
upon whom they were compelled to rely for assistance and support. And
it was not until the time when its principal city was chosen as the grand
theatre of commercial action, for northern and southern Europe, and had
become the great place of resort for the people of all nations, that these
feeble establishments were enabled to collect the materials from which
afterwards sprung an advancement and prosperity that had hitherto been
unknown, and which could be rivalled by no other country in Europe.
Its manufactures were then vastly increased, and were conducted upon
a scale of magnitude commensurate with the wants to be supplied, while
the safe and easy intercourse which had been opened between the Han­
seatic and Italian cities furnished a medium for the transportation of their
goods to distant markets ; the frequent fairs that were held at Bruges,
and the numerous foreign merchants who then assembled there, present­
ed the most advantageous opportunities for the ready and profitable sale of
their commodities in the heart of their own country.
Perceiving the beneficial influences which the introduction of com­
mercial and manufacturing interests was shedding abroad upon society,
and rightly considering the rich magazines which had been established
by the Hanseatic and Italian merchants, as the source from whence they
flowed, the government of the Netherlands bestowed upon them many
superior privileges, and guarantied to them the enjoymentof enlarged and
liberal franchises; and in this manner powerfully aided in the promotion
of those great elements of prosperity which eventually marked this
country as one of the richest and most enlightened of any in Europe,
and distinguished its inhabitants for their industry, perseverance, and
intelligence, for their advancement in a knowledge of the elegant and
useful arts, and in the more refined usages and customs which during
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries dawned upon society.




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283

The factory which was established at Novogorod, although it was
made the repository of vast quantities of merchandise, and was of great
importance to the League — furnishing it as it did a safe resort for its
citizens, and a place of security for the deposit of their wealth— was
still of less consequence, in a commercial point of view, than the one at
Bruges ; and did not tend so powerfully towards promoting a taste for
civilization and refinement, and was less calculated to extend abroad the
great advantages which foreign commerce operates so potently in
creating.
This may be attributed to the greater degree of barbarism and igno­
rance that prevailed among the inhabitants who occupied the country
surrounding the former city, which offered an almost insurmountable
barrier to the introduction of a taste for the more elegant and useful
pursuits of life, and afforded but little encouragement to the foreign
merchant, whose rich and costly wares were unappreciated by the rude
and warlike nobles and their untaught and wretched serfs.
Notwithstanding the obstacles which were thrown in their way, the
Hanseatic merchants, by the wealth they possessed, and the enlightened
and politic course which they pursued, succeeded in sweeping away
many of the dark and savage customs that prevailed throughout the
city and its vicinity, and by their influence were enabled to effect a num­
ber of important and salutary changes in its laws and in the administra­
tion of justice towards its citizens. The sovereigns of this city, who
were at first tributary and subordinate to the Czars of Russia, and liable
to be deprived by those tyrants of crown, liberty, and life, as the riches
of the city increased, as its population became more numerous, and its
citizens farther advanced in civilization and refinement, gradually threw
off the yoke of bondage, and aided by the enormous influence and
power which a connexion with the mighty interests of the League in­
vested them, the huge Russian Bear was boldly defied, and an absolute
independence usurped and established. The elements which had ex­
erted themselves so powerfully in freeing this city from foreign domina­
tion and control, were no less active in extirpating every species of
domestic tyranny and oppression; and although it was nominally govern­
ed by a single monarch, and its interests managed by the sceptre of a
king, yet the liberties which its citizens enjoyed, and the freedom and
security of which they participated, were the offspring of popular legis­
lation, and emanated from political institutions partaking more of repub­
lican than of monarchal principles. As its commercial relations with
the confederacy increased and strengthened, and its intercourse with
foreign states became enlarged, and the minds of its citizens expanded
and enlightened, bright visions of future glory and power broke upon
its view ; and when, towards the middle of the fifteenth century, at the
period of its highest prosperity, nearly four hundred thousand souls
could be numbered within its impregnable walls, the whole Russian em­
pire could not boast another city so rich and powerful. Forming, as it
did, the grand centre between the cities of the confederacy and the
countries to the east of Poland, and being furnished by the merchants of
the Hanse-Towns with the rarest and most costly merchandise, it was at
the time we have mentioned a resort for an immense concourse of peo­
ple from the surrounding nations, and was the source from whence a
great portion of northern and western Europe obtained the rich articles




2S4

The Commercial League o f the Hanse- Towns.

of foreign manufacture, and the luxurious productions of distant climes.
The contrast which it formed to the rest of the Russian empire was
brilliant and striking. While all around slumbered in the night of cen­
turies, dreaming only of plunder and human blood, this city gleamed
forth upon the encircling gloom the bright rays of civilization and intel­
ligence ; while its inhabitants, instead of thirsting for military renown,
were ambitious of extending their commercial greatness and political
prosperity. Russia, who had never ceased to look upon Novogorod as
a portion of her territory, perceived with growing envy the vast power
it had acquired, and during the latter part of the fifteenth century, at a
period when conflicting parties had created discord and dissension within
its walls, Ivan Vassiliovitch, the reigning grand duke, or czar, of the
empire, resolved upon its subjugation, which he accomplished by the aid
of a powerful army.
The commerce of the city did not entirely expire with its liberties,
but still lived on, a fading monument of its former greatness. This,
however, did not long last, for a fourth Ivan, more barbarous and blood­
thirsty than the first, having discovered a correspondence between some
o f the principal inhabitants and the King of Poland, relative to the sur­
render of the city into his hands for the purpose of regaining a portion
of their former freedom, made this the pretext for an indiscriminate
slaughter of nearly thirty thousand of its citizens, and thus, at a single
blow, annihilated the prosperity of the only bright spot which was pre­
sented upon the dark face of his barbarous empire.
The merchants of the League, at a very early period, established a
factory in London, which speedily became of great magnitude and im­
portance. The English nation were then destitute of ships, and the
blessings of foreign commerce were comparatively unknown, and its
benefits unappreciated.
The numerous articles of luxury and convenience which were intro­
duced through the agency of the factory, were at this early age well
calculated to suit the minds of the English people; who, although pos­
sessing much of the rude Gothic spirit of the times, were eagerly de­
sirous of obtaining the manufactures and productions of foreign lands.
Many highly important privileges and immunities were soon showered
upon the company of merchants who controlled the factory. They
were permitted to govern themselves by their own rules, and were not
subject to the jurisdiction of English tribunals. The absolute control
of one of the city gates was given them, and the duties on many of the
commodities which they imported were greatly reduced in their favor.
With the prerogatives we have mentioned existing in their favor, the
prosperity and wealth of the company rapidly advanced, and its influ­
ence proportionably increased.
The superior privileges which were enjoyed by the Hansards, as they
were called, excited feelings of hostility in the minds of the English
merchants, who, perceiving the rich returns that mercantile enterprises
bestowed, were eagerly embarking their fortunes to swell the infant
commerce of their country. Every exertion which their combined
efforts could put forth, calculated to retard the growing wealth of the
company, was strenuously adopted, and no measures were left untried
which could in the least degree tend towards the annihilation of its
growing riches and power. The members of the company were se­




The Commercial League o f the Hanse- Tenons.

285

riously charged with the most fraudulent practices, and accusations were
made that they introduced vast quantities of foreign commodities as the
productions of cities belonging to the League, which were in reality the
importations of other countries, for the purpose of evading duties with
which they were justly chargeable.
The English government was finally aroused from the apathy and
indifference with which it had been accustomed to regard the commer­
cial interests of its citizens, and began to look upon the immense mono­
poly of foreign and domestic trade which the Hansards enjoyed, and
the princely wealth and broad prerogatives they had acquired, as the
results of a system of partial and injudicious legislation, calculated to
enrich and build up the fortunes of foreign merchants, while it chained
the energies and darkened the prospects of its own citizens.
As a pretext for depriving them of the franchises which they enjoyed,
the League was charged with capriciously extending the list of towns
belonging to the association, and in this manner preventing the collection
of the additional duties which were imposed upon the merchandise of
other foreigners. Complaints were also made that the commerce of
the English in the Baltic was illegally obstructed by the armed ships of
the confederacy.
Impelled by these considerations, the powerful protection and sup­
port which the English government had extended towards the Hansards
were withdrawn, and their persons were exposed to many indignities, while
their factory, which was situated in Thames-street, was often attacked
by ignorant, prejudiced, and infuriated mobs of assembled citizens.
The frequent violent assaults which were perpetrated in hostility to
the dearest interests of the League, were amply revenged.
W ar was immediately declared against the English nation, and her
entire commerce in the Baltic was speedily annihilated by the powerful
fleets of the confederated cities. Edward IV., who then reigned mo­
narch of England, became alarmed, and manifested the most anxious
desire for the renewal of peaceful relations with his mighty adversary.
The most advantageous proposals as the foundation of a treaty were
offered by him, and were finally accepted by the League.
By the provisions of this treaty, which were ratified in 1474, the mer­
chants of the Hanse-Towns were reinstated in the enjoyment of all their
former privileges. An absolute property was assigned to them in a
large space of ground, with spacious and valuable buildings upon it, in
Thames-street, denominated the Steel Yard, by which name they have
been commonly known. No stranger was to be allowed a participation
in their commercial franchises, and a stipulation was embodied into the
treaty, that the English High Court of Admiralty should exercise no
jurisdiction in cases affecting their peculiar interests, but that a particu­
lar tribunal should be established, expressly for that purpose.
These enormous privileges were by positive provisions directed to be
published in all the sea-port towns of the English nation; and whoever
infringed upon them, were liable to the infliction of summary and severe
punishment. As some return for the many valuable advantages which
this treaty conferred upon the merchants of the League, the English
were permitted to enjoy the free and uninterrupted navigation of the
Baltic, and were allowed to trade with the countries by which it was
bordered.
Compared with the immense factories established at the cities of




286

The Commercial League o f the Hanse- Towns.

Bruges, Novogorod, and London, the one at Bergen in Norway was of
slight importance, and yet, through its agency, the confederacy acquired,
and for a lengthened period of time enjoyed, the monopoly of the entire
commerce of that kingdom.
The means by which this was obtained, were combined of negociations, money, and military power. Many valuable privileges were thus
secured, by which the merchants of the League, although influenced by
selfish considerations, were enabled to introduce the useful commodities
of civilized life, which, by creating a taste for manufactures and the arts,
gradually dispersed the clouds of dark ignorance that prevailed, and
laid the foundation for that intelligence and refinement which at the
present age so brilliantly distinguish the countries of northern Europe.
With all the vast and formidable array of foreign influence and in­
terests which we have described, possessed of a strong and well organ­
ized navy, together with almost the entire sovereignty of the northern
seas, and holding the wealth of nations in its grasp, the confederacy pre­
sented a tower of strength, which seemed capable of withstanding the
rudest and most mighty shocks which could be hurled against it by any
earthly power.
Every nation that dared to infringe upon its commercial privileges
was speedily visited with the heaviest retribution, and the slightest vio­
lation of its political rights called down upon the aggressor the deepest
vengeance. The transcendent might of the League was felt and ac­
knowledged throughout every state in Europe, and the ships of war
which it possessed were often hired by neighboring princes to assist
them in repelling invasion from abroad, or to chastise foreign insult and
oppression.
In 1358, the Danes, who were a barbarous, but powerful and warlike
nation, maintained a fleet of armed ships in the Sound, which, for inter­
rupting the commerce of the confederacy, were attacked by its ships of
war, and nearly annihilated; and this so terrified Waldemar III., then
king of Denmark, that he proposed the most humiliating terms of peace,
by which he gave up all Schonen to the League for the space of sixteen
years ; and it was thus enabled to command the passage of the whole
Sound and in 1428, Erick, a succeeding monarch, having violated
some of its maritime regulations, two hundred and fifty sail, with twelve
thousand men on board, were sent against him, who, after ravaging his
kingdom with all the horrors of fierce national warfare, compelled him to
make ample restitution for every wrong he had committed, and obliged
him to submit to such terms for restoring peace to his shaken empire
as the confederacy thought proper to impose.
Towards the close of the fifteenth century, mighty elements began to
form throughout Europe for the ultimate overthrow of the confederacy.
Its vast superiority had arisen, as much from the insubordination, an­
archy, and confusion that had prevailed around it, as from the enlighten­
ed political organization by which it was governed; and when the civili­
zation and refinement which pervaded its cities began to pour their
rays of light over the countries of Europe, their monarchs became im­
pressed with the urgent necessity that existed, for the adoption of na­
tional measures calculated to improve the intellectual and social condi­
tion of their subjects, and for the establishment of the political institu­
tions of their kingdoms upon a wiser and broader foundation. Influ­




The Commercial League o f the Hanse- Towns.

287

enced by the great commercial interests which the confederacy had so
widely disseminated, and which had become of the deepest importance
in promoting the advancement of national wealth and power, more en­
lightened and beneficial systems of laws were enacted and promulgated.
The gloomy and illiberal usages which had prevailed under the influence
of feudal government, were every where disappearing before the on­
ward strides of civilization and refinement.
The arts and sciences began to be appreciated and cultivated, and the
prevalence of civil order and beneficial laws was experienced, where in­
testine commotions, discord, and despotism, had before reigned. The
inhabitants of the countries amongst which the confederated cities were
situated, saw the immense advantages which commerce bestowed, and
although eager to participate in their enjoyment, the superior privileges
and immunities possessed by the members of the confederacy, and of
which they were deprived, offered an almost insuperable barrier to ulti­
mate success and prosperity. As the naval strength of the League
formed the principal elements by which its influence and power abroad
were preserved, and its ascendency upon the seas maintained, the mari­
time nations of Europe perceived, that they must rival and even over­
power it in this respect, before their subjects would be able to compete
with its citizens in commercial enterprises; and the most strenuous exer­
tions were made to accomplish this object.
The countries of Zealand and Holland, by uniting their fleets, were at
length sufficiently powerful at sea to vindicate their right to the free
navigation of the Baltic, which, after many struggles, they succeeded in
establishing; and from that time the downfall of the League rapidly ad­
vanced.
Many of its richest cities withdrew the moment that they no longer
stood in need of its support, and those that had joined it through fear of
being otherwise shut out from all intercourse with foreign countries, im­
mediately seceded; and no sooner had the ships of the English and
Dutch commenced trading with the Prussian and Polish towns, than
these also separated from the confederacy.
In 1552, the English merchants, indignant that a company of foreigners
should enjoy privileges of which they were deprived, presented a peti­
tion praying for their abolishment, by which it appeared that the com­
pany had so engrossed the cloth trade the preceding year, that they had
exported fifty thousand pieces, while all the English together had ex­
ported but one thousand one hundred. As the power of the confede­
racy had dwindled away, leaving but the mere shadow of its former
greatness, the English parliament no longer feared its vengeance, and
an act was passed entirely abrogating the numerous franchises which it
had enjoyed, and thus was its influence in England forever destroyed.
In the middle of the seventeenth century, the only cities composing
it were Lubec, Hamburgh, and Bremen, and even these retained little
besides the name to distinguish their sovereignty.
A development of the commercial resources possessed by the nations
of Europe had been accomplished by the League ; the purposes of its
organization had been effected; and when its power was no longer ne­
cessary for the continuance of commercial prosperity, when the spirit
of rude barbarism had been expelled by the introduction of civilization
and refinement, and social order and political subordination had tri­




Fraud upon Underwriters.

288

umphed over the tyranny, oppression, and anarchy which had so long
prevailed, the mighty agent which had produced these changes passed
silently away from among the sovereignties of the earth, leaving the im­
press of its former commercial grandeur deeply stamped upon every
enlightened country in Europe.

A r t . II.— FRAUD UPON U N D E R W R IT E R S.
" Ships are but boards, sailors but men : there be land-rats and water-rats, water
thieves and land thieves; I mean pirates ; and then there is the peril of waters, winds,
and rocks.”—Merchant o f Venice.

As the elementary writers on the law of insurance have most elabo­
rately and with much perspicacity discussed the whole subject of bar­
ratry, the rights of parties, and all that relates to losses arising from the
fraudulent conduct of the master and mariners, are well understood ; but,
with all the light that can be derived from the law, enough is not known
of the cause, the nature, and the extent of the innumerable barratrous acts
by which insurance companies suffer. It is within the power of practical
men alone, who mingle daily with the business of marine insurance, in its
every branch, to explain and expose the collusions which are so much dreadedby underwriters, and which are so fearlessly practised against them. It
is, then deeply to be regretted, that those who have that power do not bold­
ly exert it, in order that measures more efficient, better concerted, and
simultaneous in their effect, might be adopted to check the growing and de­
vastating evil. Every individual should unreservedly contribu te all his in­
formation, for only by a knowledge of the past can future attempts be
avoided and defeated, and this species of intelligence is too much the
property of the public to be withheld from any trivial or selfish consider­
ation.
“ The contractof insurance,” in the language of a distinguished French
lawyer, “ is the noble result of the genius of man, and the first guaranty
of maritime commerce. It has consulted the seasons; it has gazed upon
the ocean; it has interrogated that terrible elem ent; it has judged of the
sea’s inconstancy, and it has considered its commotions; it has scrutini­
zed the policy of nations; it has reconnoitered the ports and coasts of
the two worlds; and having submitted all to the nice theories and calcu­
lations of skilful men, it has said to the able merchant and the intrepid
navigator, truly there are disasters over which humanity may only weep,
but as to your fortune, go, launch forth upon the seas, display your activity
and your industry, I charge myself with your risks.” During the four
hundred years that the contract and usages of insurance have been in
existence, it has been the safeguard of commerce. Under its protection,
trade has been expanded and stimulated, and science has extended its
benign influence to the most remote quarters of the earth. With the
certain security which it affords, the energetic merchant confidently plans
and successfully consummates gigantic enterprises involving the employ­
ment of capital, which is, by means of insurance, rendered as powerful
as if the amount were illimitable, and the prosperity of innumerable




Fraud upon Underwriters.

289

citizens who, under its auspices, find a reward for their industry and a
market for their productions, hears triumphant evidence of its beneficial
results. It assumes all the risks incident to commerce; defying the ele­
ments and the acts of men, it wisely affords protection against every deed
of premeditated or accidental wrong, excepting those which surrepti­
tiously originate with, or which are caused by, persons who have sought
it as a cover for a fraud, rather than as a means of safety. Without this
contract, commerce could not be sustained, and would sink into dis­
graceful insignificance. The hazards of trade, without the security which
insurance now affords, would deter the prudent, whilst the most pre­
sumptuous durst not venture boldly on any commercial project of mag­
nitude.
The merchant, then, of every country, is directly interested in the suc­
cess of underwriters. Insurance companies are formed by the combi­
nation of capital derived from many sources, and which often includes
the funds of orphans and widows who have little else to depend upon.
These institutions require, and to a great extent receive, the protection of
wise and salutary laws, and it should be the duty of every good citizen,
either as a juror or private man, to assist in preserving them from the
ruinous assaults of the fraudulent; for, besides the injustice of the pecu­
niary loss thus inflicted, and their vital importance to the prosperity and
commercial influence of our merchants, it is a duty due to the integrity
of our nation, to exert all honest means not only to keep them in exist­
ence, but in a condition to afford a reasonable profit to those who, by
venturing to own insurance stock, contribute their aid to the advancement
of our commerce. But our own merchants are particularly interested,
and in a pecuniary point of view, to prevent and expose frauds. The
rates of premium charged by insurers, are governed by the amount of
losses. Thus the honest man is made to contribute for the acts of the
swindler, by paying the higher rate of premium, which goes indirectly
into the coffers of those who live by these frauds, to the great injury of
the innocent. Who, then, however humble his station in life, would not
contribute his willing aid to preserve and peipetuate the companies which
are in existence, by preventing, as far as possible, those impositions which,
whilst they degrade our commerce, are in their results so injurious ?
Continued success on the part of those who practise fraud emboldens
renewed and more important attempts, until the earnings and capital of
insurers are absorbed, and their companies are either too much embar­
rassed to continue to insure risks, or they are entirely dissolved; and thus,
besides the losses of the unfortunate stockholders, that competition among
insurers, which is so beneficial to the merchant, is decreased or wholly
removed; and, a few years more of the unprecedented misfortunes which
have fallen upon underwriters for the last eight years, aided by the unre­
mitted labor of swindlers, will bring a ruin so complete upon the com­
panies, as to leave, at last, no protection against those hazards of com­
merce which insurers have honestly borne, since the first chartered
company was known to our country. The apathy of our merchants upon
this interesting subject is unfortunate in the extreme; and were they once
aroused to its importance, we should find them promptly concerting mea­
sures for the amelioration of this greatest of all evils to which the
business of insurance is exposed. In former times, when insurance busi­
ness was carried on by individuals, there was in the trial of insurance
V O L . I I . — n o . iv.
37




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Fraud upon Underwriters.

causes a greater regard for law, and the requirements of justice were
sacred. In our day, there is an unholy prejudice against corporations,
which too often corrupts and impedes the course of both law and justice.
No sympathy for insurers exists, there should be no occasion for sympa­
thy for either party ; but the prevailing feeling is so decidedly opposed
to insurers, that the merest tyro can easily excite in a jury rancorous pre­
judices, and even an indignation which neither law nor reason can allay,
so that to command a verdict for insurers, even with the most clear case,
is a matter of chance and uncertainty. This prejudice should be uproot­
ed. That practice among jurors which would visit an unjust loss upon
the many, because it would fall heavily upon an individual, cannot be too
soon exploded. Evenhanded justice should prevail. The man who can­
not divest himself of all prejudice against corporations, should never make
a mockery of justice by taking the oath of a juror.
The several large cities of our union have, within the last twenty years,
witnessed the rise, progress, and speedy destruction, of many chartered
insurance companies, with an immense amount of capital; but the enor­
mous share which fraud has had in producing their ruin has been but
too slightly understood, for no one interested has taken the trouble to col­
lect and publicly expose facts. W e are occasionally treated to a news­
paper report of an isolated case, but nothing like a general history of
frauds upon underwriters has ever been given to the public; and, indeed,
such a publication should be oftentimes repeated, as the ingenious plans
of the swindlers vary with the times. Were it asserted by any indivi­
dual, that for the last eight years one out of every three of the demands
which have been made upon marine insurers in the United States, whether
eventually paid or not, bore the badge of fraud, would the assertion gain
the belief of one of those, who, being honest themselves, are willing to
hope that others are so likewise ? And yet it may be found, upon a dis­
passionate examination of facts, that such an assertion would not vary
essentially from strict truth. Perhaps, however, the assertion should be
so far qualified as to explain, that the term fraud is applied to cases which
have been engendered in dishonesty by designing men, and perpetrated
by fraudulent agents, as well as to those which, without being planned
in fraud, have ended in, or been augmented by, fraudulent acts or proofs.
The hardihood of the individual who should make such an assertion
might excite, among those who are governed by motives of a prudential
and pecuniary character, as much surprise as the assertion itself would
in those who have been inattentive to the cases of fraud which are con­
tinually occurring; but no consideration should restrain a well disposed
person from laying bare, at least, some of the facts upon which the asser­
tion would be founded, in order that the public might be enabled to judge
whether the number of cases marked by fraud exceeds or falls short of
the estimated proportion. Pacts for such an estimate, can only be deri­
ved from long and arduous attention to the business of insurance in all
its ramifications. They cannot be gleaned by him who is not as often
employed in an adverse position to underwriters as in their favor, nor can
they be acquired by one whose habits, taste, or sense of duty, will not per­
mit him to mingle with strange company, and sometimes with disagreeable
circumstances. It is impossible for the underwriter, who quietly and
carefully attends to the business of his own office, to know of one half
the frauds which are almost daily attempted agains this company, and




Fraud upon Undertcriters.

291

he has neither time nor opportunity to hear of and consider those which
are practised against his cotemporaries, and to which, in varied form, he
is ever liable. Indeed, an underwriter is, for some reasons, the least
likely of all persons to discover a fraud before or after its perpetration;
for had he the eyes of Argus, so much is disguise used towards him,
he could not discover all the tortuous measures of rogues, nor could
the ring of Gyges confer that power of invisibility which would be
requisite to enable an underwriter to dive into the hidden mysteries of
those who plan in darkness the frauds which are sometimes so boldly
perpetrated in the light of day. The greatest labor of the wicked is to
conceal their crimes. How, then, is the underwriter to be forewarned
and forearmed against frauds, so obscure in their origin, and so often
consummated without a suspicion or trace of guilt? If he depend upon
his own experience and judgment, or if he, in addition, avail himself
of the aid of the inspector of his office, he is still liable to be decei­
ved ; and he is often beset with difficulties which the inspector, how­
ever fearless, skilful, and honest, cannot overcome, as his opportunities
seldom give him any other knowledge of a risk, than that which relates
to the condition of the vessel, and sometimes to the past character of the
captain. Such knowledge would be more advantageous did it not happen
that a good vessel is often made to cover a very bad risk, arising from the
fraudulent character of the captain, owners, or shippers. To know the
character of the real parties in interest— not merely the name of the
holder of the policy— is of immense consequence in appreciating the ha­
zard; but unfortunately there is not, and probably could npt be, any posi­
tive regulation which would compel the necessary disclosure in all cases;
and other plans are, from the exigencies of the business, resorted to for
the purpose of obtaining such information, which plans are generally of
doubtful success. An underwriter, who has made the profession his study,
may, by arduous attention, judge with much precision of voyages which
are geographically hazardous, what cargoes are dangerous to carry
and most susceptible of damage, what seasons are inauspicious, what
countries are liable to internal commotion or foreign war; and he
may know who, among merchants, are able and willing to pay their pre­
mium notes; but, in addition to this acquaintance with the ordinary risks
and considerations, there should be a knowledge of men and character, or
■the contract and its consequences may produce fraud or assist its plans.
And as the most prudent and skilful, with the best appliances for obtain­
ing secret or open information, as to character and conduct, are too often
overreached, it will be clearly perceived that success in the business of
marine insurance, can only be the result of knowledge, prudence, and
eternal vigilance, and that success cannot always, even with the greatest
caution and prudence, be obtained by the most deserving.
It would indeed be a flagrant injustice to cast an indiscriminate impu­
tation of fraud upon the merchants of the United States, for, as a body,
their integrity of character has always withstood the rude assaults of the
ignorant and malicious ; whilst among those of enlightened and liberal
feeling, their upright and honorable conduct has always, and under all
circumstances, been the theme of universal praise wherever their fear­
less enterprise and undaunted energy have made our country known.
Nor should that harsh charge be incautiously applied to our skilful,
hardy, and persevering ship-masters, through whose fearless labors and




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Fraud upon Underwriters.

incessant zeal the vast projects of our merchants have so often been
carried forward to glorious results ; and through whose spirited career
and honorable national zeal, our country’s flag has become, on every
sea, a sceptre demanding and receiving the respect due to a nation of
freemen. As a class, our sea-captains number as few mauvais sv.jets as
may be found among an equal number of the members of any profes­
sion, although no men are more exposed to extravagance and immo­
rality. They are undeniably not surpassed, if equalled, by the ship­
masters of any country ; and yet it is unfortunately too true to admit of
a denial, that many ship-masters have been, are, and will be, dishonest.
Nor are merchants to be exonerated from the misfortune of reckoning
within their ranks swindlers of the most dangerous class. All profes­
sions and occupations suffer under similar imputations. It may be said
that honest merchants unknowingly employ dishonest caq>tains; this, loo, is
true, and it must also be admitted that honest ship-masters are some­
times engaged by designing merchants, who do not scruple to make
them, either innocently or with guilt, accessory to their frauds. But
with all their misfortunes, it would seem that not so many fraudulent and
careless disasters have been caused by the misconduct of our merchants
and masters, as have been, by English writers, imputed to those of Great
Britain. A statistical publication was made some time since in one of
the British quarterly reviews, intended to account for the immense loss
of shipping engaged in the commerce of that country ; and the number
reported to have been lost from the incapacity of the master, from
drunkenness, and from fraud, was so astounding as to have been almost
incredible, and seemed to be well calculated to justify the conclusions of
the reviewers, that the fact that “ they were ivell insured” was, in reality,
the prime cause of a majority of the losses. That publication, however,
was made rather with a view to account for the number of ships lost, than
intended to expose the manner of loss, or make known the whole system
of fraud, inclusive of those cases which, although of a petty character,
involve, in the aggregate, an immense amount of money, and are, per­
haps, the most dangerous from being less cautiously examined, and of
more frequent occurrence.
To give in detail an expose of the frauds which have come to the
knowledge of one individual by long and patient investigation, sometimes
under trying circumstances— is the object of this article. He cannot act
presumptuously, who offers even the slightest counsel as to guarding against
similar cases ; and if this offering should be so fortunate as to thwart
even one attempt at crime, it will not have been an undeserving labor;
but perhaps it will at least explain, to an observing mercantile commu­
nity, some of the unholy attempts which have been made to the injury
of the public character, whilst to stockholders it may account for the loss
of some part of their dividends. And may it not operate with merchants
and ship-masters,— who wish tomaintain and increase the good character
of their compeers, and who are unwilling to pay an enhanced premium
to cover the peculations of swindlers,— as an inducement to the
exercise of a greater and more becoming vigilance, upon a subject which
should be of high importance to every honest man ? By making this
statement no confidence is betrayed; none was ever sought for by the
writer. His knowledge of the facts here enumerated, was voluntarily
rendered, involuntarily acquired by contact with men in almost




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293

every situation, or arduously sought for— whenever duty made it
necessary — without asking the consent of the parties. As it would be
injurious in many respects to give the names of vessels, and inexpe­
dient, at present, to publish those of individuals, both are withheld,
deeming it unnecessary to give any other reasons for so doing, than that
there are and have been many vessels of the same name, and that those
persons who collected, or attempted to collect, the claims from the in­
surers, were sometimes guiltless of having planned or participated in
the frauds. The incidents are, however, sufficiently described to bring
a knowledge of almost every case home to those who have, in any way,
been interested in or affected by them. This statement will not injure
the innocent, nor need it be feared that it will have a tendency to in­
crease rather than to diminish the number of frauds ; the eyes of the ho­
nest will be opened, and it is to be hoped that those who are fearless will
not be found wanting in their efforts to unmask villany, whether found in
high or low places. Let those who are galled wince ; the honest have
nothing to fear.
In describing some of the plans by which total losses have been per­
petrated, it is necessary to premise, that there has been, and is, in New
York, a clique, or fraternity of plunderers, who, with plausible manners
and genteel appearance, have contrived to obtain possession of many
vessels by the use of a little money, and their credit, which is used al­
ternately by the members. There is an unholy alliance to assist each
other in every emergency, by money, means, and evidence, true and
false. They seldom have much money in any one hazard, however
large the expected stake may be, and are not to be ruined or even
baffled by the failure of one or two of their enterprises. Their usual
plan has been, to buy a vessel, part cash and part credit, and then to get
a merchant to advance money upon her, and procure in his own name a
policy of insurance for a valuation exceeding, by at least fifty per cent.,
her real cost, and the policy remains with him as collateral security.
This operation, so far as the merchant is interested, may or may not in­
volve guilt. Honest men have been deceived; but for the sake of
character there should be an exercise of greater caution, and the merchant
who deals with a known rogue is entitled to little sympathy. Having
got the advance, the members generally make some alteration or repair
of the vessel, to save appearances in case there should be any subsequent
question as to the high valuation in the policy of insurance. But the
advance serves another purpose ; with it and another stretch of credit a
cargo is procured, and this generally secures a second advance of cash
upon the cargo and freight, covered by farther policies of insurance un­
der exorbitant valuations, and by the way, they are always sure to be
careful that each policy is a valued one. The advance on these last poli­
cies pays the vessel’s outfit, and repays the amount of cash which they
have advanced on her purchase. W hen so much is done, they risk no
loss, but, living in joyful hope of a large “ windfall,” are ripe for a new
speculation. The rest of the adventure is easily described; the vessel
sails, is burnt, scuttled, or otherwise cast away. Sometimes she is dis­
masted by cutting the “ lee laniards of the lower standing rigging,” so
that when they “ tack ship” she may lose her masts without any apparent
act of the master; and to effect this, a dark night and squally or rough
weather are most convenient. In another case, she is run ashore, and if




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Fraud upton Underwriters.

she do not bilge, holes are bored in her to destroy the cargo and make
the vessel appear to be worthless. As an auxiliary to the bilging by
boring, the masts ai’e often cut away under the pretence of making her
“ lie easy,” or to prevent “ thumping.” Cutting away the masts when
no holes are bored is practised where the stranding takes place within
the reach of wreckers who might save the vessel, and it is done for the
purpose of securing the right of condemnation, or with a desire to make
any attempt at saving useless and not worth the expense. In either case,
there will be a total loss of vessel, cargo, and freight, the cargo being too
much damaged to send forward to its port of destination.
But it sometimes happens that they are unable to carry out their views
as to the purchase of a cargo, in which case they take one “ on freight,”
getting the vessel and freight highly insured by the same means as before
stated. She then sails with a poor outfit, leaks, loses some sails, spars,
or rigging— if the total destruction as described be not attempted— and
she puts into Bermuda, St. Thomas, or some other port affording equal
facilities for a fraudulent condemnation and sale. The cargo may per­
haps be sent forward, but it is more often sold, and in either case a total
loss of freight takes place, and many a rotten old craft has thus been sold
to the insurers at an enormous price. In conducting this kind of enter­
prise, an attempt is often made at a double “ operation,” by buying the
vessel and cargo in, through the means of a friend. In other cases, the
vessel, by arrangement, puts into a port where no req>airs can be had—
she is condemned and sold, and, as in the last case cited, the “ double
operation” is attempted— so that after the loss is paid she may still
belong to some of the members under new names,— or, if a total loss
be not paid for, there will be little if any real sacrifice, and she is ready
for a renewed attempt. It will be perceived that there is but a small
hazard in this plan, as the underwriters almost invariably pay a partial
loss, at least, to avoid litigation, and the amount recovered will be so
much clear gain to the brotherhood. As an improvement to these plans
— where the merchant who advances the cash knows of the intended
fraud— the insurances are delayed until the vessel has been at sea several
days, so that the captain may appear to have acted in good faith as to
the condemnation, and as he would have done were there no policies
procured ; whilst the truth is, advice as to the insurances has been sent
by other vessels direct to the intermediate port, for it had been previously
so arranged, and the captain governs himself accordingly. An instance
has occurred, within the last year, where a vessel sailed and put into
port, in pursuance of this plan; but, as the application for insurance in
New York and elsewhere had failed, owing to the prompt measures
which were taken, she resumed the voyage, arrived at the port of desti­
nation, and returned to New York safely, to the unfeigned joy of the
parties, who had, from her long passage, feared her loss without their
consent. This voyage lost a round sum for the rogues. In another
case, two persons, who were not admitted to all the secrets of the con­
clave, happened to hear enough to convince them that a certain brig was
to he lost, and they went immediately to an insurance office and pro­
cured a valued poliey, and had it agreed that “ the policy was to be proof
of interest,” they having in fact no interest; their chagrin may be ima­
gined on finding that they had lost their premium of insurance by the
safe arrival of the brig ;— the loss of the brig, which they anticipated,
was planned for, and took place, on her next voyage.




Fraud upon Underwriters.

295

Where it is intended that the vessel shall be scuttled or sunk, it is the
practice to make a great display of silks and fine goods; and even
doubloons are counted before witnesses who are accidentally on board
— o f course! It is needless to say that such goods and gold are reserved
for a better fate than that of going down into the caverns of the deep :
they return to the caverns of the swindlers, and sometimes serve to fur­
nish forth other enterprises of a more desperate character. It has often
been a matter of astonishment that these men are always so ready with
witnesses who actually saw the property on board; but it should be re­
membered that those who plan a villainy, study hard to make it success­
ful, and do not scruple at the means ; nor is it very difficult to cause re­
spectable and innocent men to see the goods on ship-board, and, by some
remarkable coincident, cause the fact to be remembered.
Some years since, when pirates were supposed to be innumerable on
the coast of Cuba, losses were plenty; but at least one half of them were
fraudulently contrived by the owners. Vessels were sent out from H a­
vana, having doubloons onboard, which were insured bymeans of respect­
able merchants in New York; by an arrangement between the captain and
the owner, the vessel would be stopped by an imitation piratical attack,
a sham fight would ensue, the doubloons would be taken out, and the
amount paid by the insurers.
In one out of the multitude of North Carolina cases, a notorious
counterfeiter, through a house in New York, procured an insurance of
$7,800 on specie and goods. The vessel was also well insured. Holes
were bored in the vessel, and plugs were fitted and inserted, to be taken
out at sea. She sailed, and on the first night she was filled with water
and abandoned. It had been arranged, with the captain of another ves­
sel, that he should keep company, and take off the captain and men, which
was done. Fraud was suspected, the insurers were sued, and on the
trial, the jury would not agree; this honest claim was compromised for
one half. By a quarrel among some of the parties, it was discovered
that old blocks and stones were made to represent goods, and that there
had not been any specie on board. The captain who executed this
fraud has since been shot dead by a person whose life he had attempted
for giving evidence in favor of the insurers.
The famous case where old type was made to represent specie, is too
well known to require any farther remark, than that the person who acted
as agent of the underwriters, and who rendered very important service
to them, has since been connected with several successful and unsuccesful
frauds against underwriters, but, in one instance, was very near going
to the states’ prison, besides losing the case against the insurers and
being publicly exposed.
In the year 1828, a Spanish merchant, who resided in South-street, in
this city, was arrested, tried for an attempted fraud, and acquitted. The
excitement at the time was very great, and much curiosity as to the real
plans and intentions of the merchant existed. The facts proved were
these:— He owned a good brig, which with her outfit cost $10,000.
He procured insurance on her for $8,000 only. He bought, and actually
put on board $60,000 worth of silks, and other goods of great value and
little bulk. Through a broker’s aid he found a well known captain with
whom he made an arrangement to effect a total destruction of vessel
and cargo, for which service he was to receive $5,000 — (it could be




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Fraud upon Underwriters.

done for half the money now)— of which §1,000 was immediately paid
to the captain, whose conscience and pocket began to grow heavy at the
same time ; but the equilibrium did not long continue, for as his pocket
was gradually lightened, his conscience became the more heavy, until
he was induced to unburtlien himself to the collector of the port of New
York, who called to his aid the counsel of an underwriter, who displayed
great impetuosity and anxiety, and made fine promises to the captain,
but was too eager in his movements, and thereby m aned the plot with­
out discovering its object. In pursuance of the plan arranged, the mer­
chant was arrested at the custom house, whilst in the act of clearing the
vessel for sea. At the trial, the captain made his statement as to the
proposed destruction of the property. The purchase and shipment of
the $60,000 worth of goods was fully proved. An insurance of $60,000
was also proved ; of which $35,000 was effected, through a respectable
broker, in Boston, and $25,000 in Philadelphia; and in all the policies
it was agreed that the insurance should apply to goods o f which the marks
and numbers would be given when bills o f lading were made out. As this
insurance was only equal to the cost of the goods, and as there would
be two or three thousand dollars at the merchant’s risk, no motive fo r a
fraudulent loss could be positively discovered, and the merchant was ac­
quitted. But a fraud was intended ! The merchant is now dead, but
he has left a full exposure of his plan. He expected to have cleared
$50,000 by his project. The shipment was to have been divided into
three parts, making three consignments to fictitious names ; one being in­
sured in Boston for $35,000, as before stated, for account of a fictitious
name, for whom it may concern, loss payable to the merchant; a similar
insurance in Philadelphia, for $25,000, in another fictitious name ; and
the third insurance, fo r $50,000, was to have been effected among his New
York friends, immediately after the sailing o f the vessel; and the marks
and numbers of the $60,000 worth of goods were then to have been so
arranged and endorsed on the various valued policies, as to cover what
actually cost $20,000 with the $35,000 of insurance in Boston ; goods
costing $15,000 were to be covered with the $25,000 insured in Phila­
delphia ; and the balance of the $60,000, which cost $25,000, was to be
covered with $50,000 of insurance in New York. Had not the captain
betrayed him, there can be no doubt as to the success; and had more
forethought been used, the captain would have sailed as if to perpetrate
the fraud, and by the time she put into a southern port, or returned to
New York, the plot would have been so far developed as to have as­
tounded the merchants and underwriters, and the public would then
have been convinced that the captain had made true statements as far
as he knew any thing of the case. The same merchant had previously
tried this plan, and cleared $20,000 for $3,000, shipped by a schooner.
The loss was paid by underwriters who, not suspecting him, gave him a
good character on his trial.
Two of the infamous confraternity before alluded to, bought a brig in
New Orleans in partnership with one of their members, who was, with the
vessel,in New York. Insurance was procured in New Orleans for$lS,000
on vessel and freight. She sailed, one partner going as captain, and an­
other going passenger, for New Orleans. They ran her upon a reef on
the coast of Florida. The captain went to one set of wreckers for as­
sistance, and the passenger to another, and when all got on board, the




Fraud upon Underwriters.

297

wreckers were excited to quarrel for command; during the fight, the
captain set fire to combustibles—placed in the hold for the purpose— and
she was entirely consumed, each party of the wreckers believing that
the other had destroyed her. Under cover of this smoke, the pirates
went to New Orleans, and encountered little difficulty in adding the sum
insured to their joint stock. As to false proofs : a case has occurred in
New York, where, as the underwriters suspecting fraud, refused to pay,
a suit was commenced, and a commission for the examination of wit­
nesses in South America was procured by the claimant and sent for­
ward. When it was returned, the evidence was found, if true, to be
very strong against the insurers, but the ingenuity of the counsel em­
ployed for them soon made it evident that the claimant had prepared all
the answers to the interrogatories in New York, and had had them
translated into “ bad Spanish,” and sent forward with the commission to
South America— probably to save the trouble of finding witnesses — or,
at least, if any were found, that they might be relieved from any per­
plexity by having the useful answers prepared to order, “ cut and
dried.” This claim was not paid. South America is not the only coun­
try where ready-made answers are attached to a commission in an insu­
rance cause.
Another outrageous case which has been brought to light was, where
a ship, being insured at a high valuation, sailed from a port in the Pacific
Ocean, bound to a port in England, with a plan for scuttling her in the
Straits of Magellan, having previously, by maltreatment, caused all the
Atnerican crew, who could not be entrusted with the secret, to desert, so
that the proper material might be selected. She was scuttled, and as no
tidings of her came to the United States, it being supposed that all
on board had perished, she was, after a delay of twelve months, paid for
by underwriters in Boston. In the examination of another fraud, it was
discovered that some of the sailors, who were on board of this ship up
to the last hour, were alive at a port in South America, but the owners
had absented themselves from the United States, and remained beyond
the reach of the law. In a more recent case, a ship bound to New
Orleans was purposely run in among the Florida reefs, and, owing to
the ignorance of the captain, she became so situated as to require much
perseverance on his part to keep her in a dangerous position, two good
channels being so open to him as to make it necessary to get help from
the wreckers, who came in sight, to find a bad one. He went on board
of the wrecking vessels, and agreed that they should give him one thousand
dollarsfo r the job o f running her ashore. The day was too bright and the
wind too fair to insure success, and the ship remained at anchor until
dark night and a head wind afforded a more favorable opportunity ; but
with these, and all their combined skill, she came so near going through
the channel safely, as to render it necessary to make her yaw about for
the space of two hours to find a reef which was hard and sharp enough;
and when they had, with much patience, selected the place, and got a
cable and anchor to heave her harder ashore, she would not stay strand­
ed with their best efforts, but floated over the reef, and, as daylight
came, they had to take her to Key West, where, as the fraud was appa­
rent, the Judge of the Admiralty Court refused to decree any salvage ;
and as the captain was thus about to lose his $1,000— he consummated
his villany by swearing for the wreckers, that they “ acted in good faith
38
V O L . I I . ---- N O . IV .




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Fraud upon Underwriters.

perhaps they did, so far as he was concerned, for it has since appear­
ed that he received his “ wages of sin.” H e procured the condemnation
and sale of the ship. This case shows an improvement upon the old
plan of “ trusting to luck” among the wreckers — and, at this rate of pro­
gression, it will not be long before these wreckers will have their agents
in New York and elsewhere, with cash in hand, ready to make contracts
at “ reasonable rates” for the greater perfection and advancement af
their system. Indeed, it is even now asserted, that wreckers visit H a­
vana and New Orleans with a supply of doubloons to make bargains
with needy or gambling captains, to get them “ to stop” upon some
reef, — $25,000 has been offered in one instance of a very valuable cargo.
The insurers have no permanent resident agent in Key W est in whom
they can place entire confidence. It is true, that an individual who may
be highly respectable, is nominally the agent of underwriters at that im­
portant point, but he is interested in one or more wrecking vessels, and
so intimately allied with the inhabitants of the place and its interests,
and is left so dependent upon his own enterprise and industry— having
no salary— that it could not be expected that he should serve two mas­
ters, himself and the underwriters. A fearless, talented man, well
versed in maritime and insurance law, and its practices, and who would
be so well paid as to allow of his being restricted so as to preclude his
speculating with the interests of underwriters, could save an immense
amount of money for them, not only by preventing and exposing frauds,
but by settling honest losses in the best manner. As these affairs are
now managed, special agents are sent from different cities to attend to
the various cases as they become known. These agents are generally
“ retired ship-masters” of advanced age — often fond of ease and com­
fort— possessing only that knowledge, which, although of the seas, has
enabled them to navigate themselves into good berths ashore; and who
would, were they, as shipmasters, wrecked at Key W est or elsewhere,
require the very species of advice and assistance which they, as special
agents, are expected to bestow upon their brother sailors, although their
previous pursuits in life may not have allowed them better opportunities for
the acquirement of the necessary legal knowledge and skill; and it has
generally been no part of their study. There are, of course, exceptions
to this general description, although too many have to depend upon Key
W est lawyers “ to keep them straight,” and some of these ship-master
agents have been enabled to render good service; but, as a certain means
for discovering and preventing frauds, it would be unjust to expect them
to succeed in all cases among strangers, for they are often unable to de­
tect fraud when practised at their home ports. The money paid by the
underwriters of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, would
more than secure and compensate the services of a person of known
skill, fearlessness, zeal, and character; and the advantages which would
accrue from having always at that point a known agent, who would be
ready for any emergency, are incalculable.
The foregoing remarks as to total losses, it will be seen, are exclu­
sively applicable to those cases which were engendered in fraud, and
carried through by fraudulent acts and proofs. There is, however, ano­
ther class of losses, not originally planned in fraud, but which ultimately
takes its assistance, to make that a total loss, which, without its influence,
would be but a trifling accident, or at the worst, only a partial loss. Many




Fraud upon Underwriters.

299

vessels, for instance, meet with accidents which are not of a character
so serious as to make it probable that they would be abandoned if they
were not “ well insured.” Proofs of this often occur; for other captains,
generally not so well supplied with men and means, but who are in­
terested to make money, take charge of vessels so abandoned, and
bring them with little trouble into port, and it is then discovered that
the damage was really but a trifle; and it may well be inferred that a
profitable sale to the underwriters was an object of greater importance
than any fear of the loss of lives. Other vessels, after unavoidable acci­
dents, put into ports of necessity, where, because they are well insured,
or because the masters are unwilling to burthen the owners with one
third of the cost of the repairs, which they have, by the contract of in­
surance, agreed to bear, are condemned and sold, and perhaps bought
in under cover. These were not cases of fraud in the beginning, but
they are converted into fraudulent claims by the conduct of the captains,
who, as the agents of all parties, were bound to act as they would have
done were the vessels their own and only property, and uncovered by
any insurance. Luckily, frauds of this nature are more easily traced,
because those persons who give false estimates and surveys to the cap­
tain to assist the condemnation of the vessel, are equally ready to betray
him when they have got the hire of their iniquity; and yet many cases
of this kind have been paid without hesitation, owing to the character of
persons who have been interested. On one occasion, a ship with a load
of salt got ashore near Sandy Hook. She leaked badly, but could be
pumped out by great exertion, and was in the act of being floated when
one of the owners got on board, and seeing that she would be saved, had
the audacity to offer to the honest and intrepid wrecker who had charge
of her, and who is now dead, $500 to let her sink in deep water when
he got her off. To those <vho knew the wrecker, it would be needless to
say, that she arrived in New York, were it not for the purpose of stating
that this is the same ship which was subsequently sold to the Boston un­
derwriters, by being scuttled in the Straits of Magellan, as before de­
scribed. Another ship was insured in New Orleans, for a period of
time. On the voyage to New Orleans she had lost a chain cable, but
this loss did not amount to an average. No chain was procured even
on her return to New York. She was put up for Cadiz, and sailed; the
single chain, which was but half as long as it should have been, was, by
the aid of a second-hand anchor, made to represent two chains. The
captain had remonstrated against this management, but rather than lose
“ a berth,” he listened to the instructions of the owners, which were, she
“ is well insured, and if you can’t keep her off, why let her go ashore fo r
good !” He did not disobey orders or break the owners: she was strand­
ed, and the New Orleans insurers paid the loss, as the fraud was not
discovered until it was too late. A schooner, insured at a high valua­
tion, was dismasted, but arrived at a southern port. The owners aban­
doned and claimed for a total loss, but the surveyors would not condemn
the vessel. As the owners were thus compelled to repair her, they as­
certained how much her repair must cost to give a claim for a technical
total loss. The repairs were fully made, and the vessel, fitted out in the
best possible manner, came to New York. Documents were procured,
the loss was stated, and found to amount to a “ technical total loss,” thus
throwing the vessel upon the underwriters for sale, and giving the right to




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Fraud upon Underwriters.

call upon the insurers for the sum insured, and for the payment of all the
hills of repairs furnished. The bills and documents appeared to be fair
and honest, excepting as to certain articles supplied, which the vessel did
not have before the accident. Amongst the papers, by mistake, were some
religious memoranda of a private character, and yet it was found that
the bills of repair werefalse ! Two hawsers were charged for; only one
was found on board; the captain declared that one teas so locked in thefore­
castle that it could not be seen, as he had not the key; a watch was set upon
him and the vessel; he immediately got men, unlocked and cleared out the
forecastle, whilst his owners procured a second hawser, brought it on
a cart, cut off the New York ship chandler’s tally, had the hawser stowed
in the forecastle, placed old sails and rigging on top of it, locked up the
forecastle, and then sent to say that he had “ got the key, and the other
hawser could be seen.” On finding that this manoeuvre had been disco­
vered, the owners alleged that they had removed the hawser for “ safe keep­
ing,” but this only made the case worse, as it thus appeared that they
were willing to secrete the property of the underwriters. The truth
was, the hawser in the bill was charged for at double the actual weight,
and so were many other articles. The deduction of these false charges
defeated the claim for a technical total loss, and the owners, rather than
be exposed by a public trial of the case, were glad to settle it as a partial
loss, keep the vessel, which they had fondly hoped to buy in, and pay
their own false bills as they best could. It is more than likely that the
insurers of this schooner have forever lost the custom of the owners;
but they will probably be enabled to survive the misfortune quite as
long as those to whom they give their patronage.
As to claims for partial loss and general average which are planned
in fraud, they are numerous. A few cases may be cited. In one in­
stance, where a schooner had met with no disaster, a complete set of
false documents, bearing seals, etc., were made out at New Orleans, to
recover for a partial loss in New York, and the claim was paid. The
fraud was discovered, when the captain was arrested for burning a
brig after dismasting her. In another case, a captain who had been pre­
viously convicted of stealing flour and other articles from a vessel which he
had towed into Boston for salvage, was found to have had two insurances
on his vessel, and recovered a partial loss, once in New York, and a se­
cond time in Philadelphia, whilst in fact no loss had taken place. Par­
tial losses are twice recovered with less hazard than total losses, which
are often spoken of in the newspapers as being insured in some office
of which the name is given, whilst the insurance companies seldom take
any trouble to inquire as to second insurances in cases of partial loss.
Coffee, damaged on the voyage of importation, and sold in New York for
account of underwriters, has been purchased and hoarded in this city and
Brooklyn in large quantities; it has been put into clean bags, insured at a
high rate, and shipped to Marseilles, and other ports, where ithas againbeen
“ sold for the benefit of underwriters,” and the claims for heavy amounts,
in particular average, have been paid, so that large profits have been made
upon small investments. Other articles of a like nature are frequently
treated in the same way, and the documentary evidence for the claim
always comes duly authenticated and in perfect form. To some of these
cases the captain is an accessory, but generally he knows no more of
the affair, than that the merchandise appeared to be sound when shipped;




Fraud upon Underwriters.

301

and, as he is told that the cargo could only have heen damaged from
“ bad stowage,” for which the vessel would be liable, he is willing to ac­
commodate the parties with a protest, by which a little rough weather
is magnified into a gale, and the damage to the coffee, which may have
once before been paid for by the same underwriter, becomes, with the
assistance of certificates from surveyors, the subject of a new claim. This
practice has had a very injurious effect— as to insurance— upon the
interests of honest houses, and it is peculiarly interesting that such
frauds should be prevented and exposed. In some instances, where
there was no insurance on the vessel, damages, which have accidentally
happened, have been so fraudulently described as to bring them within
the rules for general average, and insurers on cargo and freight have been
made to bear, wrongfully, a large proportion of the repairs. In others,
where the vessel and carsro belonged to the same owners, and sometimes
where they did not, and accidental damage has happened to “ memo­
randum articles,” for which no “ particular average” could legally he
claimed from the insurers, the whole has been, by fraudulent protests, and
false log-books, brought into a general average, and contributed for by
those who should have been exempt. In a recent case, damages hap­
pening on a voyage to Mobile, were made the subject of a protest at
that port. She was not then insured, but a policy was procured in
Boston, and the vessel left Mobile without repairs ;— before arriving at
New York, some sails were blown and cut away, and on arrival, a pro­
test was made in which it was stated that all the damage, including that
received on the voyage to Mobile, had happened on her voyage from that
port. Surveys were called, the repairs were ordered, a statement of the
claim for loss was made, when, by the merest accident, the Mobile pro­
test was discovered in New York, and the whole fraud was exposed.
Alterations and re-writings of log-books, to suit certain circumstances,
or to bring a loss within the terms of a policy, are of too frequent occur­
rence to require more than a passing notice. Another species of claim,
scarcely less culpable than some of the instances cited, is, where a ves­
sel’s copper, being so nearly worn out as to require to be replaced by
new, is purposely stranded upon some bar or shoal, whence a tide will
be sure to float her, but not until the stopping or touching upon the
ground has furnished an excuse for requiring new copper at the expense
of the insurers. Sails, old and ragged, are sometimes set purposely to
have them blown away, in order that underwriters may furnish the ves­
sel with a new suit; and, occasionally, when the wind will not blow
with sufficient force to remove the vestiges which might betray the age
of the sails, the axe and the knife will cut the tell-tale witnesses from the
spars.
And as to small losses, not originating in, but turned to, fraud, by bad
acts, misrepresentations, and false oaths— their name is Legion! It
would be an endless labor to detail all the cases which come readily to
the knowledge of one who attends, personally, to the “ out of door”
business of examining and settling insurance claims. Some of them
may be enumerated. In cases where damage to cargo has arisen from
“ bad stowage,” false surveys, showing sea damage, are often procured,
to make the insurers pay the loss which should fall upon the ship owner.
False certificates of the sound value of a damaged cargo are procured, to
increase the per centum of loss which would not otherwise reach the




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Fraud upon Underwriters.

amount necessary to create a claim for particular average. Almost every
case of repair for account of underwriters is attended with a fraudulent
overcharge in the bills, as in such cases mechanics have no mercy.
False bills of repairs are rendered to the insurers, where a fraudulent
increase of fifty per cent, is made, so that when the one third “ new for
old,” which should fall upon the owner, is deducted, the insurer will,
after all, pay the full cost of the repair without the benefit of the deduc­
tion which the policy would warrant. A case of the kind was discovered,
where, by accident, the honest and dishonest bills were placed in the
hands of the same insurance broker to adjust the claim. The ship chand­
ler’s bills, which were most important, plainly proved, that one was
made for the owner and the other for the insurers, $150 being charged
for every $100 of cordage actually delivered. This was not the first or
last case of the kind, although in the other instances more caution was
used. There are persons in New York who do not scruple to propose
this and other plans to ship-masters and owners, as an inducement to
give them their business, — and New York is not the only port where
this and similar practices are extant. An English ship carpenter at
Cowes or Falmouth, can afford to give a ship-master a new chronometer,
as well as a New Yorker can afford the bestowal of a large commission,
or a suit of clothes; and some ship-masters in high places, who have
been highly respected for their sobriety and integrity, have not disdained
to require and accept what honest men call a bribe, for the bestowal of
“ an underwriter’s job,” but which polite and time-serving rogues will
persist in calling a mere “ perquisite.” As an honest mechanic can af­
ford no deduction from his bills, he will make none; and, although New
York retains ship-masters who would scorn to receive, and mechanics
who would not give, “ a douceur,” it is nevertheless disgraceful, that nei­
ther of these classes succeed so well as those who are more in favor on
account of their yielding character and easier consciences. It would be
an advantageous labor for the underwriters to correct— by their own
personal scrutiny— the evil in New York, before looking farther; the
result would surprise them, and be beneficial to all but those who now
confidently but secretly batten on the spoils.
Many captains, who have made demands against underwriters, have
found that the difference of a few dollars in loss or expense will make
or mar a claim for partial loss, which must, in all cases, amount to five
per cent, upon the valuation; for insurers seldom or never pay a loss
falling short of five per cent., however nearly it may approximate to
that amount. The captain or owner whose demand has thus been de­
feated once, provides for future cases; the axe and the knife, profuse
expenditure, or false bills, will augment the per centum to more than
enough, for fear of mistakes in the calculation! In a recent case, the
captain was detected in the act of injuring the rigging of his vessel,
after his arrival in port, in order that he might not only have damage
enough for a claim, but secure a supply of new rigging for the old.
Complaints against underwriters have been made, that they encourage
petty frauds of this character, by refusing to pay claims for partial loss
which fall short of the necessary per centum by a trifling amount, which,
as the assured say, is occasioned by the exercise of extreme economy.
But the answer is, that the most strict and honest exercise of economy, in
all cases, is but a just compliance with a kind of implied warranty to which




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303

the assured binds himself by the acceptance of the policy; and, as the
terms of the contract, in relation to partial losses, printed in the policy,
are easily understood, there can be no hardship to an honest man, in ad­
hering to them punctiliously; the rogue will surely complain, so that he
may at least appear honest and indignant. A departure in one instance,
“ would be recorded as a precedent; and many an error, by the same
example, will rush into” the business of adjusting claims, and so many
difficulties would thus arise, that there might as well be no rules in ex­
istence ; for, even with the best discretion and skill on the part of
insurers, in the exercise of their duties under this part of the contract,
they are too often compelled to pay for repairs, as indiscriminately, as if
they had agreed to keep the vessel in complete order, under any and
every circumstance. There are alterations required, most assuredly, as
to parts of the practice of settling claims, which would operate more
fairly and fully as an indemnity; and, when frauds are decreased, the
insurers can well afford to make such changes, as they are, and should
always be, inclined to maintain the character of the policy of insurance
as a contract of perfect indemnity.
Policies by vessel or vessels have given rise to another species of
fraud, which has been much practised. Open policies for twenty, fifty,
or one hundred thousand dollars, are procured by persons receiving
many consignments. The amount to be insured by any one vessel is
limited; and it is agreed that the assured shall give immediate informa­
tion to the insurers as to the shipment or receipt of the invoice, in order
that the amount may be endorsed upon the policy. As the advice of
shipment and the invoice very often arrive together, and as the goods
are safe, the assured is too apt toforget to give the insurers notice to make
the endorsement on the policy, and the premium of insurance is thus un­
justly detained from them, whilst it is hardly probable that there is an
instance on record where the assured forgot to make the endorsement
and claim when the goods were lost or damaged. Claims for return
premium are often falsely made under these contracts, but it oftener
happens, that the assured continues to hold the policy rather than make
an affidavit that all the goods actually received have been endorsed on
the policy, and he will get such a privilege for an extension of time as
will enable him to fill up the policy by such endorsements as arc una­
voidable. To increase the perplexing difficulties of this kind of insu­
rance, the goods are often consigned “ to order,” and though the insurers
may, by the inspection of newspapers and freight lists, and by means of as­
sistance from the custom house, discover and endorse many of these
stray risks, yet a vast number go clear, and pay no premium; and, with
the exercise of the greatest vigilance, the dishonest practice will continue
until the underwriters adopt some harsh measure, or abolish the system
entirely. The plan of issuing these policies commenced at a time when,
as there was a greater competition, it was deemed necessary by some
underwriters, to offer increased accommodations to the assured; and
what was once a mere convenience, or inducement held out to get pre­
miums, has now become so strongly engrafted upon the business of in­
surance as to be almost immoveable, although there are many serious
objections besides that of the fraud to which it has given rise. Such
policies are decreasing, and will continue to be less often granted, until
the old system be restored: the sooner the better.




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Fraud upon Underwriters.

The last of the frauds to be described, are those by which underwriters
suffer from the plundering wreckers upon our coast. They are commit­
ted less often than in former times, when magistrates and preachers did
not disdain to insist on having a fair chance with their less potent breth­
ren. It is by no means probable that the inhabitants of our sea-board
ever contrived to cause the loss of life with a view to plunder; but, it is
confidently believed, that they have caused losses of vessels by false
lights, etc., although no instance has been clearly proved. These wreck­
ers, luckily, do not harbor the superstitious fears as to saving life from
wrecks, attributed by Sir W alter Scott to their less fortunate brethren
on the coast of Zetland; for, we have innumerable instances of the hardi­
hood of our “ Jerseymen” and others in saving life under the most perilous
circumstances. But, as to stealing, too many of them exceed in rapacity
the most zealous of the Zetland tribe, who, as Scott says, looked upon
the wreck as a “ godsend,” and as a mark of “ especial favor from on
high; which favor would not be repeated if the old and helpless were not
charitably assisted to afair share.” Men and women owning property, and
who would scorn to steal even a rusty nail from a neighbor, have had neither
conscience nor fear as to robbing wrecks which were cast upon their
coast; to rob a dead body was, with them, no crime. For some years
past these piracies have been less frequent; and it depends upon the un­
derwriters themselves, whether they shall be again committed with that
impunity, which allowed of the stealing of at least $20,000 worth of goods
from one ship, within sixty miles of New York, without a single arrest. On
the coast of North Carolina, the pirates generally steal as much as they
please. Nothing will prevent the recurrence of these bold thefts, but
the prompt arrest and punishment of every thief, at any sacrifice or ha­
zard; and there are good men and good laws upon our coast, to insure the
execution of justice, if their aid be required. As an auxiliary to the
prevention of theft, the wreckers should be well and even liberally paid
for every service. A parsimonious doling out of a miserable pittance
to workmen will always be, as it has in some recent cases been, the
cause of great dissatisfaction, so that honest men will not work, and some
of the worst class of men will be hired in their places, and there will be
more stolen from the wrecks than would be necessary to pay the honest
men for their labor ten fold. There never was and never will be any
real saving by such a course at a wreck. Underwriters would know
this better, if they would occasionally surprise themselves by a visit to
the sea coast after their agents have returned and made their reports.
The policy of insurance, which now makes the underwriter liable for
barratry of the master and mariners, should be so amended as to cover
only the innocent shipper of cargo in case of loss by fraud. The Boston
policies have for a long time covered “ barratry of the master and mari­
ners, unless the assured be the owner of the vessel.” In New York, the
owner of a vessel and cargo may contrive with his captain for a fraudu­
lent loss, and, although the fraud may be discovered, the insurers, under
the risk of barratry, would be made to pay, unless his collusion with the
captain could be proved. The effect of the Boston policy is, to keep the
owner up to his liability in the selection of an honest captain, for against
the acts of a rogue he cannot be indemnified.
As to the prevention of petty frauds : perhaps a clause might be in­
troduced into the policy, which would vitiate every claim, however




Suggestions on the L aw o f Auctions.

305

honest in part, if it were clearly proven that any portion, be it even the
merest trifle, were founded in a wilful fraud. A provision of this kind
exists in fire policies, and in many instances has proved very effective.
And as to the prevention and detection of frauds in general, great as­
sistance might be derived from an interchange, with every Board of Un­
derwriters, of a list of all the frauds, large and small, attempted or
known of by each company, and reported twice a month to the head-quar­
ters to be agreed upon; it being understood that an alliance should be
formed, forbidding the issuing of a policy to any individual who may be
clearly proved guilty of a fraud. The expense of such an arrangement
would be a trifle; for as it is, every company has to guard itself, and there
is but little difficulty in perpetrating any.fraud which may be designed.
But the best of all means to prevent fraud is the unceasing exercise o f vigi­
lance— vigilance among underwriters ; and, among honest merchants, vigi­
lance ! Without vigilance, every plan must fail! And be it understood,,
that the frauds of the rogues are, for the future, apparently to be perpe­
trated in good vessels; old vessels are too much suspected ; and, althoughmany of the heaviest of the honest losses which have fallen upon our
underwriters have been by ships of the first class, there is little doubt
that good ships will still be readily insured,, and the frauds of the swind­
lers will be the more easily covered.
The statements herein offered are voluntary. — That they are true can
be proved, if necessary. No solicitation, no cause, but a sense of duty,
could have brought them forth. If any individual thinks he sees himself,
or his case, too closely described, let him go and sin no more; he will have
nothing to fear. As the object was to confer a public benefit, not to
inflict a private injury, so no malice should be inferred; at all events,
as no favor or affection should be sought from rogues, so their enmity
should not be dreaded. And it is believed that there are too many con­
cerned in the base practices of deceit, cheating, and imposition, collu­
sion, misrepresentation, equivocation, concealment, bad faith, and perjury
against insurers, for any person to imagine that lie is specially alluded to
none will, therefore, “ be offended, but those who are too conscious of their
culpability : qui ca pit il l e f a c it .”

A r t . II I.— SUGGESTIONS ON T H E

LA W O F AUCTIONS-

No. III.
O F A N A U C T IO N E E R ’S R IG H T TO

P U R C H A S E ..

T h e reason why an agent for the purpose o f selling, cannot generally
become the purchaser, is obvious; he cannot have a single eye to the
interest of his principal. Courts of equity are disposed to adopt the
principle of the civil law, that the same person cannot be both buyer
and seller. W hen an ineffectual attempt at public sale has been made,
the auctioneer may purchase from his employer the property he was en­
gaged to sell, for his agency has terminated; but while his employment
continues he cannot purchase, on the ground, that being invested with a
V O L . I I . ---- N O . IV .
39




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Suggestions on the L aw o f Auctions.

trust, lie is disqualified from placing himself in, a situation incompatible
with the honest discharge of his duty. If such a purchase can he sus­
tained, it must be where the agent makes it fully appear, both that he
furnished his employer with all the knowledge he possessed, and also
that he was known to be the purchaser. The rule is, that an agent shall
not purchase from himself.
R IG H T S O F V E N D O R A G A IN S T P U R C H A S E R A T A U C T IO N .

A vendor, after contracting to sell, has a lien on the goods, which en­
titles him to the possession until the price is paid, unless it has been
agreed between the parties that a certain time shall be given for payment.
Although when a bargain is struck, the property in goods is transferred
to the purchaser, and that of the price to the seller, yet the vendee can­
not take them until he tenders the price agreed on. The payment of
earnest-money does not remove the lien, but only diminishes it so much.
There does not appear to be any case of stoppage in transitu between
vendor and vendee upon a sale at auction; but the ordinary rules of
law would apply. The right of resuming the possession of property by
the vendor, during the course of its conveyance to the vendee, in the
event of the insolvency of the latter, is called stoppage in transitu. This
is an interesting topic, to which we can but allude at this time ; we
may, however, add, that this right of stoppage does not proceed upon
the ground of rescinding the contract, but it is an equitable lien, adopted
for the purposes of substantial justice ; this right is not taken away by
a part payment of the price of the goods by the consignee.
The vendor may bring an action for the price of goods sold, against
the purchaser, or it may be brought by the auctioneer ; but it may be
resisted in the latter case, if the auctioneer has committed an act which
would have invalidated the contract if it had proceeded from the vendor.
If a person purchase goods of a factor, knowing him to have made the
sale in that capacity, in an action by the factor for the price, the defend­
ant cannot set off a demand which he may have against the plaintiff;
but if an auctioneer does not disclose the name of his principal, but
delivers the goods in his own name, and the purchaser does not know
that he is acting as agent, the buyer would probably have a right to set off'
a debt due from the auctioneer, in art action brought against him by the
principal for the price of the goods. If, however, he should disclose
the name of his principal before payment, or before the whole of the
, goods were delivered, although he did not disclose his agency at the
sale, the effect would be the same as if the name of his principal had
been stated before the sale. If an auctioneer become bankrupt after he
has effected a sale, the vendor may maintain an action against the pur­
chaser for the purchase-money, if it has not been paid to the auctioneer;
or if the vendor gives notice to the purchaser not to pay it to the auc­
tioneer, and the purchaser, notwithstanding such notice, subsequently
pays it to the auctioneer, he will be liable to pay it to the principal also.
When the contract for the sale of goods is completed by the assent of
both parties, the property in the goods is so far transferred to the vendee,
as to give him a complete right of property in them, and a right to the
possession of them on payment of the price agreed upon, but he cannot
take the goods until he tenders the price. It is difficult to ascertain the




Suggestions on the L aw o f Auct ions.

307

particular period when the property in goods passes from the vendor to
the vendee. W hat is sufficient to vest the property in the vendee, is not
always sufficient to deprive the vendor of his lien for the price ; what
might be sufficient, in the absence of insolvency, to confer a right to pos­
session, is not always sufficient to deprive the vendor of the right of
stoppage in transitu. This point is of importance in cases where the
property is destroyed. It appears to he well settled, that a purchaser,
from the time of the purchase, is in equity owner of the estate; that he
must pay the consideration money, if the estate be injured or destroyed
by fire or otherwise, between the time of the contract and the convey­
ance ; and upon the same principle, that he will be entitled to any bene­
fit which may accrue to the estate during the same period. Goods sold
remain at the risk of the seller, where something remains to be done, as
between the buyer and seller, as for the purpose of ascertaining either
the quantity or price of the article sold; because there is no delivery,
the property does not pass though the price be in part paid ; if there be
a part delivery, the other part not yet ascertained will not pass. There
need not be an express agreement that something farther shall be done;
it is enough if it appear, from the circumstances of the case, to be ne­
cessary. But when the goods are sold, and nothing farther remains to
be done to them by the seller, the property in such goods will be changed
by the sale, and they will be at the risk of the purchaser.
The statute of New York in relation to principals and factors, has
materially changed the law formerly applicable to them ; in certain
cases it deems the agent or factor to be the true owner, so far as to give
validity to his contracts ; but subjects him to a penalty if he dispose of
property entrusted to him, to his own use, with the intent to defraud the
true owner. The statute impairs the common law right of owners; for
they might follow their property into the hands of third persons, where
it had been transferred or disposed of by an agent contrary to his in­
structions or duty, and reclaim it unconditionally.
O F T H E R IG H T S O F T H E P U R C H A S E R A T A U C T IO N .

If a deposit is paid on a purchase, and the owner fails to comply with
the conditions of sale, the purchaser may either affirm the agreement
by bringing an action for the non-performance of it, or he may disaffirm
the agreement, and maintain an action against the vendor for his money.
W here a person buys at auction several lots, it is an entire contract; that
is, the several lots are purchased with the view of making them a joint
concern; and if the vendor fails in making a title to any one of the lots,
the purchaser may refuse to take the others.
If a chattel be sold with all faults, and yet there are latent defects
which it was impossible for the purchaser to discover by means used by
the vendor, the vendee may set aside the contract.
An unconditional contract of sale, when once made, cannot be dis­
solved, except by the consent of the parties to it, or for fraud. But at a
sale by public auction, when no credit is given, if the buyer depart with­
out paying for or receiving the goods by delivery, the contract may be
treated by the auctioneer as null, and he may sell the goods to another.
But where the contract is complete, if the buyer refuse to take and pay
for the goods purchased by him, the vendor, to enforce payment of the




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Suggestions on the Law o f Auctions.

purchase-money, for which he has a lien, may resell the goods, and
claim for the loss and damage, if he sustains any upon the resale.
A purchaser who is insolvent, may, before the goods come into his
actual possession, or even afterwards, if he take possession only for the
vendor, rescind the contract, with the consent of the seller; but where
goods have been actually received into the possession of the purchaser,
and accepted by him as owner, he cannot rescind the contract, and by
returning them to the seller prevent their being applied in satisfaction
of his general debts. Insolvency does not operate a dissolution of the
contract. A contract of sale cannot be rescinded after a complete ac­
ceptance of the goods by the purchaser, except there be an original agree­
ment that he may be at liberty to rescind in such case, or unless both par­
ties, where the interest of a third party is not concerned, consent to re­
scind it, or it turn out to be a case of fraud. And, even in the case of
fraud, if the purchaser, after the discovery of the fraud, continue to deal
with the article as his own, he cannot afterwards rescind the contract.
The purchaser must rescind within a reasonable time.
In general, whenever a person, in order to obtain an undue advantage
in a sale, by word or deed, intentionally misrepresents, or conceals, or
produces a false impression, in regard to a material fact, forming an in­
ducement to the contract, and touching a matter, in respect to which a
known trust or confidence is properly placed in him by the other con­
tracting parties, who are ignorant of the fact misrepresented or concealed,
the contract or sale may be vacated by the party imposed upon, for
fraud. A sale of property procured to be made by false pretences or
criminal fraud does not effect a change of the property.
I f the vendor fails to comply with the conditions of sale, the vendee
may maintain an action for such non-compliance, or he may rescind the
contract. Specific performance of a contract by a competent party, an'd
in its nature and circumstances unobjectionable, is as much a matter of
course in equity, as damages at law.
If the purchaser knows that an auctioneer made the sale in that ca­
pacity, in an action by the auctioneer for the price, the purchaser canuot set off a demand which he may have against the auctioneer.
It is not uncommon for a deposit to be made at sales by auction. A
deposit is a payment in part of the purchase-money, and not a pledge
only; the auctioneer is, however, the stake-holder, till the sale is com­
pleted, and he cannot legally part with it to the vendor or purchaser
before that time, except by their consent. If the vendor fail to comply
with, and perform the conditions necessary to complete the contract on
his part, the deposit may be recovered from the auctioneer ; although,
in general, he will not be liable to pay interest upon it. If, however, a
deposit is paid into the hands of an auctioneer, so far as respects any
risk to the deposit, he is only the agent of the vendor; and if the auc­
tioneer become insolvent, the loss must be borne by the vendor.
In conclusion, it may be remarked, that an auctioneer is bound by his
duty to obtain the best price which the property is fairly worth, and not
to sell at a less price or in a different manner than is specified in his in­
structions, unless compliance with his instructions would operate as a
fraud upon others. If his instructions are unlimited, he must pursue the
accustomed course of business. He must possess a competent degree
of skill, and is liable for losses sustained by his incapacity. If he ex­




The Harbors o f North America.

309

ceed his authority, and loss ensue, he must bear it, unless his principal
recognise his acts; if any gain result, he must account for it. If he be
without special instructions to sell for cash alone, and not on credit, he
may sell on credit, for the period usual in the market. If goods be
entrusted to him to dispose on particular terms, if a compliance with
those terms should prove to be impracticable, he is not liable, if he in
good faith dispose of the goods in some other manner. His conduct,
when no fraud is chargeable, should receive a liberal and favorable con­
struction. If he sell on credit, and the vendee becomes insolvent be­
fore the demand falls due, he will not be liable, if he exercised due dili­
gence to ascertain the solvency of the purchaser. If he sell several par­
cels of goods belonging to several of his principals, on a credit, to one
person, and take one note from the vendee for the whole, payable to
himself, he would not, from this circumstance alone, be personally liable
to his principals ; but, if he should sell goods of his principal and take
a bond to himself for the amount, including a debt of his own, he would
be liable to his principal for money had and received, though nothing in
fact may have been received by him. When, for an additional compen­
sation in case of sale, he undertakes to guaranty to his principal the
payment of the debt due by the buyer, he receives a del credere commis­
sion, an Italian phrase, whose signification is exactly equivalent to our
word guaranty or warranty. If he receive a del credere commission, he
is liable to his principal; if the buyer fails to pay, he is not primarily the
debtor.
In bringing these suggestions to a close, it may be added, that some
of the authorities maintain, if an auctioneer dispose of property without
having a sufficient authority for so doing, so that the purchaser is unable
to obtain the benefit of his purchase, the auctioneer will be liable for
the costs the purchaser may be put to. It is also recommended, that
an auctioneer ought generally to state in advertisements that the proper­
ty will be sold at the time and place designated, unless previously sold
by private contract, in which case, notice of the sale will be immedi­
ately given to the public; if the property be disposed of by private con
tract, the auctioneer should immediately give notice of such disposition;
if he does not, it is said, that any person who attends at the place ap­
pointed for the sale, will be entitled to recover against the vendor or auc­
tioneer any expenses he may have thereby incurred.

A r t . IV — T H E HARBORS OF NORTH AMERICA.
Natural facilities for the formation of Harbors on the American Coast— Tides—
Construction of Quays and Jetties—Cranes—Graving Docks—Screw Docks —
Hydraulic Docks—Landing Slips, &c.—New York—Boston—Philadelphia—Bal­
timore—Charleston—New Orleans—Quebec—Montreal—Halifax.
T he eastern and southern coasts of North America are indented by
numerous bays and sheltered sounds, which afford natural facilities for
the formation of harbors more commodious than any which works of art
alone, however costly, could possibly supply, and to an extent of which,
perhaps, no other quarter of the globe can boast. The noble rivers with
which this country abounds, and its inland lakes, which, for expanse, de­




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The Harbors o f North America.

serve the name of seas, are subjects of great interest to the general tra­
veller; but to the civil engineer, who is more alive to the importance of
deep water and good shelter in the formation of harbors, and who, at
every step in the exercise of his profession, feels the difficulty, and is
made aware of the expense, which attend the attainment of these indis­
pensable qualities by artificial means, the natural harbors of the conti­
nent of North America afford a most interesting and instructive subject
of contemplation.
The original founders of the sea-port towns on this coast appear to
have been very judicious in their selection of situations for forming their
settlements. The towns, if not placed at the mouths of fine navigable
rivers, in most cases possess the advantages of sheltered anchorages,
with deep water, and accommodation for all classes of vessels. The
chief object in founding most of the towns, seems to have been the
formation of a port for shipping, or the cultivation of a valuable adjacent
tract of country watered by a navigable riv er; in which latter case the
harbors do not always possess the same natural advantages, but stand in
need of works for their improvement, which would involve a greater
expenditure of capital, and occupy more time in their execution, than a
country, as yet new in the arts, has been disposed to bestow upon them.
Viewing the harbors of America generally, however, no one can fail to
be struck with their importance, and, in connexion with its inland navi­
gation, convinced of their mighty effect in advancing the prosperity of
that enterprising country.
The largest ports of North America are Quebec, Halifax, and Mon­
treal, in the British dominions, and Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Charleston, and New Orleans, in the United States. Besides
these ports, there are many towns on the coast, of later origin, having
less trade and importance, hut nevertheless possessing splendid natural
facilities for the formation of harbors.
I was fortunate enough to visit many of the American ports, and in
most of them, I found that accommodation for vessels of great burden
had been obtained in so satisfactory a manner, and at so small an ex­
pense, as could not fail to strike with astonishment all who have seen the
enormously costly docks of London and Liverpool, and the stupendous
asylum harbors of Plymouth, Kingstown, and Cherbourg. I have little
hesitation in saying, that the smallest of the post-office packet stations in
the Irish Sea has required a much larger expenditure of capital, than
the Americans have invested in the formation of harbor accommodation
for trading vessels along a line of coast of no less than 4,000 miles, ex­
tending from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Mississippi.
The American packet-ships trading between New York and the ports
of London, Liverpool, and Havre, are generally allowed to be the finest
class of merchant-vessels at present navigating the ocean; and for their
accommodation we find in England the splendid docks of London and
Liverpool, and in France the docks of Havre. An European naturally
concludes that a berthage no less commodious and costly awaits their
arrival in the ports to which they sail; but great will he his astonishment
when, on reaching New York, the same fine vessel which lately graced
the solid stone-docks of Europe, is moored by bow and stem to a wood­
en quay; and, on leaving the vessel, he will not fail to miss the shade of
a covered verandah enclosed within high walls, the characteristic of a




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311

British dockyard, and will have any thing hut pleasant sensations when
he is ushered forth upon a hastily constructed wooden jetty, which, in
certain states of the weather, is deeply covered with mud, and generally
affords a footpath far from agreeable.
This state of things strikes a foreigner, on first landing in America, in
a very forcible manner. The high, and in some cases superfluous, finish
which the Americans bestow on many of their vessels employed in tra­
ding with this country, lead those who do not know the contrary to ex­
pect a corresponding degree of comfort, and an equal display of work­
manship, in the works of art connected with their ports ; and it strikes
one at first sight as a strange inconsistency, that all the works connected
with the formation of the harbors in America should be of so rude and
temporary a description, that, but for the sheltered situations in which
they are placed, and other circumstances of a no less favorable nature,
the structures would be unfit to serve the ends for which they were in­
tended. But when we come to inquire into the reasons for this differ­
ence between the construction of the European and American harbors,
they soon become apparent and satisfactory. The difficulties and expense
encountered in the formation of most European harbors, have arisen
chiefly from the necessity of constructing works of a sufficient strength
to withstand the violence of a raging sea to which they are in general
exposed, or in obtaining a sufficient depth of water, by the construction
of docks, or other means, to enable the vessels frequenting them to lie
afloat at all times of tide. In Britain, these difficulties in a great mea­
sure arise from the narrowness of our country, which necessarily con­
tains but a small extent of inland waters, whose quantity and currents,
when compared with the bays and rivers on the American coast, are
agents too unimportant and feeble to produce, without recourse to artifi­
cial means, the depth or shelter required in a good harbor. The Ameri­
cans, on the contrary, among the numerous large bays and sounds by
which their coasts are indented, have the choice of situations for their
harbors, perfectly defended from the surge of the ocean, and requiring
no works, like the breakwaters of Plymouth and Cherbourg, for their
protection; and the basins formed and scoured by their large navigable
rivers, afford, without resorting to the construction of docks like those of'
Liverpool, London, Leith, or Dundee, natural havens, where their lar­
gest vessels lie afloat at all times of tide within a few paces of their ware­
house doors.
The kind of workmanship which has been adopted in the formation
of the American harbors is almost the same in every situation; and the
harbors generally bear a strong resemblance to each other in the ar­
rangements of the quays, and even in their localities. This renders a
detailed description of the works of more than one harbor unnecessary;
and, for the purpose of giving an idea of an American harbor, I would
select that of New York, because it undoubtedly ranks as the first port
in America, and is, in fact, the second commercial city in the world, the
aggregate tonnage of the vessels belonging to the port being exceeded
only by that of London.
The island of Manhattan, in the state of New York, is about fifteen
miles in length, and from one to three miles in breadth. The city of New
York is situate on the southern extremity of this island, in north latitude
40° 42', and west longitude 74° 2', from Greenwich. It was founded b y




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The Harbors o f North America.

the Dutch in the year 1612, and it now contains a population of about
300,000 inhabitants, and measures about ten miles in circumference. On
the east, the shore of Manhattan Island is washed by the sound which
separates it from Long Island, and on the west by the estuary of the
river Hudson, which, as far up as Albany, is more properly an arm of
the sea than a river, the stream itself being small and contemptible.
These waters, which have received from the Americans the appellation
of the East and North rivers, meet at the southern extremity of the island
of Manhattan, and at their junction form the spacious bay and harbor of
New York, the great emporium of the western hemisphere.
The bay of New York, which extends about nine miles in length, and
fivemiles in breadth,has a communication with the Atlantic Ocean through
a strait of about two miles in breadth, between Staten Island and Long
Island. This strait is called “the Narrows and on either shore stands
a fort for protecting the entrance to the harbor. This magnificent bay,
which is completely sheltered from the stormy Atlantic by Long Island,
forms a noble deep water basin, and offers a spacious and safe anchorage
for shipping to almost any extent, while the quays which encompass the
town on its eastern, western, and southern sides, afford the necessary
facilities for loading and discharging cargoes. The shipping in the
harbor of New York, therefore, without the erection of breakwaters
or covering-piers, is, in all states of the wind, protected from the roll of
the Atlantic. Without the aid of docks, or even dredging, vessels of
the largest class lie afloat during low water of spring-tides, moored to the
quays which bound the seaward sides of the city; and, by the erection
of wooden jetties, the inhabitants are enabled, at a very small expendi­
ture, to enlarge the accommodation of their port, and adapt it to their
increasing trade.
The situation of New York is peculiarly favorable for the extensive
trade of which it has become the seat, by the nearness of its harbor to
the ocean; the quays being only about eighteen miles from the shore of
Sandy Hook, which is washed by the waters of the Atlantic. This
naturally makes the communication more direct and easy, as a very short
time elapses between making land and mooring at the quay; and all the
anxiety which is experienced after falling in with the European land,
in a coasting navigation of several days, before the mariner terminates
his cares by docking his vessel in Liverpool or London, or in any other
port of Great Britain, is thus avoided. I may mention, in illustration,
that I left the quays of New York at half-past eleven on the forenoon
of the 8th of July, 1837, in the “ Francois Premier” packet-ship, Cap­
tain Pell, for Havre, with a very light breeze from the northwest; and,
at seven o’clock on the evening of the same day, our vessel was gliding
through the Atlantic with nothing in sight but sky and water. This
case is strongly contrasted with what took place on my outward passage,
on which occasion I left Liverpool, under no less advantageous circum­
stances, on the 12th of March of the same year, in the “ Sheffield”
packet-ship, Captain Allen; but we did not clear the Irish land till two
days after our leaving port.
The perpendicular rise of tide in the harbor of New York is only
about five feet. The tidal wave, however, increases in its progress
northwards along the coast, till at length, in the bay of Fundy, it attains
the maximum height of ninety feet. Towards the south, on the contrary,




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313

its rise is very much decreased; and, in the Gulf of Mexico, is reduced
to eighteen inches, while on the shores of some of the W est India
islands it is quite imperceptible.
A bar extends from Sandy Hook to the shore of Long Island, across
the entrance to the harbor. Over this there is a depth of twenty-one
feet at low water, which is sufficient to float the largest class of mer­
chant-vessels.
The wharves erected for the accommodation of the shipping of New
York are formed entirely of timber and earth, in a very rude and simple
manner. A row of wooden piles, driven close to each other into the
bed of the river, forms the face-work of the quay, which is projected
from the shore as far as is necessary to obtain a depth of water suffi­
cient to float the largest class of vessels at all times of the tide. The
situation of New York, in this respect, is very favorable, as deep water
is very generally obtained at the distance of from forty to fifty feet from
the margin of the water. The piles, of which the face-work of the
piers is composed, are driven perpendicularly into the ground, and are
secured in their place by horizontal wale-pieces or stretchers, bolted on
the face of the quay, and running throughout its whole extent. Diago­
nal braces are also bolted on the inside of the piles, and beams of wood
are connected to the face-work, and extend behind it to the shore, in
which they are firmly imbedded. These beams act both as struts and
ties, serving to counteract the tendency of lateral pressure, whether
acting externally or internally, to derange the line of quay. The void
between the perpendicular piles, which form the face-work and the
sloping bank rising from the margin of the water, is generally filled up
with earth, obtained in the operation of levelling sites and excavating
foundations for the dwellings and warehouses of the city. This heart­
ing of earth is carried to the height of about five feet above high water
of spring-tides, at which level the heads of the piles, forming the facework, are cut off, and the whole roadway or surface of the quay is then
planked over. The planking used in forming the roadway of the quay
is, in some cases, left quite exposed ; but, in general, where there is a
great thoroughfare, the surface of the quays is pitched with round waterworn stones, and corresponds, in appearance and level, with the adja­
cent streets.
A continuous line of wooden quay-wall surrounds the city of New
York on its eastern, western, and southern sides ; and the inhabitants
are still rapidly extending their harbor accommodation to meet the
wants of increasing trade, which has now become so great, that the
wooden wharf-walls, by which the city is surrounded, have attained a
length of no less than seven miles. Numerous jetties, of the same con­
struction as the continuous quay-wall, project into the harbor from its
face, at distances of from three to four hundred feet apart. The jetties
are generally from two to three hundred feet in length, and from fifty to
sixty feet in breadth. The vessels frequenting the harbor, for the pur­
pose of discharging or loading their cargoes, are moored in the bays
formed between these projecting jetties, where they lie closely penned
together, waiting their turn to get a berth alongside the wharves.
The wood-work in the quays and jetties is of a very rude description.
The timbers employed in their construction are seldom squared, and
never, in any case, protected by paint or coal-tar from the destroying
V O L . I I . — N O . IV .
40




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The Harbors o f North Amer ica.

effects of the atmosphere. Wood is so plentiful in America, that to re­
pair, or even construct works, in which timber is the only material em­
ployed, is generally regarded as a veiy light matter.
The fixed crane for raising great weights, which is so generally used
in the quays of Europe, is not employed in New York, nor, in fact, in
any of the American ports. There, vessels generally discharge and
take in cargo with a purchase hung from the yard-arm. Tackling, at­
tached to moveable sheer-poles or derricks, is also in pretty general use
in some of the ports; but this apparatus proves a very poor substitute
for fixed quay-cranes, which are certainly of great convenience and
utility in a shipping port.
The want of proper accommodation for vessels requiring repair is
much felt by the shipping frequenting the American ports. The con­
struction of an effective graving dock is, under any circumstances, an
operation of considerable expense; but, in situations where the rise of
tide is small, the difficulties encountered in its construction, and the in­
convenience and expense attending the use of it when completed, prove
a great bar to the introduction of this useful appendage to a dock-yard.
It is, in a great measure, owing to these circumstances, that graving
docks, for the repair of trading vessels, are not used in the American
ports ; in the most important of which, the perpendicular rise of tide is
so small, as to lessen, in a great degree, the advantages which, under
more favorable circumstances, would be derived from their introduction.
The only graving docks at present existing in North America, are
those which have been erected for the use of the navy by the govern­
ment of the United States, in the navy-yards of Boston, in Massachu­
setts, and Norfolk, in Virginia. These docks have been formed of such
a size as to admit with ease the largest class of government vessels be­
longing to the American navy. The dock of Boston measures 341 feet
in length, and 80 feet in breadth, and has a depth of water of 30 feet.
But, although the depth of water in the dock is 30 feet at high water of
spring tides, the fall of the tide is only 13 feet, which leaves 17 feet of
water to be pumped out of the dock by means of a steam-engine every
time a vessel is admitted for repair, an operation both tedious and ex­
pensive. The material used in their construction is a grey-colored gra­
nite from Quincy in Massachusetts, and, as far as regards workmanship
and general execution, they are inferior to no marine works which I
have ever seen. These graving docks are believed to have cost about
152,000h each. They are the finest specimens of masonry which I met
with in America, and are equally creditable to the government of the
United States, and to Mr. Baldwin, the engineer under whose direction
they were constructed.
In the American harbors, the method of careening, or laying vessels on
their sides to get at their lower timbers, is still often resorted to. I, how­
ever, met with three different mechanical arrangements for raising ves­
sels from the water, when decay or damage renders this operation neces­
sary for effecting their repair. In one of these arrangements, the
requisite object is attained by the use of an inclined plane, (on the well
known principle of Morton’s patent-slip, hut of a very rude description,)
on which vessels are drawn ashore by means of a system of wheel-work
driven by a steam-engine.
The second method, which savors more of originality, is called the




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315

screw-dock, the operation of which I witnessed on one occasion in the
harbor of New York. The vessel to be raised by this apparatus was
floated over a platform of wood, sunk to the depth of about ten feet
below the surface of the water, and suspended from a strongly built wood­
en frame-work by sixteen iron screws four and a half inches in diameter.
This platform has several shores on its surface, which were brought to
bear equally on the vessel’s bottom, to prevent her from canting over on
being raised out of the water. About thirty men were employed in
working this apparatus, who, by the combined power of the lever, wheel
and pinion, and screw, succeeded, in the course of half an hour, in
raising the platform, loaded with a vessel of two hundred tons burden,
to the surface of the water, where she remained high and dry, suspended
between the wooden frames. At Baltimore I saw a large screw-dock,
constructed on the same principles, on which the platform for supporting
the vessel was suspended by forty screws of about five inches in dia­
meter.
The last of those methods to which I have alluded, is an apparatus
called the hydraulic-dock, a beautiful application of the principle of
Bramah’s press, to produce a power capable of raising vessels of 800
tons burden. In this apparatus, as in the screw-dock, the vessel is raised
on a platform swung between two frames. In the hydraulic-dock, how­
ever, the platform is suspended by forty chains, twenty on each side,
which pass over cast-iron pullies, supported on the top of the wooden
frame-work. The lower ends of the chains are fixed to the platform,
and the upper ends to a horizontal beam of wood, which is attached by
means of a crosshead to the ram of a hydraulic engine. When the
ram, therefore, which is placed in a horizontal position, is moved, by
the injection of water into the cast-iron cylinder in which it works, the
motion is communicated to the horizontal beam, and thence, by the sus­
pending chains, to the platform bearing the vessel, which is thus slowly
raised to the surface.
The cylinder and ram of the particular apparatus which I saw, were
made in England, at the works of Messrs. Bolton and Watt. The fix­
tures of the cylinder are imbedded in a large mass of masonry, so as
to render it quite immoveable. The perfect stability of this part of the
apparatus is obviously of the highest importance, as the safety of the
suspended vessel depends in a great measure on the attainment of this
object. The external diameter of the water cylinder is twenty-eight
inches, and its internal diameter is twelve inches. The ram which
Works in it is eleven inches in diameter, and ten feet in length. There
are several racks attached to the apparatus, for supporting the platform,
and taking part of the weight off the ram after the vessel is suspended.
When she is ready to be lowered, these racks are unshipped, and the
water being permitted to escape through a small aperture provided in
the cylinder for that purpose, the vessel slowly descends into the wafer.
The water is injected into the cylinder by a high-pressure steam-engine,
of six horses’ power, and the attendance of four persons is all that is
necessary to raise a vessel of 800 tons register. The perpendicular
lift of these docks is ten feet, which is found to be sufficient: the rise
of tide in New York harbor being only five feet at spring tides, renders
a greater height unnecessary.




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The Harbors o f North America.

The screw and hydraulic docks belong to a party of private indivi­
duals, called the “ New York Screw-Dock Company,” who derive a
considerable revenue from raising vessels by their ingenious apparatus.
The following are their term s: —
For vessels under 75 tons, 31. per day.
Single-decked vessels of 75 tons and upwards, 10d. per ton per day.
Double-decked vessels of 75 tons and upwards, Is. 0\d. per ton per
day.
After the first day, the charge is
For vessels under 170 tons, 31. per day.
For all vessels of 170 tons and upwards, 4Jd. per ton per day.
Cargo or ballast is charged at the rate of Is. 0\d. per ton.
The wharves in the harbor of New York, are in general the property
of private individuals, possessing the land on the margin of the river.
Some of them also belong to the corporation of New York. The wharf­
age dues are collected by the owners of the respective quays, and vary
in their rates according to the local advantages which the sites possess,
and the pleasure of the parties to whom they belong.
Vessels have, occasionally, been damaged while lying at the quays of
New York, by the vast masses of floating ice which, upon the breaking
up of the frost, are brought down from the interior of the country by
the waters of the Hudson. For the protection of shipping against the
recurrence of such accidents, which, however, are liable to affect only
the vessels lying on the western side of the town, the erection of a break­
water in the river above New York harbor, has been for some time con­
templated.
Before quitting the subject of harbors, I shall make a few general
remarks on some of the other American ports of consequence.
Boston, in Massachusetts, is generally supposed to rank next in im­
portance to New York and New Orleans. The town is situated at the
head of Massachusetts Bay, which extends over about fifty miles of coast
between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, and contains within its limits many
excellent anchorages. Boston Bay, in which the harbor has been form­
ed, is a sheltered inlet of about seventy-five square miles in extent, en­
closed by two necks of land, which so nearly approach each other as to
leave only a very narrow entrance communicating directly with the At­
lantic. The exports from Boston are of a varied nature, consisting
chiefly of the produce and manufactures of that part of the United States
called New England. I h e population of the town is about 80,000.
Its situation is curious. Placed on a peninsula having deep water close
in-shore, and almost entirely surrounding it, it is connected with the ad­
joining country by means of a dam and seven wooden bridges, of which
the most extensive is about a mile and a half in length. The dam con­
sists of an embankment of earth 8000 feet in length, enclosed between
two stone retaining walls. It serves the double purpose of affording a
means of communication, and also forming a large basin, in which the
tide-water being collected, a water power is created for driving ma­
chinery.
The quays at Boston are constructed in the same style, and of the
same materials, as those of New York, but more attention has been
paid by the builders to the durability of the work. Some of the wharves
extend about a quarter of a mile into the harbor, and are of sufficient




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317

breadth to have a row of warehouses built on them. The rise of tide
in Boston harbor is thirteen feet in spring and nine feet in neap tides.
In the suburb called Charlestown, which is connected with Boston by
means of three wooden bridges, is situate the navy-yard of the United
States, and the graving-dock already noticed.
Philadelphia is a town of 230,000 inhabitants, and stands on a penin­
sula between the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill in the state of Penn­
sylvania. Its harbor is at the head of the ship navigation of Delaware
Bay, a vast arm of the sea, which is navigable for vessels of the largest
class as far as Philadelphia, a distance of about a hundred miles from
the Atlantic Ocean. In the bay of Delaware the tide has generally a
rise of only three feet, but it is sometimes much increased by the state
of the winds.
The town of Baltimore contains a population of about 80,000 inha­
bitants, and lies on the north side of the river Patapsco, about fourteen
miles from its mouth. The basin forming the harbor is a splendid sheet
of water, in which it is said 2000 vessels could ride at anchor with ease.
Chesapeake Bay, which receives the waters of the river Patapsco, on
which Baltimore stands, is navigable for 200 miles from the ocean, and
forms an outlet for the trade of the ports of Baltimore, Annapolis,
Washington, Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Norfolk, and receives the
waters of the Susquehannah, Patapsco, Potomac, and James rivers. The
rise of tide at Baltimore is about five feet, but is much influenced by the
state of the wind, which has a great effect upon the waters of Chesa­
peake Bay.
Charleston, in South Carolina, is a port of considerable size, built on
a tongue of land formed by the rivers Ashley and Cooper. There is a
bar at the entrance of the1harbor with only twelve feet of water on it
at low tides, but within the bar there is a good anchorage. The rise of
tide in this harbor is about six feet.
As I had it not in my power to visit the Mississippi, I cannot speak
of the port of New Orleans from personal knowledge ; but as it is cer­
tainly the most important in the southern states, I felt unwilling to omit
all mention of it in this sketch, and therefore applied to my friend Cap­
tain Basil Hall, who has kindly sent me the following notice on the
subject.
“ You are quite right,” says Captain Hall, “ to include New Orleans in
your list of American harbors, for though it is not strictly a sea-port, it
answers all the purposes of one in a remarkable degree. New Orleans
lies at the distance of about a hundred miles from the Gulf of Mexico,
and the ebb and flow of the tide do not reach so high as the city. The
level of the river is, however, subject to fluctuations, in consequence of
the changes in the supply of water from the tipper countries through
which it flows. It rises from January to May, remains full all June and
a part of July, after which it begins to fall, and goes on decreasing in
height till September and October, when it is lowest. The perpendicu­
lar difference in height of the surface of the Mississippi at New Orleans,
is about thirteen or fourteen feet, and when at its lowest, it is nearly on
a level with the sea at the mouth of the river, so that the flow is then
scarcely perceptible.
“ In former times, before steam-navigation was known, there was
great delay, and considerable difficulty as well as danger, in getting




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The Harbors o f North America.

from the sea to New Orleans, in consequence of the opposing stream,
the numerous shoals, and the very tortuous nature of the course, which
rendered it scarcely possible to sail up all the way with the same wind.
To these annoyances may be added the very bad nature of the anchor­
ing ground every where, and the difficulty as well as risk of lashing
large vessels to the banks of such a river. All these things rendered
New Orleans a harbor highly objectionable in a nautical point of view.
“ Now, however, that steam has got command of ‘ time and space,’
New Orleans may be considered an excellent sea-port, safe, and as easy
of access as of egress. I need not mention that there are at all times
any number of steam-tugs ready to take ships down the river, or to
bring them up. When I was there in April, 1827, eleven years ago,
several steam-boats left the city every evening about sunset, each having
in tow one or more vessels astern, besides one, two, or three lashed on each
side, so that the boat was often quite hid by the cluster around her. In
this way they proceeded down, and at daylight came to the bar which
lies across the mouth of the river, opening’into the Gulf of Mexico. On
reaching the sea, or rather before they reached it, the steam-boats cast
off their companions, and left them to be taken in charge by their respec­
tive pilots, unless in cases of calm or contrary wind, when, of course,
they got a tow into the offing.
“ The most important service of these steam-boats, however, is to tow
ships up the river, for although it is always troublesome, and often very
dangerous, to drop down with the current from New Orleans to the sea,
it can be and is done, even without the help of steam. But to make
way upwards against the Mississippi is a most heart-breaking work
without such aid, and now-a-days the attempt would be considered ab­
surd. Accordingly, the steam-vessels which have carried down the
ships during the night, and have launched them in safety over the bar
into the salt sea, look about them for others, which having made the
land, are ready to enter the river. These they seize upon, and cither
take in tow, or lash alongside of them, and tow up to New Orleans.
Of course they cannot, as in the downward case, carry along with them
such a cluster as they brought down, nor is it likely that they will often
be called upon to exert their strength so far, for the ships arrive off the
river by one or two at a time, and are not prepared, as within the port,
to start in bodies at a given time.
“ In this way, it may be fairly stated, that New Orleans, though a hun­
dred miles from the sea, is virtually one of the best- and most accessible
ports in the Union. It may be added, that, as all the ships lie alongside
of the levee or embankment which separates the river from the city, and
which serves the purpose of a perfectly commodious wharf, and as the
water is always smooth, nothing can be more easy and secure than the
communication, both for loading and unloading goods. The ships lie
alongside of each other in tiers, and I have seldom seen, in any country,
such a forest of masts.
“ Abreast of the upper part of the city may be seen, in like manner,
numerous tiers of steam-boats of gigantic dimensions, just arrived from,
or preparing to start for, the upper countries, through which the Missis­
sippi and its innumerable tributaries pass. And farther up in this most
extraordinary of harbors, lie crowds of huge rafts, or arks, as they are
called,— rude vessels without masts, which have dropped down the river,




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319

and are loaded with that portion of the produce of the interior which
will not bear the expense of steam-carriage.
“ At every hour, — I had almost said at every minute of the day, — the
magnificent steam-boats which convey passengers from New Orleans into
the heart of the western country, fire off their signal guns, and dash
away at a rate which makes me giddy even to think of.
“ I must now conclude this brief notice, by regretting that the limita­
tion in your time did not allow you to visit, and to describe in detail, this
most remarkable of all the wonderful commercial phenomena,— as it
may be called,— which the great western confederacy of states presents
to the traveller, namely, a mighty city built in the midst of one of the
most unhealthy swamps on earth, and a port, 100 miles from the sea,
which rivals, in all essential respects, that of New York or London;
possessing, moreover, an uninterrupted and ready communication with
the interior parts of a vast continent, to the distance of thousands upon
thousands of miles, every where rife with civilization, though, but a few
years ago, the whole was one vast wilderness, the exclusive abode either
of alligators, wild beasts, or savages!”
These are the most considerable ports in the United States ; but, in
addition, it may not be amiss shortly to notice the following bays and
sounds, which deserve attention, a3 many of them afford good anchorage
and sheltered lines of navigation.
Passamaquoddy Bay is situate at the boundary between the British do­
minions and the United States. It receives the waters of the river St.
Croix, the boundary line between the two countries. The tide in it rises
twenty-five feet.
Penobscot Bay receives the waters of the Penobscot River, and has a
rise of tide of ten feet.
Narragansett Bay is navigable for vessels drawing sixteen feet of
water to the town of Providence, which is about thirty-five miles from
the sea. The town of Newport, in this bay, though a place of little im­
portance, has one of the finest natural harbors in America.
Long Island Sound lies between the mainland and Long Island, and
extends in a northeasterly direction from New York harbor. It affords
a sheltered line of navigation of about a hundred and twenty miles in
extent.
Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, in North Carolina, are more remarka­
ble for their curious geological formation, than for any advantages held
out by them for navigation, for which the difficulties of their entrance
and shallow water wholly unfit them. The narrow stripes of land, by
which these sounds are separated from the Atlantic Ocean, stretch along
the coast for a distance of about two hundred miles, and extend about
forty miles south of Pamlico Sound. They are very little elevated
above the level of the sea, and from their alluvial formation appear to
have been gradually deposited by the Gulf Stream, which flows from
the Gulf of Mexico, charged with the sediment and earthy matters borne
down by the Mississippi and other streams which discharge themselves
into the Gulf of Mexico.
Chatham, Appalachee, and Mobile bays, in the Gulf of Mexico, are
not reported as possessing, in any extraordinary degree, the qualifica­
tions of good havens, and, as already noticed, there is very little rise of
tide on this coast. It may also be mentioned, that the hot and unhealthy




320

The Harbors o f North Amer ica.

climate of all the southern ports of the United States, from Charleston
to New Orleans inclusive, as well as the nature of the slave population
of the southern states, renders them very unsuitable for the growth of
that hardy race of seamen, of which the northern ports of the country
are the true and only nurseries.
The naval-yards belonging to the government of the United States
are established at Boston, Portsmouth in New Hampshire, New York,
Philadelphia, Washington, Norfolk in Virginia, and Pensacola in the
Gulf of Mexico ; and those of them which I had an opportunity of visit­
ing seemed to be very well regulated. Considering the natural advan­
tages held out by that country, and the abundance of fine timber pro­
duced in it, it is not surprising that the Americans have bestowed so
much attention upon naval affairs, or that their efforts should have been
crowned by so great success in the improvement both of inland and
maritime navigation. The genius of the people for naval affairs is
doubtless the birthright of their British origin, and their patrimony has
been improved by the energy which characterizes all their efforts.
Quebec is the seat of government of Lower Canada, and, in a com­
mercial point of view, is the first port in the British dominions in Ame­
rica. It is situate at the junction of the river-St. Charles with the St.
Lawrence ; and, though distant fully 700 miles from the Atlantic ocean,
the spacious and beautiful bay of Quebec, formed by the junction of the
two rivers, affords a noble deep water anchorage for vessels of all sizes,
and almost in any numbers.
The bay measures about three miles and three quarters in length, and
two miles in breadth, and the water in some parts of it is twenty-eight
fathoms in depth. The population of the town is about 22,000, and its
trade consists in the export of wood, potash, and furs, the produce of
Upper and Lower Canada. The rise of tide at Quebec is twenty-three
feet in spring tides, and the quays and wharves there, as well as in the
harbors of the United States, are constructed entirely of wood.
The ferry-boats at Quebec, plying between the opposite sides of the
river, which is about a quarter of a mile in breadth, are propelled by
horses and oxen. These animals are secured in small houses on the
decks of the vessels ; and the effort they make in the act of walking on
the circumference of a large horizontal wheel, produces a power which
is applied to drive the paddle-wheels of the ferry-boat, in the same man­
ner as the motion of the wheel in the tread-mill is applied to the perform­
ance of different descriptions of work. I have seen horse ferry-boats
in Holland, and, I believe, they have also been used in America, in which
the power was more advantageously applied by means of an apparatus
like the gin of a threshing-mill, in which case the horses are not stationa­
ry, but are made to walk in a circle, and the motion communicated by
them to an upright shaft, is conveyed, by means of wheel-work, to the
paddle-wheels of the vessel. A boat of this kind was used for some
time in England, between Norwich and Yarmouth.
Montreal, which is 180 miles to the westward of Quebec, and 8S0
miles from the ocean, is at the head of the ship navigation of the St.
Lawrence, and considerably above the influence of the tide. The town
is built on the island whose name it bears, which is situate at the junction
of the Ottowa, or Grand river, with the St. Lawrence. The quays and
landing slips at Montreal are built of stone; and in this respect it differs




Law s relative to Debtor and Creditor.

321

from the other American ports which I have noticed. The material used
in their construction is a blue limestone, which is very abundant through­
out the greater part of Canada, and is much used in all building opera­
tions. The trade of Montreal is of the same description as that of Que­
bec, though not so extensive.
Halifax harbor is considered one of the finest in the world, and is
calculated to afford anchorage for upwards of a thousand vessels of the
largest class. It is a place of very considerable importance, for through
it comes much of the trade of Nova Scotia; and it is the British post
packet station for Canada.
Such is a brief sketch of the construction and capabilities of some of
the principal harbors of America, in the formation of which nature has
done so much, that little has been left for the labor of man, and works
of an extensive and massive description, and operations such as are found
to be indispensible in rendering European harbors accessible or commo­
dious, have there been found to be unnecessary. By erections of a tem­
porary description, constructed of wood, the inhabitants have been ena­
bled, along the whole line of coast, to afford, at a very small cost, ac­
commodation for an extent and class of shipping, to obtain which, in any
other quarter of the globe, would have involved an enormous investment
of capital, and a much greater consumption of time.

A r t . V.—LAW S R E L A T IV E TO DEBTO R AND CREDITOR.
No. I.
M EA N S O P E N F O R C IN G D E B T S A G A IN S T C IT IZ E N S O P T H E S T A T E O F M A IN E .

B y the statutes of Maine, no person can be arrested on any suit,
founded on contract express or implied, bond or other specialty, or on a
judgment in contract where the sum demanded, nor on any execution
issued on any judgment, where the debt or damages are less than ten
dollars, nor on any suit on a judgment or on an execution issued on a
judgment founded on any prior judgment, where the original debt or
damages are less than ten dollars. In all other cases in contracts, ex­
press or implied, bond or other specialty, or on a judgment in civil ac­
tions, no person shall be arrested or imprisoned on mesne process, and
no such process shall run against the body of such debtor, nor shall any
person be arrested or imprisoned on any execution issued on any judg­
ment on such contract, bond, specialty, or judgment, nor shall any such
execution run against the body of such person, except as hereinafter ex­
cepted.
In all actions not founded on contract, express or implied, or on judg­
ment on such contract, as above is provided, process shall run against the
body of the defendant, and he or she may be arrested or imprisoned in
mesne process.
If property belonging to a debtor can be found, it may be attached on
mesne process, or original writ, as it is called, in contradistinction to an
execution. When personal property is attached by an officer, he either
takes and retains possession of it, or permits the debtor to resume it, by
V O L . I I . — n o . iv.
41




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Law s relative to Debtor and Creditor.

giving receipters ; that is, one or more of his friends, of sufficient pro­
perty in the estimate of the officer, gives to him an accountable receipt
for the property attached by him on the original writ. Property attached
must be levied on in thirty days after final judgment, or the lien created
by the attachment is lost. If neither personal nor real property of the
debtor can be found to attach, the original writ is served by leaving a
summons with the debtor, and not by an arrest and commitment, or hold­
ing him to bail.
P R O P E R T Y E X E M P T F R O M A T T A C H M E N T A N D E X E C U T IO N .

Sympathy for the unfortunate debtor, and an enlightened regard for
the situation of himself and family, have induced the legislature at differ­
ent times to exempt certain portions of his property from all suits, dis­
tresses, or executions. The articles exempted are, the arms, equipments,
and uniforms, of officers and privates in the militia ; wearing apparel,
beds, bedsteads, bedding, and household utensils, of any debtor, necessa­
ry for himself, his wife and children; the tools of any debtor necessary
for his trade or occupation; the bibles and school books which may be
in actual use in his or her family; all cast-iron stoves and stoves made
of sheet-iron, used exclusively for the purpose of warming buildings;
provided, that not more than one such stove to each building owned or
occupied by the same person or family shall be exempted ; and provided
also, that the beds and bedding exempted as aforesaid, shall not exceed
one bed, bedstead, and necessary bedding for two persons, nor the house­
hold furniture exceed fifty dollars in value; one cow, one swine, ten
sheep, with the wool which may be shorn from them, and thirty hundred
of hay for the use of said cow, and two tons for the use of said sheep.
One cow, and one heifer or calf, until the heifer or calf becomes three
years old, or shall have had a calf, are exem pt; also, two swine, one of
which is not to exceed in weight one hundred pounds. When a debtor
owns a cow and heifer more than three years old, or which has had a
calf, or two swine, each exceeding in weight one hundred pounds, the
debtor, by himself or agent, may elect either of the former, and either of
the latter, to be exempt from attachment. All produce of farms, while
standing and growing, and until harvested, and com and grain necessary
for the sustenance of a debtor and his family, not exceeding thirty bush­
els, and all the debtor’s interest in one pew in any meeting-house where
he and his family statedly worship, are also exempted. So are all po­
tatoes raised or purchased by any person for the consumption of himself
and family. Also, all firewood conveyed to any person’s house for his
family’s use, to the extent of twelve cords at one time. Boats, not ex­
ceeding two tons burthen, usually employed in the fishing business, are
exem pt; but not more than one boat to one individual; the boat must
belong wholly to citizens of the state. The family burying-ground is
also exempt from attachment, while used as such, and not cultivated;
but it must not contain over one half of an acre. One plough, of the
value of ten dollars, one cart of the value of twenty-five dollars, one har­
row of the value of five dollars, and all necessary hand farming tools of
the value of ten dollar's ; and one cooking stove of the value of thirtyfive dollars, are exempted. So also are all anthracite and bituminous
coals, and all charcoal, conveyed to the house of any person for the use




Laws relative to Debtor and Creditor.

323

of himself and family, not exceeding five tons or chaldrons of anthracite
or bituminous coals, and fifty bushels of charcoal, and that only when used
for domestic purposes. Any person who shall raise from his or her own
cow or cows, or who shall purchase and pay for one pair of bull or steer
calves, under one year old, shall hold the same exempt from attachment
and execution, so long as they shall remain the property of the person
raising or procuring the same.
Such are the liberal provisions of the laws of Maine; mindful of the
protection which they extend to the farming interest, and of the gene­
rous character of the acts for the promotion of the settlement of her pub­
lic lands, well may the poor but honest debtor, who is exposed to the
“ distress infinite,” and infinite distress of the laws of New York in re­
gard to landlord and tenant, exclaim to the sturdy yeomanry of our sister
state,
“ O fortunatas nimium, sua si bona norint,
Agricolas.”

It may be here remarked, that choses in action are not attachable in
Maine ; almost every other interest which an individual or a corporation
possesses can be reached by attachment. A right in equity to redeem
mortgaged property, and the estate, right, title, or interest which any
person has by virtue of a bond or contract in writing, to a conveyance of
real estate ujton condition to be performed by him, whether he be the
original obligee or assignee of the bond or contract, are liable to attach­
ment and execution. So also is the franchise of a corporation.
In case the debtor has goods, effects, or credits, entrusted to a third
person, which cannot be attached by the ordinary process of law, his
creditor may sue out a trustee writ or process of foreign attachment, as it
is called, which requires the supposed trustee to disclose the state of his
affairs with the debtor at the time the process was served upon him ;
upon examination on oath, and in writing, he is charged as trustee or
not, as the court shall upon consideration determine.
If a debtor reside out of the state, owning property within it, the pro­
perty may be attached; and the court will order such notice to be given
to the defendant as the case may require.
A R R EST ON M E SN E PR O C ESS.

Any person not a resident of the state, and who is about to depart
therefrom, may be arrested on mesne process, and held to bail or com­
mitted to prison, if the creditor, his agent, or attorney, will make oath or
affirm, that he believes the debtor is about to depart, and take with him
property or means exceeding the amount required for his immediate
support, and that the demand in the writ, or the principal part thereof,
is due.
The debtor so arrested, on demand made by him on the officer who
arrested him, or the jailer, must be taken before two justices of the quo­
rum, to be selected by him, to disclose the state of his affairs; notice
of the time and place must be given to the creditor or his attorney; if he
disclose and answer all interrogatories, and will sign and offer to make
oath to the same, the justices shall administer such oath, and discharge
the debtor from arrest or imprisonment, or remand him, as the case may




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Laws relative to Deltor and Creditor.

be ; in case of his discharge, no execution shall run against his body in
that suit; otherwise, if he be not discharged.
All attachable property which the debtor may disclose at such exami­
nation, or so much as the creditor may designate to satisfy his demand,
is held as attached from the time of the disclosure, and the officer must
make return thereof in the writ.
If a person be served with writ or process in any other manner than by
arrest of the body, he may disclose the actual state of his affairs, and the
justice or court may determine that execution shall issue against his
estate or property only, or otherwise, as the justice or court may require;
the attachable property disclosed is held as attached.
Whenever any person is arrested or imprisoned on mesne process in
a civil action, he may be released by giving bond to the creditor, with
surety to be approved by a justice of the quorum, in double the amount
for which he is imprisoned, to disclose the state of his affairs within fif­
teen days after final judgment against him in the suit; he must notify
the creditor to attend; if, on examination, it appears that he has attacha­
ble estate or property, the judgment is a lien on it for thirty days after
the examination and disclosure; and the debtor shall go at large on the
bond given when he was arrested, until the creditor elect to levy his
execution on the property disclosed, or on the body of the debtor; if the
debtor does not on his disclosure entitle himself to a discharge, he shall
be committed to prison, unless the creditor within thirty days elect to
levy the execution he may obtain on the property disclosed, in which
case the body of the debtor is forever discharged from any execution
founded on the judgment.
A R R E S T S O N E X E C U T IO N .

A debtor arrested or imprisoned on execution issuing on a judgment
in a civil suit, upon giving bond to the creditor, and with a surety or
sureties to be approved by the creditor or two justices of the quorum,
conditioned that within six months he will cite the creditor before two
justices of the quorum and submit himself to examination, and take the
oath hereinafter given, or pay the debt, interest, costs, add fees, may he
discharged; if he fail to fulfil the condition of the bond, the same shall
be forfeited, and judgment on any suit on such bond, is rendered for the
amount of the execution, and fees, and costs of commitment, with inte­
rest thereon at twenty-five per cent.; a suit on the bond must be com­
menced within a year after forfeiture.
The acts for the relief of poor debtors have been numerous, loose,
and defective. The practice was very general for the debtor, after gi­
ving the six months’ bond to the sheriff, to apply to a justice of the peace,
requesting him to issue a citation to the creditor, notifying him of his
desire to disclose and take the oath. Blank forms for such purpose were
printed. The statute did not expressly state how the debtor was to
cite the creditor. It was held by the supreme court of the state, in the
case of Knight v. Norton et ah, decided in 1838, but not yet reported, that
the debtor must apply in writing to the keeper of the jail, who must
then apply to a justice of the peace of the county, who should there­
upon issue a citation to the creditor, or his attorney, to attend the disclo­
sure of the debtor.




Laws relative to Debtor and, Creditor.

325

This decision caused great surprise and alarm, for it followed that the
bonds of debtors were forfeited who had disclosed without conforming
to the preliminary proceedings declared to be necessary by the court
as they construed the statute. Where the citation was issued by a
justice on application of the debtor, and the year from the forfeiture had
not elapsed, parties commenced suits on the bonds, even in cases where
the creditor or his attorney had been present at the examination of the
debtor, not only with the hope of recovering their debts from the sure­
ties, but also the twenty-five per cent, interest.
The promulgation of the opinion of the court caused the legislature,
at its next session in 1839, to pass an act for the relief of sureties on
poor debtor’s bonds; and so pressing did they consider the exigency,
that a clause provided it should take effect from and after its passage;
without that provision, it would have been under the operation of the
general provision of law, which prevents acts from taking effect until a
certain number of days have elapsed after the close of the session at which
they were enacted.
It provided that in all cases pending or to be commenced on such a
bond, where justices of the peace issued the notice to the creditors, or
where the notice signed by the debtor was duly served upon the sreditor or his attorney, the defendant should be entitled to a trial by jury,
who should assess the damages, if any, the plaintiff’ sustained; if, in
their opinion, he had sustained none, they were to return a verdict for
the defendant, notwithstanding there may have been in law a breach of
the conditions of the bond. This law was acceptable to the people, and
put an end to the suits brought on bonds ; though it seems, to say the
least, to push legislation to the very verge of constitutionality.
A precedent, however, may be found for it, in the act of 1834, which
provided, that no action should thereafterward be maintained to recover
damages for an escape of any debtor committed on execution, except a
special action of the case; the action of debt having been previously in
use. This act was pronounced to be not unconstitutional on the ground
of operating retrospectively, or disturbing vested rights, by the supreme
court of the state, in the case of Thayer et al. v. Seavy, 2 Fairfield, 284;
and they decided that it operated upon actions pending previous to its
enactment.
POO R

d e b t o r ’s

O A T H ; L E G IS L A T IO N .

The oath to be administered to poor debtors, is as follows:
“ I , ------------, do solemnly swear, (or affirm, as the case may be,) that
I have not any estate, real or personal, in possession, reversion, or re­
mainder, except the goods and estate exempted by law from attachment
and execution, (and the property I have now disclosed, as the case may
be,) and that I have not, since the commencement of this suit against me,
or at any time, directly sold, loaned, leased, or otherwise disposed of, or
conveyed, or entrusted to any person or persons whomsoever, all or any
part of the estate, real or personal, whereof I have been the lawful own­
er or possessor, with any intent or design to secure the same, or to re­
ceive or expect any profit, advantage, or benefit therefrom personally, or
that any or all of my family, heirs, or friends, shall receive or expect any
profit, advantage, or benefit therefrom, with an intent or design to de­




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Law s relative to Debtor and Creditor.

fraud any of my creditors. So help me, God ! (Or,— this I do under the
pains and penalties of perjury.)”
It has been before stated, that choses in action are not attachable. Of
course, the debtor would, on his examination, readily admit that he had
negotiable promissory notes and bank bills; they could not be attached;
he disclosed them and kept them for his own use, for the law did not
provide that he should surrender them. He therefore received his dis­
charge from the justices. In some cases, where the debtor felt that the
oath was one he could hardly take, he found some magic influence in the
words, “ to defraud my creditors,” and concluded he should not swear
falsely if he had disposed of his property since the suit, but did not intend
to defraud his creditors, though he concealed his property!
To obviate some of these difficulties, the legislature, by an act passed
in 1839, explanatory of and in addition to the acts for the relief of poor
debtors, authorized justices of the peace to issue notice to creditors upon
application of debtors arrested or committed on warrant of distress or
execution for the purpose of taking the poor debtor’s oath; thus estab­
lishing by law the very course which the supreme court, by a circuitous
process of reasoning, decided to be invalid. The act contains this sec­
tion, that “ whenever any debtor shall make a disclosure under any of the
several acts to which this is additional, and shall, in such disclosure, dis­
close any bank bills, notes, accounts, bonds, or other chose in action, or
any property, not exempt by law from attachment, which cannot be come
at to be attached, then, and in such case, if the debtor and creditor can­
not agree upon the amount of such property which shall go to the credi­
tor in discharge of the debt, the debtor shall choose one man, the creditor
another, and the magistrate a third, all disinterested, who shall, under
oath, appraise off sufficient property thus disclosed, to pay the debt, and
the debtor shall therefrom be discharged; and in case the creditor shall
not appear at the disclosure of said debtor, or, appearing, shall refuse or
neglect to choose an appraiser, the justices shall appoint a man for him,
to appraise such property as is disclosed as aforesaid.”
This law is another evidence of the futility of legislation in regard to
a system imperfect and difficult to administer in a manner which shall be
just to debtors and creditors. The practical operation is this : a person
about to disclose, will take care not to be in possession of any valuable
choses in action, if he wishes to protect his means; or if he be perfectly
■upright, having collected and used the best of his claims for his support,
the residium of his notes and accounts will be almost worthless. In the
latter case, is the creditor obliged to take this kind of property in dis­
charge of his debts % If the disinterested appraisers, appraise off $1,000
of doubtful paper, is the creditor obliged to take it in discharge of his
debt of $5001 This is a serious difficulty. It is a law made to prevent
the retaining of choses in action by a debtor; but instead of making him
disgorge in a manner which would benefit the creditor, it subjects the
latter to what most persons esteem an arbitrary, if not an unconstitu­
tional enactment; at any rate, it is believed, that this provision has not
been productive of any advantage to creditors.
P R O C E E D IN G S IN

CA SE D E B T O R C O M M IT T E D IS U N A B L E T O

S U P P O R T H IM ­

S E L F IN P R IS O N .

I f a person committed to prison on execution, complains to the keeper




Law s relative to Debtor and Creditor.

327

that he has not estate sufficient to support him there, the keeper must
apply to a justice of the peace, who must make out a notification under
his hand and seal to the creditor, of such prisoner’s desire to take the
benefit of the oath above transcribed, and of the time and place of cap­
tion, which must be served on the creditor, if living in the state, or if a
non-resident, on his attorney, fifteen days before the day of caption ; if
no creditor or attorney live within the state, the notification must be left
with the clerk of the court, or justice from whom execution issued, at
least fifteen days before the intended caption.
Two justices of the peace and quorum may, at the time and place of
caption, examine the notification and return, and if in due form, may
hear, and if requested, take in writing the disclosure of the debtor; and
if satisfied that it is true, may administer the oath above mentioned; they
shall then make out a certificate thereof (as in the other case of satisfac­
tory disclosure on execution) under their hands and seals, to the prisonkeeper, and deliver it to the debtor, who must file it in the jailer’s office ;
he shall then be discharged and set at liberty from commitment on the
execution concerning which said notification issued.
P E N A L T Y F O R D IS C L O S IN G F A L S E L Y .

If any debtor, authorized to disclose on oath or affirmation, according
to the provisions of the acts, shall disclose falsely, or withhold or suppress
the truth, he will, on conviction thereof, be adjuged guilty of perjury,
and receive no benefit from his said oath or affirmation. The creditor
may also commence a special action on the case against him, and he shall
be held to bail in the w rit; if judgment be rendered against him in the
suit, it shall be for double the debt and costs, and he may be committed
on the execution, without any privilege of release or discharge under
the acts for relief of poor debtors.
The discharge of a debtor under the provisions of the acts, does not
impair a creditor’s right against his property.
If any person knowingly aid or assist any debtor or prisoner, in any
fraudulent concealment of his property or estate, or any transfer thereof,
to secure or conceal the same from creditors, to prevent the same from
attachment or execution, he is answerable in a special action of the case
to any creditor who may sue for the same, in double the amount of the
property or estate so fraudulently concealed or transferred,— not ex­
ceeding double the amount of such creditor’s debt. Persons committed
by virtue of any warrant for the collection of any tax, are entitled to the
benefit of the acts, by giving bond to disclose, etc.
If the jailer require security of the creditor or his attorney for sup­
port of the prisoner, in case he claims relief as a pauper, and it is not
furnished within eight days after the request, or money advanced for such
support, he shall discharge the debtor from prison. The bond taken by
an officer, when he serves an execution, is returned therewith by him for
the benefit of the creditor, who is entitled to the same on filing a copy
with the clerk of the court, or justice to whom the execution is re­
turned.
The fees allowed by law to the justices for their services, which are
oftentimes tedious and vexatious, are so very inconsiderable, that the
debtor, howsoever poor, is not so much troubled to raise the amount, as




Mercantile Law.

328

he is to find justices of the quorum of sufficient leisure to devote perhaps
days to an investigation, for which they are ent.itled to the enormous fee
of fifty cents each !
It may not be irrelevant to remark, that notes, accounts, etc., are out­
lawed in six years, with certain exceptions. An assignment of property
for the benefit of creditors, must provide for an equal distribution of all
the debtor’s estate, real and personal, among such creditors, as after no­
tice became parties thereto, in proportion to their respective claims, ex­
cepting such property as is by law exempt from attachment. The as­
signor must make affidavit to the truth thereof, a certificate of which
must be made upon the assignment, by the magistrate before whom it
was taken.
The assignees, within fourteen days after the assignment was made to
them, must give public notice thereof, in a newspaper printed in the
county where any of the debtors reside, or, if no newspaper be publish­
ed at the time of the assignment in the county where any of the debtors
reside, they must give the notice in any adjoining county, allowing three
months to all creditors to become parties. The assignee is not liable to
a trustee process on account of his having in his possession the property
of the assigning debtor, until the expiration of three months from the
time notice is given as above stated; nor is the property assigned liable
to attachment during the said three months.

A r t . VI.— M ER CA N TILE LA W R EPO R TS*
C O M M IS S IO N B U S IN E S S .

1. In the Supreme Court o f the United States, January Term, 1840.
William and James Brown and Co., Plaintiffs in Error, v. Thomas
McGran. In error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the
District of Georgia.
M r . J u stice S tory delivered the opinion of the C ourt: —

This is a writ of error to a judgment of the Circuit Court of the Dis­
trict of Georgia, rendered in an action in which McGran (the defendant
in error) was originally plaintiff’.
In the spring of 1833, McGran, a merchant in Georgia, shipped 200
bales of cotton, consigned to the plaintiffs in error, a house of trade in
Liverpool, England, there doing business, under the firm of William
and James Brown & Co., for sale on his account. The shipment was
made under an arrangement with the house of Brown, Brothers, & Co.,
of New York, composed (as seems admitted) either wholly or in part
of the partners in the Liverpool house, by which the New York house
accepted a draft drawn upon them by McGran for 9,000 dollars, the in­
voice value of the cotton being only 9,151 dollars 77 cents, and were to
reimburse themselves by a draft on the Liverpool house. Accordingly,




Reported for the Merchants’ Magazine.

Commission Business.

329

the New York house on the 12tli of March, 1833, addressed a letter to
the Liverpool house, in which they state, “ W e enclose bill of lading for
200 bales of cotton, shipped by McLoskey, Hagan & Co., of Mobile,
per ship Mary and Harriet, on account of Mr. Thomas McGran, of Au­
gusta, on which you will please effect insurance. This cotton cost per
invoice 9,151 dollars 77 cents. W e have accepted Mr. McGran’s draft
against this cotton for 9,000 dollars— for which we shall draw on you for
our reimbursement when it matures. In handing this draft for accept­
ance, Mr. McGran says he would not have drawn for so large an ad­
vance, were it not that there is a balance at his credit with you, which
has accumulated within the past two years— so that if this should not
produce enough to meet the advance, it will be covered by what is at
his credit.” The existence of any such balance was utterly denied at
the trial, and the Liverpool house contended that there was a balance
the other way.
The cotton only arrived at Liverpool on or about the 9th of April,
1833. The New York house drew on the Liverpool house, for their re­
imbursement, a bill dated the 7th of May, 1833, for 1,871/. 9s., at 60 days
sight, being the amount of the advance, and that bill was accepted by the
Liverpool house on the 3d of June, 1833, and became payable, and was
paid, on the 5th of August following. On the 3d of June, 1833, the very
day of the acceptance, the Liverpool house sold the 200 bales of cotton
(the market then being on the rise) on a credit, for the nett sum of
2,073/. 4s. (id. After deducting the charges (which amount to nearly
twenty-five per cent.) which became due and payable on the 16th Sep­
tember, 1833, and, according to an account current rendered to
McGran by the Liverpool house, on the 29th June, 1833, the whole
transactions between the parties, including the sale of this cotton, left a
balance of 392/. 15s. 8d., due to McGran.
At the time when the shipment was made, and the advance arranged
therefor, no instructions were given by McGran touching the sale of the
cotton. It accordingly went to the consignees as factors for sale, the
advances having been as above mentioned, without any other contract
than that implied by law as between a principal and a factor making
advances, that is to say, that the factor is to make sale of the goods con­
signed to him according to his own judgment, in the exercise of a sound
discretion as to the time and mode of sale, having regard to the usages
of trade at the place of sale, and to reimburse himself out of the pro­
ceeds for his advances and other balance due him.
After the shipment and advance were so made, namely, on the 20th
April, 1833, McGran addressed a letter to the Liverpool house, in
which, after acknowledging the receipt of letters of the 4th and 5th of
March from them, he added, “ if you have any cottons on hand when
this reaches you, in which I am interested, I wish you to hold them until
you hear from me again.”
The Liverpool house, in a reply to this letter, on the 24th of May, 1833,
used the following language : “ W e are in possession of your esteemed
favor of 20th ultimo, and your wishes, in respect to the cotton we now
hold on your account, are noted accordingly.” At this time, by advices re­
ceived from other correspondents, the Liverpool house were in possession
of information that at least as early as the 8th of April, 1833, McGran had
failed in business. On the 22d July, 1833, McGran wrote a letter to
VOL. I I . — n o . iv .
42




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Mercantile L aw Reports.

the Liverpool house, acknowledging the receipt of their letter of the 24th
of May, in which he says, “ I have your favor of the 31st, (the 24th of
May,) and note the contents; you will please sell my 200 bales of cotton
soon after the receipt of this, unless you are of opinion you can do bet­
ter by holding a little longer.” This letter was received by the Liverpool
house on or about the 23d day of August, 1833.
On the 7th of June, 1833, the Liverpool house informed McGran of the
sale of the cotton, and in a letter under date of the 30th of July, 1833, in
reply thereto, McGran expressed his surprise at the sale, and added, “ I
beg leave to refer you to my letter of the 20th of April last, the receipt
of which you have acknowledged, instructing you not to sell any cottons
you had on hand, in which I am interested, until you heard from me
again; why did you sacrifice my cottons, as the draft drawn by Brown,
Brothers, & Co., at 60 days, on account of these cottons, could not have
been accepted more than a day or two before, as it went forward by the
packet of the 8th of May 1 Therefore you had 60 days before you had
any money to pay for m e a n d after some other remarks in the style of
complaint, he adds, “ You will please take notice that I do not recognise
the sale, and do not consider you authorized to sell the cotton before the
time the draft dra wn on you by Brown, Brothers, & Co., against this cot­
ton, falls due. If the price is higher on that day than the day you sold
it, I will expect you to allow the difference, and if it is lower, I will be
prepared to pay you any balance I may owe you.” To this letter the
Liverpool house replied by a letter dated the 4tli of September, 1833,
in which they vindicate their conduct, and among other things said, “ we
beg you to bear in mind that there was a balance due us from you, on
joint transactions with Mr. Clarke, that the two hundred bales in question
were sold after the market had advanced a \d. per pound, and that
it barely squares the account. You had unfortunately been obliged to
stop payment. W e had the opportunity of paying ourselves by selling
your cotton in a brisk market to a profit of ten per cent., and we ask
whether it was reasonable, under such circumstances, to expect us to hold
the cotton for a chance of farther profit, when the loss, if any, was certain
to fall on us, and the profit not likely to go to you, but to your creditors,
as was supposed, of whom we knew nothing. This would have been
the extreme of injustice towards ourselves and our absent partners, with­
out being any advantage to you;” and after some other remarks vindica­
ting their conduct, they farther said : “ W e think you must admit, that,
situated as you then were, you could not reasonably have expected us to
hold the cotton, without pointing out in what manner we should be in­
demnified in event of loss thereby. That Brown, Brothers, & Co.’s draft
was not due does not alter the case; we had become responsible some
months before, by Brown, Brothers, & Co.’s acceptance of the draft of the
shippers.”
Here the correspondence between the parties seems to have closed.
The present action was brought to recover damages against the Liver­
pool house, for a supposed breach of orders and their duty as factors.
At the trial there was an account current between the parties, and other
evidence, before the ju ry ; the whole evidence in the case, however, was
introduced by McGran. Among other questions before the jury were
the following:
W hether the advance made by the New York house was in effect an
advance by the Liverpool house, either as agents or as partners in the




Commission Business.

331

latter; whether there was any balance due to the Liverpool house upon
former transactions ; whether McGran was insolvent or not according to
the advices received by the Liverpool house; and whether, under the cir­
cumstances disclosed in the evidence, the Liverpool house had a right to
sell the two hundred bales of cotton for their reimbursement, notwith­
standing the wishes or orders contained in the letter of the 20th of April.
The jury at the trial found a verdictfor the plaintiff, (McGrran,) for $4,978
57 cents, under certain instructions given by the Court, upon which ver­
dict judgment was accordingly rendered; and a bill of exceptions having
been taken by the original defendants, the cause now comes before us
for revision upon the points made, and instructions given at the trial.
The counsel for the defendants asked the court to instruct the jury,
(1.) That the advance by the house of Brown in New York was in effect
an advance by the house in Liverpool, and after the advance so made
the shipper had no right to alter the instructions which were given at the
time of such advance. (2.) That the house in Liverpool having advanced
so large an amount on this cotton, having aprevious unsettled claim against
the shipper, and the shipper having afterwards, and before the sale of
the cotton, became insolvent, the house in Liverpool had a right to sell for
their reimbursement, notwithstanding the subsequent orders of the shipper.
The Court refused to give these instructions, and in our judgment
with great propriety, aseach of them involved matters of fact in controversy
before the jury, upon which it was exclusively their province to decide.
If the defendants meant to draw from the Court an opinion in point
of law upon the assumed facts, the proper mode would have been to have
asked the Court to instruct the jury, that if they found the facts to be as
thus assumed, then that the law was as these instructions stated. The
Court then proceeded to instruct the jury, that if they found from the
evidence in the cause, that the plaintiff had given instructions to the de­
fendants by his letter of the 20th April, 1833, not to sell any cottons which
the defendants might have on hand, when that letter reached them, in
which the plaintiff was interested, until the defendants heard from him
again, and that such instructions were received and recognised by the
defendants, by the evidence in the cause, and particularly by a letter
given in evidence as one from the defendants to the plaintiff, dated the
24tli of May, 1833, in reply to the plaintiff’s letter to them of the 20th of
April, 1833, that then the defendants were not justifiable in law in the
sale of the 3d of June, 1833, on account of the defendants having on
that day accepted Brown, Brothers, & Co.’s draft for 1,8717. 9s. dated the
7th of May, 1833, at 60 days sight. It is observable that this instruction
is given in absolute terms without reference to any other facts in the
cause which might be found by the jury upon the evidence before them,
and therefore must be deemed to apply to every posture of the facts
which the evidence might warrant. It must, therefore, be deemed to ap­
ply to the case, although the advance was originally made by the New
York house, for and on account of the Liverpool house, as agents or pax tners thereof, or the Liverpool house had entered into engagements prior
to the advance, to become responsible for the reimbursement thereof to
the New York house in the manner stated in the evidence, and although
the plaintiff was, before the writing of these letters, actually insolvent and
had failed in business, and that fact was known to the defendants.
One objection taken to this instruction is, that it leaves to the jury the
construction of the language of the letters of the 20th of April and the




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24th of May. It is certainly true as a general rule, that the interpreta­
tion of written instruments properly belongs to the Court, and not to the
jury. But there certainly are cases, in which, from the different sense of
the words used, or their obscure and indeterminate reference to unex­
plained circumstances, the true interpretation of the language may be
left to the consideration of the jury, for the purpose of carrying into ef­
fect the real intention of the parties. This is especially applicable to
cases of commercial correspondence, where the real objects and inten­
tions and agreements of the parties are often to he arrived at only by
allusion to circumstances which are but imperfectly developed. The pre­
sent case sufficiently illustrates the distinction : McGran, in the letter
of the 20th of April, says, that he wishes the defendants to hold any cot­
tons on hand until they hear from him again. Now this language certainly
ordinarily imports only a desire and not an order, and yet there can be
no reasonable doubt that under particular circumstances a wish expres­
sed by a consignor to a factor may amount to a positive command ; so,
in the reply of the 24th of May, the defendants say, your wishes in res­
pect to the cotton we now hold on your account are noted accordingly ;
here again, the point is open, whether the language imports that the de­
fendants construed the wishes of the plaintiff to be simply a strong ex­
pression of desire or opinion or a positive order, and also, whether the
words “ noted accordingly” import that the defendants took notice there­
of, or took notice of and assented to obey the wishes or order of the
plaintiff. The language is susceptible of either interpretation according
to circumstances. If the case had been one of a simple consignment,
without any interest in the consignee, or any advance or liability incurred
on account thereof, the wishes might fairly he presumed to be orders,
and the noting the wishes accordingly an assent to follow them. But
very different considerations might apply, where the consignment should
be (as the present is) one clothed with a special interest and a special
property founded upon advances and liabilities ; we think, therefore, that
this objection is not, under the circumstances of the case, maintainable.
It would he quite another question, whether the court might not, in its
discretion, have assumed upon itself the right and duty of construing
these letters. There is no novelty in this doctrine ; it will be found re­
cognised in Elans v. Macklish, (Ambler’s Rep. 184,185,) Lucas ?:. Groning,
(7 Taunt. Rep. 164,) and Rees v. Warwick, (2 Barn. & Aid. 113. 115.)
But the main objection to the instruction is of a more broad and compre­
hensive character. The instruction in effect decides, that in the case of
a general consignment of goods to a factor for sale, in the exercise of his
own discretion as to the time and manner of sale, the consignor has a
right by subsequent orders to suspend or postpone the sale at his plea­
sure, notwithstanding the factor has, in consideration of such general
consignment, already made advances, or incurred liabilities for the con­
signor at his request, trusting to the fund for his due reimbursement.
W e are of opinion that this doctrine is not maintainable in point of law.
W e understand the true doctrine in this subject to be this: wherever a
consignment is made to a factor for sale, the consignor has a right gene­
rally to control the sale thereof, according to his own pleasure, from time
to time, if no advances have been made or liabilities incurred on account
thereof, and the factor is bound to obey his orders. This arises from
the ordinary relation of principal and agent. If, however, the factor
makes advances or incurs liabilities on account of the consignment, by




Commission Business.

333

which he acquires a special property therein, the factor has a right to
sell so much of the consignment as may be necessary to reimburse such
advances, or meet such liabilities, unless there is some existing agreement
between himself and the consignor which controls or varies this right.
Thus, for example, if, contemporaneous with the consignment and advances
or liabilities, there are orders given by the consignor which are assented
to by the factor, that the goods shall not be sold until a fixed tim e; in
such a case the consignment is presumed to be received by the factor
subject to such orders, and he is not at liberty to sell the goods to reim­
burse his advances or liabilities until after that time has elapsed. The
same rule will apply to orders not to sell below a fixed price, unless, in­
deed, the consignor shall, after due notice and request, refuse to provide
any other means to reimburse the factor; and in no case will the factor
be at liberty to sell the consignment contrary to the orders of the consignor,
although he has made advances or incurred liabilities thereon, if the con­
signor stands ready and offers to reimburse and discharge such advances
and liabilities.
On the other hand, where the consignment is made generally without
any specific orders as to the time or mode of sale, and the factor makes
advances or incurs liabilities, on the footing of such consignment, then
the legal presumption is, that the factor is intended to be clothed with
the ordinary rights of factors — to sell, in the exercise of a sound discre­
tion, at such time and in such mode as the usage of trade and his general
duty require; and to reimburse himself for his advances and liabilities
out of the proceeds of the sale; and the consignor has no right, by any
subsequent orders, given after advances have been made or liabilities in­
curred by the factor, to suspend or control this right of sale, except so
far as respects the surplus of the consignment not necessary for the re­
imbursement of such advances or liabilities. Of course this light of the
factor to sell to reimburse himself for his advances and liabilities, ap­
plies with stronger force to cases where the consignor is insolvent, and
where, therefore, the consignment constitutes the only fund for indem­
nity. Such, then, being the relative rights and duties of the parties, we
are of opinion, that the instructions given to the jury, by the learned
judge in the circuit court, is not maintainable in point of law. The
consignment was general to the Liverpool house for sale— the advances
and liabilities were contemporaneous with the consignment; there were
no contemporaneous orders limiting or qualifying the general rights of
the factors, resulting from these circumstances; the consignor subse­
quently either failed in business or was believed to have failed; the
wishes subsequently expressed by the letter of the 20th of April, even
admitting them to have the force of orders, were unaccompanied with
any other means of indemnity, or even with any offer of reimbursement
of the advances or liabilities. Unless, then, upon the established prin­
ciples of law, the consignor had a clear right to control the sale of the
consignment by any orders which he might in his discretion choose to
give, notwithstanding such advances and liabilities, which we are of
opinion he had not, the instruction was erroneous.
W e have not thought it necessary to enter upon any general exami­
nation of the authorities which support the doctrines which have been
stated by us. But the opinion of Lord Chief Justice Gibbs, in Pothorier v. Dawson, (1 Holt’s Rep. 383,) and the opinions of the judges in
Graham v. Dyeter, (6 Maule and Selw. 1. 4. 5,) will be found fully to




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recognise some of tlie leading principles. Another instruction was
given by the Court to the jury, upon the question of damages, supposing
the Liverpool house by the sale had violated their proper duty. It was,
that if the jury found, from the evidence in the cause, that cottons were
selling for a higher price from the 3d of June, 1833, when the draft was
accepted, and when the cotton was sold, until the time when the said draft
was mature and payable, and if the evidence in the cause ascertains, at
any time before the maturity of the draft, what such higher price was, and
that the cotton belonging to the plaintiff could have been sold at such
higher price, then the plaintiff' was entitled to recover from the defend­
ants the difference in price between the sum for which the defendants
sold the cotton, and the sum at which it might have been sold before or at
the maturity of the draft. This instruction was doubtless framed upon the
ground that this was the claim of damages which the plaintiff’ asserted by
his letter of the 30th of July, 1833. 11ut as that letter was not assented
to, or the claim recognised by the defendants, this claim could in no just
sense be obligatory upon them, and as a general rule of law applicable
to damages under like circumstances, we think that it cannot be main­
tained. Supposing the sale made by the defendants on the 3d of J une
to have been tortious, and in violation of orders, the plaintiff had his
election either to claim damages for the value of the cotton on that day,
as a case of tortious conversion, or for the value of the cotton on the 23d
of August following, when the letter of the plaintiff, of the 22d of July,
was received, which authorized a sale. If the price of cotton was high­
er on that day than at any intermediate period, he was entitled to the
benefit thereof. If, on the other hand, the price was then lower, he could
not justly be said to be damnified to any extent beyond what he would
lose by the difference of the price of cotton on the 3d of June, and the
price on the 23d of August.
For these reasons, we are of opinion, that both the instructions given
by the Circuit Court to the Jury were erroneous, and therefore the judg­
ment ought to be reversed, and the cause remanded, with instructions to
that court to award a venirefacias de novo.
IM P O R T D U T I E S .---- K N IT S H IR T S AND D R A W E R S .

2. Circuit Court o f the United States, before Judge Betts, January 20th,
1840. James Hall v. Jesse Hoyt.
This action was brought to recover back the excess of duties demand­
ed by the defendant, collector of New York, upon knit shirts and drawers.
The defendant had demanded duty on them as ready-made clothing;
the plaintiff insisted that they were subject to duty as hosiery, and that
he was entitled to recover back the excess.
Samples of the article were exhibited; the shirts had apiece of cotton
cloth sewed upon the opening in front, with two or three buttons sewed
on upon one side and button holes worked on the other. The drawers
had waistbands sewed on, with buttons and button holes, and tapes at
the bottom. They were fit for wearing without farther work, and had
been prepared before importation.
The plaintiff proved that the articles were made by hosiery manu­
facturers, upon the stocking frame. That they were dealt in by dealers
in hosiery in England, and were there known as hosiery; that the cotton
cloth was sewed on, button holes made, &c., by persons connected with
the manufacturer, and as part of his business; also, the plaintiff proved




K nit Shirts and Drawers.

33 5

tliat in the United States in the year 1832, and prior to it, they were
imported from England and were known as hosiery goods; that the'y
were kept by hosiery dealers for sale; that they would be furnished
upon an order for hosiery, but not on an order for ready-made clothing;
that they did not go in commerce under that nam e; that in invoices
they were called shirts and drawers, woolen or cotton shirts and drawers,
knit shirts and drawers, and hosiery shirts and drawers. They were
not usually kept in ready-made clothing stores, but sometimes were.
Ready-made clothing meant clothing cut from cloth to fit, and made by
tailors’ sewing.
On the part of the defendant, evidence was given, that the articles
were kept by some dealers in ready-made clothing; that they were by
some called ready-made clothing; that at the custom house, in 1832, and
for some years before, duty had been demanded on these goods as on
ready-made clothing, which duties, prior to the act of 1832, was acqui­
esced in.
The Court charged the jury, that the act of congress, in its use of the
terms hosiery and ready-made clothing, must be construed in reference
to the common use and meaning of the terms, unless they appeared to
have acquired a separate and different meaning in commerce. If they
had, that meaning was to prevail; and they must look to the meaning of
the terms at the date of the act, and not at the present time, or as changed
after the act was passed. That the practice of the custom house was
only to be looked at as part of the evidence of the acceptance of the
words by merchants dealing there; and, if the terms did not in com­
merce bear the sense there put upon them, the practice of the custom
house could not govern the construction.
That in the present case the articles were clothing, and were ready
made; they were therefore liable to duty as such, unless the jury should
find that they were known in commerce under some other name, and
charged with duty under such other name.
That if they were known under the name of hosiery, then, as that de­
scription of goods had been in the same section of the law charged with
a lighter duty, it would not be subject to the heavier duty of ready-made
clothing.
That hosiery was a word of more general signification than stockings,
which was the word of the act of 1816, which was dropped in the act
of 1828, and the word hosiery introduced. It signified a class or de­
scription of goods; and if the jury found that these goods were among
importers and vendors and purchasers generally known in 1832, (the
date of the act,) as hosiery, they would be liable only to the duty on ho­
siery, and the plaintiff was entitled to recover; otherwise, they were liable
as ready-made clothing, and the defendant must have a verdict.
Verdict for plaintiff for $3,473.
M. Bidwell and D. Lord, jr., for plaintiff.
B. F. Butler, district attorney, for defendant.
3. Circuit Court o f 'the United States, before Judge Betts, January 24,
1840. D. Hadden v. Hoyt.
This was an action to recover the excess of duties on knit shirts and
drawers; and the evidence was similar to that of the case of Hall v.
Hoyt. But in the present case, the defendant introduced the former col­




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Mercantile Literature.

lector of New York, who gave evidence that from the act of 1828 to that of
1832, the articles in question had, in pursuance of orders from the trea­
sury, been charged with the duty on clothing ready made, and not with
the duty on hosiery.
And the defendant’s counsel insisted that the Court should charge
upon this new evidence, that the act of congress of 1832, must in judg­
ment of law be deemed to have reference to the then existing practice
of the treasury department and its circulars to collectors, and that
therefore, in this construction of the law, the articles were to be deemed
as falling under the term ready-made clothing, and not under the term
hosiery.
The plaintiff’s counsel, to the contrary, insisted, that the words in the
law must be construed as they would be understood in their common or
commercial use; and not in any peculiar sense or use, practised by the
treasury, and as such, known to congress. That the law was made to
govern not the members of congress, but dealers in the article to whom
the law was most addressed, and whose understanding of its terms
should control.
The Court expressed doubt upon the question; and with the assent
of the parties pro forma, charged that the jury were to be governed by
the usual and well known name of the article, and meaning of the words
of the law, as understood generally in commerce at the date of the act.
A verdict was rendered for $2,400, and the cause was carried up, by a
writ of error, to the Supreme Court of the United States.
D. Lord, jr., for plaintiff. B. F. Butler, for defendant.

M ERCA N TILE LIT E R A T U R E .
Evils and Abuses in the Naval and Merchant Service Exposed ; with Pro­
posalsfor their Remedy and Redress. By W i l l i a m M'N ally, formerly
of the U. S. Navy. Boston: 1839. Cassady & March. 12mo. pp. 202.
T h e volume before us is descriptive of evils that exist in the naval and
merchant service. Mr. M'Nally has given real names and characters,
bestowed praise or blame where he thought it was was wanted, and
given his reasons for so doing, leaving the reader to judge how far his
statements could be relied upon. He professes to have carefully avoid­
ed all coloring or embellishment. In a work of this kind, a writer, in
order to promote the object he has in view, should avoid party political
allusions if possible; this the author has not done, but he wishes to be
understood as not having imbibed the opinions of any political party, as
it is a subject of which he professes to know but little. The promi­
nent distinction between the existing parties, according to his views, is
“ that one is in office and wishes to remain there, and that the other is
out, and wishes to get in;” a distinction, in our apprehension, which
neither party would very willingly admit. W e would however recom­
mend the volume to the attention of navigators, as containing hints and
information that must prove highly useful.




Mercantile Miscellanies.

MERCANTILE

337

MISCELLANIES.

C O T T O N T R A D E O P IN D IA .

W e find in the London Athenseum an account of a late meeting of the Asiatic So­
ciety. A t this meeting, a paper was read by General Briggs “ on the Cotton Trade of
India.” It appears from the Athenseum that one of the principal objects of this
paper was to show that the people of Hindostan are as capable of furnishing Europe
with cotton as the inhabitants of North America; and that, under proper arrange­
ments, both the quantity and quality of their produce would fully suffice for all require­
ments of our manufacturers, without the necessity of our relying on the slave labor
cotton of America. The paper began with a calculation of the quantity of cotton actu­
ally used in dress by the natives of India. Specimens of the several articles of costume
were exhibited; and it was shown, that the dress of the male Hindoo contained 24£
square yards, and that of the female about 8j square yards, which, allowing that they
were renewed, on an average, at least once a year, the consumption would amount,
among the whole population, to 374,000,030 pounds; and it might be fairly inferred,
from the various other domestic uses to which cotton was applied in India, that as much
again was so employed, making a total annual consumption, by the natives themselves,
of 750,000,000 pounds. The quantity imported'into England is from 4 to 500,000,000
pounds annually, and this is chiefly raised in America, not more than one tenth coming
from India. The question naturally arises, why should this be 1 The causes of the
supply from India, Gen. Briggs stated, were closely connected with the administration
of the country; he should not farther allude to them in that place, but would proceed to
demonstrate his position, that India might supply cotton sufficient for the manufactures
of England, and if necessary, for the whole world.
It is needless to follow the details presented; but the result of a great number of state­
ments and reports from the best sources showed evidently that scarcely any portion of
the surface of India was unfit for the growth of some kind of cotton. The great table
land of the Dekkan, the soil of which is formed of the debris of trap-mountains, is the
cotton soil, par exellence, and is suited to the gossipyum herbaccum, the indigenous cot­
ton of India. This soil lies upon limestone. It is rich vegetable matter, and is retentive
of humidity; but in hot dry weather, it cracks into large fissures. It is at that season
hard and clayey, and brittle, like coal. The clayey soil, so fit for the indigenous plant,
is unsuited to that of America, which grows best in a light, dry, silicious soil; and as
most former attempts to introduce the American cotton into India have been made upon
the rich trap soil of the country, they had necessarily failed. But the soil best adapted
to American seed is also found in India, near the coasts, where the aboriginal plant
does not succeed. T his was proved at the various experimental farms established
by the East India Company, and on which the American plant was growing to perfec­
tion. In order to point out the differences which existed between the various sorts of
cotton in use, a diagram was exhibited, showing various lengths of the fibres of differ­
ent kinds.
In many specimens of cotton, the fibre had a flat tape-like appearance; while in others
it looked like a string of oval beads, pointed at each extremity. Some kinds were more
cylindrical than others, and the Surat and Sea Island cotton is thickest and narrowest,
and the Tavoy and New Orleans flattest and thinnest. In length of staple, the Ameri­
can surpasses the East India; but the latter was the finest. Some idea of the extreme
minuteness of the fibre of cotton might be formed from the fact, that it required thirtyV O L . I I . ---- N O . IV .




43

338

Mercantile Miscellanies,

five fibres to make the smallest thread spun at Manchester, 350 hanks of which weighed
only one pound, and would measure 165 miles in length. But it had been shown that
the natives of India could spin thread with the hand, four of which would be required
to make up the bulk of one made by machinery at Manchester.

THE

W H A L E F IS H E R Y .

Captain Dupetit Thouars, commander of the frigate Venus, has returned to Paris
from his station in the South Seas for the protection of the French whale fishery, and
has addressed along report to the Minister of the Marine, containing the results of his
experience as to the actual condition of this fishery, and the improvement to be intro­
duced into it. It is to the following effect:
Captain Thouars goes into great detail as to the equipment of the vessels, which he
recommends should never go beyond 350 to 450 tons, and should be specially construct­
ed for the purpose. The captains of whalers, he strongly recommends, should not be
expected to go out in the harpooning boats, but should always remain on board their
vessels; and the practice of having two captains, one for the vessel, the other for su­
perintending the actual operations of the fishery, should be abolished, as destructive of
discipline among the crews.
The under officers of the vessel, on the other hand, he considers, should be active men,
well acquainted with all the manual details of the service. Capt. Thouars exclaims
loudly against the system so very prevalent among American whale fishers, of al­
lowing the sailors to get into debt ashore, and of the owners giving security, or advan­
cing the money for them, at a rate of interest often amounting to 40 or 50 per cent., a
practice destructive of all habits of prudence among the men.
He then gives several specifications of the different kinds of whales found in the
South Seas, and the localities where they are most abundant, stating that most of them
are known to and are pursued by the American and English whalers, especially the
cachalot, sperm or white whale, whereas the French captains have hitherto confined
themselves only to the common or black whale. He also gives a full account of the
usual times of leaving Europe adopted by British whalers, and points out various im­
provements in this respect which may be adopted by the French captains.
The principal rendezvous for the whale ships, Captain d ’Urville states to be the
Sandwich Islands, Otaheite, and New Zealand; at the former of these stations sometimes
60 French whalers are assembled together, at the second 20, at the third 40. At all these
places, when the whalers are in, the most unbounded licentiousness and disorder prevail
among the crews, and call imperiously for the establishment of consuls or other autho­
rized agents on the spot.
Captain d’Urville strongly urges the necessity of sending out agents of this kind with,
out delay, and more particularly to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, where a British
resident, who performs the functions of “ a constable and police magistrate,” has been
long settled. England and the United States, the Captain adds, have several vessels of
war, during the course of each year, to visit these fisheries, whereas France sends only
one occasionally; he therefore recommends government to adopt more efficient measures
of this kind.
The remarks of Captain Dupetit Thouars, are, we apprehend, in the main, correct.
But we think he is out of his reckoning when he says that the owners of American
ships allow their men to get in debt ashore, and then extort 40 or 50 per cent, interest
on advances to rescue them from embarrassment.




Mercantile Miscellanies.

339

F IR S T P U B L IC S A L E O F T H E N E W L Y D IS C O V E R E D A SS A M T E A .

It is stated in the St. James Chronicle, that the Commercial Sale-room in Mincing
Lane, where the public tea sales are held, was crowded at the hour of sale, in conse­
quence of its being known that the whole of the Honorable Company’s recent importa­
tion of Teas from their territories in Upper Assam, India, were to be sold. Mr. Thomp­
son was the tea broker selected by the company to offer these teas for sale. They con­
sisted of three lots of Assam Souchong, and five lots of Assam Pekoe. On offering
the first lot, which was Souchong, Mr. Thompson announced that each lot would be
sold, without the least reservation, to the highest bidder. W e never before witnessed
such excitement as prevailed when the first lot was competed for. The first bid was
5s. per lb. a second bid was made of 10s. per lb. After much competition, it was
knocked down for 21s. per lb., the purchaser being Captain Pidding, the proprietor of
Howqua’s Mixture Tea. The second lot of Souchong was bought for the same per­
son for 20s. per lb. The third and last Souchong sold for 16s. per lb., Captain Pid­
ding being the buyer. The first lot of Assam Pekoe sold for 21s. per lb .; after much
competition, every broker appearing to bid for it, it was bought for Captain Pidding.
The second, third, and fourth lots of Assam Pekoe fetched the respective prices of 25s.,
27s. 6d., and 23s. 6d. per lb., and were also purchased, like the previous lots, for Cap­
tain Pidding. For the last lotofPekoe, which was the last of the tea to be sold, a most
exciting competition took place—there were near sixty different bids made for it. It
was at last knocked down at the extraordinary high price of 34s. per lb. Captain
Pidding was also the purchaser of this, and has thereby become the sole proprietor of
the Assam, as well as the Howqua’s Mixture Tea. The general opinion of the collected
tea brokers and dealers, with whom the room was crowded, was, that the Assam tea
is not only valuable as a curiosity, but that the tea itself is of very superior quality, be­
ing of a pleasant flavor, and of such strength that some asserted that the fifth water
from it was as strong as the first. The fact of Captain Pidding having become the
sole purchaser of the whole of this seemed to excite a great sensation ; it was whis­
pered that he intended to allow small parcels of it to be sold by each of his agents at
prime cost, and in such small quantities as to allow of the greatest number of people
trying, by tasting it.
-------S P E C U L A T IN G A N D F A IL IN G .

This is the age of speculations; but however promising they may be, (and there is
no lack of promises in any of their prospectuses that we have encountered,) there is
always a certain bitter in the midst of their sweets—always a lingering fear that their
end may not be quite so flourishing as their beginnings, and that the dropping of the
curtain may find the bubble burst, and the unfortunate speculator in jail. The absence
of downright certainty in any undertaking is a great drawback on its desirableness.—
Yet amidst all this uncertainty, it is very satisfactory to know that there is one
speculation in which it requires nothing but a little observation, and the use of one’s
own judgment, to render quite as money making a concern as a general balloon na­
vigation company to all—excepting to original proposers. The speculation is—to fail;
and there is but one art and mystery in it—to fail at the right time ; not for a few pal­
try dollars, which are rigorously taken from you, but a good slapping sum at once;
enough to strike your creditors with reverence for your greatness, and respect for
your misfortunes. At the very worst, they will allow you a comfortable maintenance
out of their own money, and perhaps present you with a silver dinner set in token of
their gratitude for your allowing them to recover a shilling in the pound. And in
circumstances like these there is always this comfort, that the remaining nineteen shil­
lings enable you to fill the silver dishes with turtle and venison, and all things else in
a concatenation accordingly.




340

Commercial Statistics.

COMMERCIAL

STATISTICS.

COM M ERCE O F N E W JE R S E Y , FROM

1791

TO

1838.

Imports.
Domestic.

1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
1800
1801
...
1802
1803
21,311
1804
24,829
1805
20,633
1806
26,504
1807
36.063
1808
12,511
1809 269,104
1810 392,798
1811
1,871
1812
4,186
1813
10,260
1814
1815
5,279
1816
9,746
1817
5,849
1818
25,957
1819
1.474
1820
20,511
1821
33,613
1822
83,551
1823
26,064
1824
28,989
1825
43,980
1826
30,859
1827
25,627
1828
1,892
1829
8,022
1830
8,224
1831
11,430
1832
53,991
1833
30,853
1834
8,131
1835
66,363
1836
38,769
1837
19,640
1838
28,010




Foreign.

110
7,363
5,123
8.288
50,071
37,469

Total.
26,988
23,406
54,179
58,154
130,814
59,227
18,161
61,877
9.722
2,289
25,408
26,227
21,311
24,829
20,743
33.867
41,186
20,799
319,175
430,267
1,871
4,186
10,260

....

«...

....
....
....

....

98

3,233
7,106
....
....

100
7,803
1,900
7.678
24,040
24,577
—

15,379
5,479
16,929
15,597
20,510
1.100
10,090
17,256
867
135
8,510
3,247
3,617
3,895
18,514
14,310
17,699
10,391
24,444
13,573
84,559
27,383
47,754
82,764
14,222
27,410
6,253
3,602
16,702
14,609
29,225
24,244
7.127
483,372
1,998
14,558
534,733
692,178
249,559
770
6,663
31,223
26
3,812
64,111
4,670

5,279
9,746
5,849
25,957
1.474
20,511
17,606
33,711
83,551
103,190
5,933
26,064
28,939
637,518
47,213
27,688
37,965
48,004
25,627
338,497
1,892
706,872
8,022
786,247
8,324
13.444
11.430
61,794
70,460
32,753
170
8,131
4,492
74,041
18,932
62,809
24,263
44,217
69,152
28,010
1,700
* Ending 30th of September.

Dr'backs paid
on foreign
merchandise
exported.

EXPORTS.

Duties on fo ­
reign mer­
chandise imj ported.

Years.

Compiled from Official Documents, by S. Hazard, Esq., o f ike United
States Statistical Register.

158
2,564
933
10,589
2,341
....

5,582
2,408
5,587
5,690
8,497
2,986
1,083
T»

507
168
987
277
3,339
1,722
424
5,157
157,644
19,826
2,209
44,255
98,711
28,221
700
1,689
240
876

Registered
tonnagt.

1,171 00
1,000 00
260 27
484 04
637 85
901 27
762 72
1,344 28
1,271 34
860 15
1,046 08
1,551 09
1,708 35
1,445 88
1,293 05
891 84
952 13
525 29
15,596 67
17,338 51
14,144 12
13,639 58
13.769 29
13,843 19
2,465 67
2,500 87
2,436 70
222 02
319 44
468 56
207 77
1,187 78
1,217 00
2,364 SO
1,378 86
1,428 38
912 82
1,442 56
292 50
573 90
1.260 04
256 28
1,389 77
709 74
1,955 15*
1,175 37*
1,175 36*
1,656 56*

Commercial Statistics.

341

EX PO R TS OF CO TTO N FRO M T H E PO R T OF N EW O RLEA N S,

For the last nine years, commencing October 1, and ending September 30.

1831-32.

1832-33.

1833-34.

1834-35.

1835-36.

1836-37.

1837-38.

W H IT H E R E X P O R T E D .

1838-39.

N U M B ER O F BALES O F C O T T O N .

Liverpool... '................ 297,774 465,183 333,832 227,017 245,101 273,113 216,559 193,367
London ........................
6
123
41
281
244
45
336
Glasgow and Greenock, 7,390 16,147 17,077 7,991 12,601 13,950 8,096 6,227
Cowes, Falmouth, & c.. 2,459
48 2,966 1,237
156 1,160
676 3,771
Cork, Belfast, &c......... 2,139
1,180
702
1,220
H avre........................... 112,779 110,609 112,410 106,867 126,505 88,414 73,030 63,462
Bordeaux...................... 1,348 4,407 6,100 4,137 2,765 2,650 1,541 1,826
Marseilles..................... 6,255 7,285 9,110 16,205 7,585 6,348 5,119 10,030
N antz........................... 2,070 5,527 5,268 6,672 5,017 3,841 2,612 2,820
Cette and Rouen...........
753
Amsterdam...................
932
49
202 2,130
754
238
50
392
. _
Rotterdam and Ghent..
359
70
656
27
123 5,039
926 1,026
Bremen........................
398 2,495
Antwerp, &c................
1,598 2,782 5,348 1,122
153
370
Hamburgh....................
310 3,149 2,538 4,330 1,863 5,059 1,176 1,870
Gottenburgh.................
947
343
553 1,025
1,186
695
747
Spain and G ibraltar... 1,225 4,713 4,300 1,323 1,316 1,384 1,615 4,562
W est Indies................. 4,259 2,641 2,050
612
14
75
Genoa, Trieste, & c .... 3,556 7,174 7,875 10,239 5,588
1,190
113
902
233 2,117
Other foreign ports---922
•. .
New York.................... 62,691 39,352 24,734 29,604 50,978 15,938 31,497 24,955
Boston.......................... 49,242 40.271 38,409 37,084 42,928 25,947 28,868 25,078
Providence, R. I........... 4,038 1.607 1,177 3,204 5,223 3,064 13,651 4,611
Philadelphia...............
6,150 8,526 6,022 7.428 7,918 3,368 7,239 4,607
Baltimore.....................
3,450 6,148 2,978 1,128
989 1.701 4,743 1,614
Portsmouth................... 5,369 4,819 8,044 11,989 8,707 8,209 4,760 3,343
Other coastwise ports.. 7,171 5,026 3,781 2,098 5,741 2,478 3,465
520
T otal................. 580,817 737,186 594,538 493,005 534,765 462,253 407,220 356,406
R EC A PITU LA TIO N .

Great Britain...
France...............
North of Europe
South of Europe.
Coastwise.........

309,768 481,501 355,096 236.526 259,123 289,169 225.667 203,365
122,452 127,828 133,641 133,881 141,872 101,253 82,302 78,138
1,446 7,580 6,431 17,989 4,368 9,742 3,338 4,423
9,040 14.528 14,225 12,074 6,918 1,384 1,690 5,752
138,111 105,749 85,145 92,535 122,484 60,705 94,223 64,728
580,817 737,1861594,538 493,005 534,765 462,253 407,220 356,406

Total

Comparative Arrivals, Exports, and Stocks o f Cotton, o f New Orleans,
fo r ten years, commencing 1st October.
A R R IV A LS .

EXPORTS.

STO C K S.

Years.
1838-39
1837-38
1836-37
1835-36
1834-35

A R R IV A LS.

EXPORTS.

ST O C K S.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

465,103
418,853
349,797
428,876
363,641

462,253
407,220
356,406
424,684
351,890

8,756
7,406
7,088
13,697
9,505

Years.
Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

589,281
743,218
604,475
498,895
531,366

580,817
737,186
596,068
493,005
534,765

16,307
8,843
15,302
8,702
4,842




1833-34
1832-33
1831-32
1830-31
1829-30

Statistics o f Navigation.

342

STATISTICS

OF N A V I G A T I O N .

P A S S A G E S O P T H E L IV E R P O O L P A C K E T S .

In our number for June, 1839, we published a comparative table of the passages of the
different ships of the several lines of Liverpool packets, from November 1, 1837, to
November 1,1838. Annexed is an accurate statement, taken from Bennett’s Herald,
showing the passages of each ship of the Liverpool packets of the several lines, for
1839. It forms a table of reference, at all times interesting.
O L D . O R B L A C K B A L L L IN E .
O U T W A R D PASSAGES.

H O M E W A R D PASSAGES.

Sailed. Arrived. days.
Ships.
Ships.
Sailed. Arrived, days.
North America.. .Jan. 5 Jan. 25 20
Cambridge........ •Jan. 10 Feb. 12 38
O rpheus............
Europe...............
22
20 29
Feb. 8 20
Columbus.......... .Feb. 2
21 19
.North America.. .Feb. 7 Mar. 18 39
South America..
19 Mar. 15 24 E urope..............
19
30 39
E n g lan d ...........
Oxford.............. . Mar. 29 May 3 35
19 18
22 April 13 22
Orpheus............
South America.. .A pril 8
5 27
Columbus..........
10
Cambridge........ . Apl. 1
29 28
11 31
North America..
19 May 18 29 E ngland...........
24
23 29
Orpheus.............
June 7 36
30 22
Europe...............
20
O x fo rd .............
Cambridge........
21 June 23 38
9 19
North America.. . June 8 July 11 33
22 21
Columbus.......... .June 1
South America..
19 July 9 20 Europe..............
20 Aug. 4 45
England.............
20 19
Oxford.............. • July 9
26 38
19 Aug. 7 19 Columbus.........
Cambridge........
20 Sept. 2 44
South America.. .Aug. 9
Orpheus............. .Aug. 1
14 36
27 26
North America..
21 Sept. 10 20 E ngland...........
22 Oct. 1 40
Cambridge........ • Sept. 10
11 31
Europe...............
24 22
Orpheus ...........
O xford..............
19 Oct. 9 20
21
28 37
21 20
Columbus.......... • Oct. 1
North America.. . Oct. 8 Nov. 26 48
South America..
20 Nov. 13 24
Oxford...............
13 23
21
.Nov.
1
Columbus..........
Dec. 8 31
20 19
England.............
South America..
22
New York.........
19 Dec. 14 25
20 28
C am bridge....... .Dec. 5 Jan. 3 28
England............. . Dec. 8 Jan’y■4 25
20
O xford..............
The longest outward passage was made by the Europe, she having been thirty-six
d a y s; and the shortest by the England, in eighteen days. All the outward passages
average twenty-two days and a half. The homeward passages average thirty-three
days and seventeen hours.
The Orpheus made a homeward passage in twenty-two days, the Oxford in twentythree, and the England in twenty-five, making the three shortest. The longest was
made by the North America, in forty-eight days.
D R A M A TIC L IN E .
O U T W A R D PASSAGES.

H O M EW A R D PASSAGES.

Ships.
Sailed. Arrived, days.
Ships.
Sailed.
Arrived, days.
17
Sheridan........... Jan. 27 Feb. 13
Roscius............. Jan’y l7 Feb. 17
31
Siddons.............Feb. 18 Mar. 25
35
Garrick............. Feb. 25 Mar. 17
20
Sheridan........... Mar. 18 Aprl 25
38
Roscius.............Mar. 26 April 19
22
Siddons.............April 25 May 18
23
Garrick............. April 14 May 14
30
Sheridan.......... May 25 June 19
25
Roscius............. M ay 14 June 6
23
G arrick............ June 25 July 16
21
Siddons............ June 14 July 12 28
Roscius.............July 25 Aug. 19
25
Sheridan........... July 15 Aug. 17
33
Siddons............ Aug. 26 Sept. 13
18 Garrick............. Aug. 13 Sept. 15
33
S heridan..........Sept. 26 Oct. 13
17 Roscius............. Sept. 13 Oct. 12
29
Siddons............ Oct. 13 Nov. 13
30
Garrick............. Oct. 25 Nov. 15
21
Sheridan........... Nov. 14 Dec. 10
26
Roscius............. Nov. 25 Dec. 14
19
Garrick............. Dec. 14 June 16 33
Siddons............. Dec. 28
....
The outward passages averaged twenty days and a half each. The eleven pas­
sages were made in two hundred and twenty-eight days. The shortest was made in
seventeen days, and the longest in twenty-five.




Statistics o f Navigation.

343

The homeward passages averaged thirty and a half days each. One was in twen­
ty-three days, which was the shortest. The longest was thirty-eight days. Each pas­
sage was singularly fortunate. The twelve homeward passages were performed in
three hundred and sixty-nine days.
S T A R L IN E .
O U T W A R D PASSAGES.

H O M E W A R D PASSAGES.

Ships.
Sailed. Arrived, days.
Ships.
Sailed. Arrived, days
V irginian.. . . ■Feb. 1 Mar. 18 45
Sheffield.........
Feb. 6 21
Sheffield.........
United States. .Feb. 16 Mar. 15 27
29 27
Westchester.. .M ar. 14 April 10 27
United States. . April 2 May 5 33
May 9 23
Virginian.. . .
Westchester.. ■M ay 17 June 25 39
Sheffield.........
June 9 25
Virginian.. . .
July 10 38
July
8
Sheffield.........
■July 3 Aug. 15 43
United States. .June 14
24
Westchester.. -July 13 Aug. 4 22
United States. . Aug. 2 Sept. 14 43
Virginian . . . . ..A ug. 13 Sept. 4 22
W estchester.. . Sept. 2 Oct. 11 39
Oct. 8 24
V irginian.. . .
Nov. 5 31
Sheffield.........
United States. .Oct. 16 Nov. 13 23
Sheffield.........
Dec. 1 30
V irginian---Dec. 8 23
United States. .. Dec. 4 Jan. 4 30
The eleven outward passages were made in two hundred and sixty-six days, and
they averaged a fraction over twenty-four days each. The shortest was made in twen­
ty-one days, and the longest in twenty-eight.
The longest homeward passage was made in forty-five days, and the shortest in
twenty-seven. The eleven were made in three hundred and ninety-eight days.
S W A L L O W T A IL L IN E .
O U T W A R D PASSAGES.

H O M E W A R D PASSAGES.

Ships.
Sailed. Arrived, days.
Ships.
Sailed. Arrived, days.
Roscoe................Jan’y 8 Jan. 28 20
Independence__ Jan. 27 Mar. 11 42
G. Washington..Feb. 7
Mar. 5 26
Roscoe................Feb. 28
28 28
G. W ashington.. Mar. 29 Aprl 29 31
Shakspeare........Mar. 7 April 7 31
Independence__ April 8
29 21
Shakspeare........Apl. 26 May 24 23
Roscoe................May 9 June 7 28
Independence__ May 26 June 29 34
Roscoe................ June 26 Aug. 5 40
G. Washington..June 7
24 17
G. Washington..July 25 Sept. 1 38
Shakspeare.........July 8 July 28 20
Shakspeare........Aug. 28 Oct. 5 38
Independence....Aug. 7
Aug.28 21
Roscoe...............Sept. 9
Sept. 30 21
Independence... Sept. 29 Oct. I30 31
G. Washington..Oct. 7
Nov. 1 25
Roscoe...............Oct. 26 Dec. 10 45
Patrick H enry.. .Nov. 7
Nov. 25 18 G. W ashington.. Nov. 27 Dec. 27 30
Independence . . . Dec. 10
....
Patrick H enry..Dec. 26 Jan. 31 36
The eleven outward passages were made in two hundred and forty-eight days, and
averaged twenty-two days and twelve hours each. The longest w7as made in thirtyone days, and the shortest in seventeen.
The homeward passages averaged thirty-five days and a fraction each. None made
less than twenty-eight days, and none over forty-five. The twelve were performed in
four hundred and twenty-one days.
P A S S A G E S O F T H E S T E A M S H IP S .

W e published in the Merchants’ Magazine for August, 1839, all the passages of the
steam ships Great Western, Liverpool, and Royal William, showing the time of their
departure from, and arrival at, each port, beginning with April, 1838 ; we now give,
from Bennett’s Herald, all the passages of the Great Western, British Queen, and
Liverpool, for the year 1839.
PA SSA G ES OF T H E GREAT W E ST E R N .
TO N E W Y O R K .

Sailed.
Jan. 28
Mar. 23
May 18
July 6
Aug. 24
Oct. 19

Arrived.
Feb. 16
April 14
May 31
July 22
Sept. 10
Nov. 2




T O B R IS T O L ,

Days.
18i
21 i
13
15*
16*
14*

Sailed.
Feb. 25
April 22
June 13
Aug. 1
Sept. 21
Nov. 16

Arrived.
Mar. 12
May 7
June 27
Aug. 13
Oct. 4
Nov. 30

Days..
15
14i
121
121
13
13* ■

Statistics o f Navigation.

344

The passages from England average sixteen days and a half each, and the whole
time occupied in making six western passages was ninety-nine days and a quarter.
The shortest was made in thirteen days, and the longest in twenty-one and a half.
The passages hence to Bristol averaged thirteen days and nine hours each. The
longest was in fifteen days, and the shortest in twelve and a quarter. The six eastern
passages were made in eighty days and twelve hours.
By two of the passages, passengers and despatches reached Paris, by the way of
England, on the fifteenth day after leaving New York. They also arrived in London
and Liverpool on the thirteenth day.
P A S S A G E S O F T H E B R IT IS H Q U E E N .
TO N E W Y O R K .

T O PO R T SM O U T H .

Sailed.
Arrived.
Arrived.
Days.
Days.
Sailed.
Aug. 1
Aug. 14
13'i
July 27
July 12
141
Oct.
1
Oct.
15
Sept.
20
13f
17
Sept. 3
Dec. 25
221
Nov. 23
Dec. 2
201
Nov. 3
The shortest passage from England was made in fourteen days and twenty-one
hours ; the longest in twenty days and nine hours. The shortest passage hence was
performed in thirteen days and a half, and the longest in twenty-two and a half. If
we calculate the time, however, when she arrived off Portsmouth, the passage was
made in twenty-one days and fourteen hours.
The western passages averaged seventeen days and eight hours each. Those made
to the eastward, sixteen days and fourteen hours.
On her first voyage she arrived here on the 27th of July, discharged about one thou­
sand packages of goods, besides baggage, reloaded cargo, took in seven hundred and
fifty-five tons of coal, stores for one hundred and thirteen passengers, and was ready
for sea on the thirty-first of the same month—four days’ work.
P A S S A G E S O F T H E L IV E R P O O L .
TO N EW YORK.

TO L IV E R P O O L .

Arrived.
Arrived.
Sailed.
Days.
Days.
Mar. 9
Feb. 25
181
Mar. 25
16
M ay 7
161
May 18
June 1
141
June 30
16f
July 20
131
July 6
Aug. 18
Aug. 24
Sept. 8
141
17
16
Oct. 19
Oct. 7
Nov. 6
171
181
Dec. 5
Dec. 15
. .. .
The Liverpool has eighteen hours steaming farther to go than either the Great W est­
ern or the British Glueen.
The pasages to New York averaged seventeen days and four hours each. The long­
est was made in eighteen days and twelve hours, and the shortest in sixteen days.
Those to Liverpool averaged fifteen days and sixteen hours. The shortest was
made in thirteen days and three quarters, and the longest in seventeen days and twelve
hours.
Sailed.
Feb. G
April 20
June 13
Aug. 1
Sept. 21
Nov. 16

D IS A S T E R S A T SEA D U R IN G T H E Y E A R

1839.

The following summary of shipwrecks, etc., for 1839, is from the Sailor’s Magazine.
Several of the vessels put down as missing, were afterwards heard from, having been
prematurely reported.
A record has been kept at the office of the American Seamen’s Friend Society, du­
ring the year just closed, as in past years, of disasters at sea, so far as they could be
ascertained, which resulted in a total loss of the vessel. The following is the result :
The whole number of vessels lost, was 442. Of these there were :—
Ships and barks...................................................................................... 74
B rigs.........................................................................................................124
Schooners.................................................................................................187
Sloops...................................................................................................... 16
Steamboats.............................................................................................. 9
U nknow n............................................................................................... 32
O f these there were lost towards the close of 1838, but reported in 1839.... 52




Statistics o f Navigation.

345

Wrecked in—
January..................................................................................................... 25
F ebruary.................................................................................................. 27
M arch....................................................................................................... 32
A p ril.......................................................................................................... 21
M a y .......................................................................................................... 29
Ju n e.......................................................................................................... 18
Ju ly .......................................................................................................... 15
August...................................................................................................... 29
September................................................................................................. 64
October.......................................................................................................30
November.................................................................................................. 27
December, (previous to 15th,)................................................................ 8
Time unknown........................................................................................ 64
Added to the above entire and known losses, there have been reported thirty-seven
missing vessels during the year, which, with their crews, have most probably been
entirely lost. Five hundred and thirty-seven lives have been reported as lost, but the
loss of life is undoubtedly much greater than this, as many vessels were reported as
abandoned, or bottom up, where the crews were missing, and no intelligence has been
received from them. The above facts speak a language concerning the sorrows of sea­
men, not to be misunderstood, and they should be most solemnly pondered by those
who have a heart to feel and a hand to relieve.
In 1838 there were lost—
Ships and barks....................................................................................... 100
B rigs......................................................................................................... 117
Schooners..................................................................................................169
Sloops....................................................................................................... 11
Steamboats............................................................................................... 17
Unknown................................................................................................. 13
T o tal....................
427
O f these, forty-five were lost in 1837, but reported in 1838; 27 vessels were reported
as missing, and the loss of life during the year is known to have been 756.
In 1837 there were lost—
Ships and barks....................................................................................... 94
B rigs.........................................................................................................135
Schooners..................................................................................................234
Sloops....................................................................................................... 12
Steamboats............................................................................................... 18
T o t a l . . . . ......................................................................................493
Of these, 43 were lost in 1836, but reported in 1837; 30 vessels were reported as miss­
ing, and the loss of life during the year is known to have been 1,295.
In 1836 there were lost—
Ships and barks...................................................................................... 56
B rigs......................................................................................................... 97
Schooners.....................................................
121
Sloops....................................................................................................... 12
Steamboats.............................................................................................. 30
T o tal..............................................................................................316
Twelve vessels were reported as missing, and the loss of life during ihe year is
known to have been 826.
-------S H IP W R E C K S O N T H E C O A S T O F F R A N C E .

A Paris journal gives the following list of vessels of fifteen nations, lost by shipwreck
on the coast of France, between Cherbourg and Dunkirk, for fourteen years. The
length of the coast is about two hundred and fifty miles, and embraces the port of Havre.
French...................................................................................................... 291
English..................................................................................................... 76
Swedish and Norwegian........................................................................ 30
D utch....................................................................................................... 12
American................................................................................................. 8
Prussian.................................................................................................. 8
D an ish .................................................................................................... 7
V O L . I I . ---- N O . IV .




44

Statistics o f Navigation.

346

Russian.................................................................................................... 4
Hanoverian.............................................................................................. 4
H am burgh............................................................................................... 30
Belgium...................
3
Sicily.....................................................................................
2
Lubec....................................................................................................... 2
Finland.................................................................................................... 12
T o tal.......................................

469

T H E H U D S O N R IV E R .

A Table showing the Reriod when the Hudson River opened and closed at
Albany, since 1817, takenfrom Records kept at the Albany Academy,
fo r the Use o f the Regents o f the University.
Winters.

River closed or ob­
structed by Ice.

River open or free
from Ice.

Number o f Days
closed.

1817-18.....................
December 7
March 25
108 days.
1818-19 ....................
December 14
April 3
110 ..
December 13
March 25
102 ..
1819-20.....................
March 15
1820-21.....................
.November 13
123 ..
1821-22 .....................
December 13
March 15
92 ..
1822-23.....................
December 24
March 24
90 ..
December 16
March 3
1823-24.....................
78 ..
1824-25.....................
January
5
March 6
60 ..
1825-26.....................
December 13
Feb’ry 26
75 ..
December 24
March 20
86 ..
1826-27.....................
November 25
Feb’ry 8
1827-28.....................
50 ..
1828 29....................
December 23
April 1
100 ..
1829-30.....................
January 11
March 15
63 ..
December 23
March 15
1830-31.....................
82 '..
1831-32.....................
December 5
March 25
I l l ..
December 21
1832-33 .....................
March 21
83 ..
December 13
1833 34............. .
Feb’ry 24
73 ..
December 15
1831-35.....................
March 25
100 ..
November 3')
1835-36.....................
April 4
125 ..
December 7
March 28
1836-37.....................
I l l ..
December 14
March 19
1837 38....................
94 ..
March 21
1838-39 .....................
November 25
116 ..
December 18
Feb’ry 21
65 ..
1839-40....................
As the river, throughout to New York, has not opened on the days stated above, the
time at which the first steamboat passed either from Albany or New York, or vice
versa, is also added for a few years.
1835...............................................................................................March 25.
1836...............................................................................................April 10.
1837 (Robert L. Stevens,)........................................................... March 31.
1838 (U tica,)................................................................................ March 19.
1839 (Swallow,).......................................................................... March 25.
1840 (Mount Pleasant,).............................................................. Feb’ry 25.
N O T IC E TO M A R IN E R S .

London, February ilh, 1840.
Light at St. Catharine's Point, Isle of Wight.—Notice is hereby given, that the light
tower, which has been for some time past in course of erection on St. Catharine’s
Point, in the Isle of Wight, being nearly completed, the light will be exhibited thereon
on or before the evening of the 1st of March next, and thenceforth continued every night
from sunsetto sunrise. It will burn at an elevation of 178 feet above the level of high
water, and will appear as a fixed bright light in all directions seaward.
Light at the Needles Point.—In order to distinguish this from the new light at St.
Catharine’s, it will, on and after the exhibition of the last mentioned, assume a red
color, and will be continued.
J. HERBERT, Secretary.




Statistics o f Rail-Roads.

STATISTICS

OF

347

RAIL-ROADS.

Cost, Receipts, Expenditures, and Income, o f thefollowing Rail-Roads,
derived from Official Reports fo r the year 1839.
Cost of the
Receipts.
Road.

NA M ES.

1.782.000
1.650.000
Boston and Worcester. . . . 1.800.000
Eastern, just completed__ 1.306.000
250,000
Philadelphia & Baltimore.. 4,379,225
Camden and Amboy......... 3.220.000
Receipts in six years..
Boston and Providence__

313,907
241,219
231,807
125,623
58.018
490,535
685,329
4.637,535

Expenses.

Nett
Income.

Dividend
per annum.

194,412
92,151
126,384
53,176
40,711
296,131
253,043
2,253,933

119,494
149,068
105,423
72,447
17,307
194,503
427,236
2,333,542

8 per c t .
8 ..
64 ..
11

64

..

..
74 ..
131 ..
16? ..

C A M D E N A N D A M B O Y R A IL -R O A D .

The following table shows the number of passengers and tons of merchandise carried
over the Camden and Amboy rail-road, and the gross amount of receipts, expenditures,
and nett profits, for several years.
Year.

Passengers.

Tons o f mer­
chandise.

Receipts.

Expenditures.

Profits.

1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839

109,908
105,418
147,424
103,731
145,461
164,520
181,479

6,043
8,397
10,811
12.508
10,642
11,765
13,520

468,142 50
546,993 54
679.463 63
770,621 28
731,995 24
754,989 89
685,329 76

287,091 90
313,261 69
317,491 76
363,344 90
309,510 44
355.249 10
258,143 58

181,050 60
233,73187
361,971 87
407,206 38
372,484 80
399,740 79
427,286 28

B O S T O N A N D L O W E L L R A IL -R O A D .

The total amount of capital paid is $1,650,000. For fuel, salaries, repairs on the
road, engines and cars, and other expenses, there have been paid $92,151 44. The
amount received is, from passengers, $135,C59 45; for transporting merchandise,
$105,183 49 ; for transporting United States mail, $1,000; making a total of $241,219 94,
Two dividends, of four per cent, each, have been paid during the year.
B O S T O N A ND P O R T L A N D R A IL -R O A D .

This road, extending from the Boston and Lowell rail-road to the line of the state of
New Hampshire, thence to connect with the Boston and Maine rail-road, has just been
completed. The amount of capital paid in is, by stockholders, $278,165 26; state
scrip, $150,000 ; total, $428,155 22. The income during the year has been $49,001 13;
namely: from passengers, $53,885 20; for merchandise, $12,804 23; United States
mail, $1,900; rents, $411 70. The expenses have been $43,322 67. Two dividends,
one of two per cent., and one of four per cent., have been paid.
B O S T O N A N D P R O V ID E N C E R A IL -R O A D .

The capital of this corporation is $1,782,000. The expenses of the year have
amounted to $194,411 48, of which $90,000 were for the purchase of the Seekonk branch
road, the construction of a second track to Roxbury, and other permanent improve­
ments. The amount received is, $313,907 44, of which $234,237 42 were for the trans­




Statistics o f Rail-Roads.

343

portation of passengers, $72,939 11 for merchandise, and $3,000 on mail contract.
Two dividends, of four per cent, each, have been paid.
B O S T O N AND W O R C E S T E R R A IL -R O A D .

Capitalstock, $1,800,000. Income from passengers, $122,445 92; from freight, mail,
etc., $106,251 10; rents and storage, $3,050 10. Total expenditures have been
$126,384 83. A dividend of3 jp er cent., January 1, 1840.
E A S T E R N R A IL -R O A D .

This road, it is expected, will be completed as far as the New Hampshire line during
the ensuing summer. The cost of the road, thus far, has been $1,306,194 89, for which
the state has furnished its scrip for $500,000. The income from transportation of pas­
sengers has been $113,06863; of merchandise, $7,375 67; United States mail, $1,310 50;
rents, etc., $3,835 35. The current expenses have been $53,176 17.
N A S H U A A N D L O W E L L R A IL -R O A D .

T his road, extending from Lowell to Nashua, N. H., fourteen miles in length, has
been built at a cost of $299,000. The receipts, from the opening of the road, October 8,
1838, to November 20,1839, were, from passengers, $36,646 92; for freight, $18,198 73;
rents, $207 92; total, $55,053 58. The expenses during the same period were
$28,658 43. Two dividends, of three and four per cent., have been paid.
T A U N T O N B R A N C H R A IL -R O A D .

The capital of this branch of the Boston and Providence rail-road is $250,000. The
expenditures during the year have been $-10,711 78; the receipts, $58,018 78. Two
dividends, of three per cent, each, have been paid.
W E S T E R N A N D W E S T S T O C K B R ID G E R A IL -R O A D S .

The Western and the W est Stockbridge rail-roads are not yet completed. Upon
that portion of the former which has been in use, the receipts, up to January 1, 1840,
were, from passengers, $13,472 94; for merchandise, $4,136 21; total, $17,609 15.
The expenditures were, for the same time, $14,380 44; leaving a balance, as profit,
of $3,228 51.
M O H A W K A ND H U D S O N R A IL -R O A D C O M P A N Y .

The nett earnings of the company, for 1839, were $64,917 6-100, nearly equal to 6J
per cent, on the capital.
Cash in bank at date of report...........................................................$26,415 55
Bills receivable..............................
5,567 98
Due by companies and individuals................................................... 4,221 51
$36,204 04
Deduct February dividend declared, of 3 per cent.......................... 30.000 00
6,204 04
The value of real estate of the company, not required
for their business, in lots in W ater street, buildings,
etc., is ..............................................................................168,203 55
Their indebtedness, (including bonds issued under the
act of 1837,) is ................................................................ 108,500 00
-------------- 59,703 55
Estimated surplus............................................................................. $65,907 59
The committee propose improvements and retrenchments which will place the com­
pany in a still stronger position, and insure a farther increase of dividends.




Earth Statistics.

BANK

349

STATISTICS.

Amount o f Capital, Number o f Dollars per Share, and semi-annual Divi­
dends, o f the Banks o f the Cities o f New York and Brooklyn,f'or 1839.

ST O C K S.

Bank of New York.................
Manhattan B ank....................
Merchants’ B ank.....................
Mechanics’ Bank.....................
Union B ank............................
Bank of America....................
City B ank...............................
Phenix Bank..........................
North River Bank...................
Tradesmen’s B ank.................
Chemical Bank.......................
Fulton B ank...........................
Del. & Hud. Canal Co. Bank.
Dry Dock B ank................. ..
Greenwich Bank.....................
Butchers’ and Drovers’ Bank.
Mechanics’ & Traders’ Bank.
National Bank .....................
Merchants' Exchange Bank...
Leather Manufacturers’ Bank,
Seventh W ard Bank...............
Commercial Bank .................
Lafayette Bank ....................
State Bank of New York........
Long Island Bank, Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Bank.......................
Atlantic Bank, Brooklyn........
Bank of Commerce.................
North Am. Trust & B'king Co.
Mechanics' B'king Association
American Exchange B an k ....

No. of
Amount dollars
per
Capital. Share.
1,000,000
2,050.000
1,490,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
2,001,200
720,000
1,500,000
500,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
1,500,000
420,000
200,000
500,000
200,000
750,000
750,000
600,000
500,000
500,000

500,000

2,000,000

300,000
. 200,000

500,000
5,000,000
2,000,000
600,000
5,000,000

500
50
50
25
50
100
45
25
50
40
25
30
100
30
25
25
25
50
50
50
50
50

1 8

F IR S T

SEC O N D

D IV ID E N D .

5 Der ct. May 1 4 per ct.
5 «
Jan. 10 5 CC
41 <(
June 1 4 cc
cc
cc
3
Feb. 4 3
«i
5
January 4 a
It
5
Jan. 5 5 cc
5 it
cc
May 1 4 cc
4
4 cc
January 4 CC

Nov. 1
July 10
Dec. 1
Aug. 1
Nov. 5
July 6
Nov. 1
July 10

Jan. 2
Feb. 4
May 1
June 20
January
May 1
Feb. 15
May 9
April 10
January
Feb. 4
January
Jan. 7
January
xMay 10
Feb. 1

July 1
Aug. 8
Nov. 1
Dec. 21

10
4
5
3£
4
3i
5
31

a
a

a
a
cc
cc

u
cc

4

cc

5
5
5

cc

4

50 6

50 4
100
100
25
100

MISCELLANEOUS

39.

Amount. Payable. Amownt. Payable.

100 4
100 4
20

D IV ID E N D .

u
cc

a
a
a
a
a

10
4
5
34
31
5

4
4
5
8
4

cc

CC
CC

it
CC
CC
CC
CC
CC
CC
CC

4

CC

4
6

CC

4

CC

CC

Nov. 1
Aug. 15
Nov. 1
Oct. 10
July 10
Aug. 6
July 1
July 5
July 1
JNov. 10
Aug. 1

June 1

4
31
3

CC
CC
CC

July 25
July 27
Nov. 4

STATISTICS.

C E N S U S O F T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S F O R

1840.

The sixth census of the United States is to be taken the present year, commencing
June 1st, and the interrogatories for the assistants of the marshals, in the different states,
have been prepared at Washington.
By the late act of congress, for taking the
census of 1840, the president of the United States was directed to cause the statistics
of the country, relating to agriculture, manufactures, mines, commerce, fisheries, etc., to
be taken, as well as the condition of the people with regard to education.
Additional interrogatories to those formerly used, which were merely enumerations
of the inhabitants, classed by sexes, ages, and colors, freemen and slaves, have there­
fore been prepared, to be put by the persons taking the census, for statistical tables, in
relation to the following among other subjects, namely:
Mines.—Statistics of iron, lead, gold, other metals; coal, salt, granite, marble, etc.




350

Miscellaneous Statistics.

Agriculture.—Number of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, swine, and value of poultry;
bushels of wheat, barley, oats, rye, buckwheat, Indian corn, and potatoes, raised in
1839; quantity of wool, hops, wax, hay, hemp, flax, tobacco, rice, cotton, silk cocoons,
sugar, and wine; value of the products of dairy, orchard, and home-made or family
goods.
Horticulture.—Value of garden produce, nursery, and green-house; number of men
employed, and amount of capital invested.
Commerce.—Number of commercial houses, commission houses, retail dry goods,
grocery, or other stores, lumber yards, butchers, packers, etc., and amount of capital
invested in each.
Fisheries.—Quantity of dried fish, pickled fish, spermaceti oil, whale and other fish
oil, value of whalebone and other products of the fisheries, and amount of capital in­
vested, and number of men employed.
Products of the Forest.—Value or quantity of lumber, tar, pitch, turpentine, rosin,
pot and pearl ashes, skins and furs, ginseng, etc., and number of men employed.
Manufactures.—Statistics of the following branches, including value of articles
made in 1839. Amount of capital invested, and number of persons employed. Ma­
chinery, hardware, nails and cutlery, cannon and small arms, gold, silver, etc., various
metals, granite, marble, etc., bricks and lime, wool, cotton, silk, flax, mixed manufac­
tures, tobacco, hats, caps, and bonnets, leather, tanneries, saddlery, shoe makers, etc.,
soap and candles, liquors, (distilled and fermented,) gunpowder, drugs and medicines,
paints and dyes, glass, earthenware, and potteries, sugar refineries, chocolate, confec­
tionary, paper and paper hangings, printing, binding, newspapers and periodicals,
cordage, wagons, etc., musical instruments, carriages, flouring mills, grist mills, saw
mills, and oil mills, ships and other vessels, furniture, brick, stone, frame, or wooden
houses built in 1839, and the value of all other manufactures and mechanic arts not
enumerated.
These tables, if properly taken, will furnish a fund of statistical data that must prove
highly valuable to all classes of the community, and especially so to the political econo­
mist, statesman, and merchant, and it will be our aim to furnish the readers of our M a­
gazine, in a condensed and comprehensive form, the most important of them.
A M O U N T O F T H E P U B L IC D E B T O F T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S IN E A C H S U C C E S SIV E
YEAR FROM

1791

TO

1S35.

1791... .$75,463,476 33*
1806.. .. $75,723,270 66
1821.. .. $89,987,427 66
1822.. .. 93,546,676 98§
1793... 77,227,924 66
1807.. .. 69,218,398 64
1793... 80,352,634 04
22
1808.. .. 65,196,317 97
1823..
1794... 78,427,404 77
1809. .. 57,023,192 09
1824.. .. 90,269,777 77
1795... 80,747,587 39
1810.. .. 53,173,217 52
1825.. .. 83,788,432 71
1796... 83,762,172 07
1811.. .. 48.005,597 76
1826.. .. 81,054,059 99
1812.. .. 45.209,737 90
1797... 82,064,479 33
1827.. .. 73,987,357 20
1798... 79,223,529 12
1813.. .. 55,962,827 57
1828.. .. 67,475,043 87
1799... . 78,408,669 77
1814.. .. 81,487,846 24
1829.. .. 58.421.413 67
1800... 82,976.294 35
1815.. .. 99,833,660 15t
1830.. .. 48,580,534 22
1801... 83,038,050 80
1816.. ..127,334,933 74
1831.. .. 39,082,461 88
1802... 80,712,632 25
1832..
1817.. ..123,491,965 16
.. 24,282,879 24
1803... 77,054,686 30
1818.. ..103,466,633 83
1833.. .. 7,001,698 83
1804... 86,427,120 88t
1819.. .. 95,529,648 28
1834.. .. 4,722,260 29
1805... 82,312.150 50
1820.. .. 91,025,500 15
1835.. .. Extinguished.
♦Expense of the Revolutionary W ar, (1775-1785,) $135,193 703. Emissions of
paper money, (1776-1781,) $359,547,027 25. Loans and subsidies from France,
(1778-1783,) $7,962,959.
t Purchase of Louisiana, (1803) for $15,000,000.
t Expense of the Three Years’ War.
5 Purchase of Florida (1821) for $5,000,000.




Miscellaneous Statistics.

351

T H E G E N E R A L P O S T -O F F IC E .

The subjoined table of the progress and general condition of the post-office depart­
ment, is taken from the Democratic Review. Since the opening of the Revolution, there
have been eleven post-master generals. Benjamin Franklin, the first in order, was
chosen by congress, under the confederacy, on the 26th of July, 1775. His successors
were, Richard Bache, Ebenezer Hazard, Samuel Osgood, Timothy Pickering, Joseph
Habersham, Gideon Granger, R. J. Meigs, John M'Lean, William T. Barry, and
Amos Kendall. A project is now in agitation to reduce the rates of postage: if this
should be carried into operation, the receipts of the post-office would be very materially
altered, and its ordinary expenses would have to be defrayed in part by some other
branch of the government. Popular sentiment appears to favor the contemplated reform.

1189
1790
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
179S
1797
1798
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813

Receipts.

37,935
46,294
67,441
104.747
128,947
160,620
195,067
213,998
232,977
264,846
280,801
320,443
327,045
351,823
893,450
421,373
446,106
478,763
460,574
506,634
551,684
587,247
649,203
703,155

Expendi­
tures.

32,140
36,697
54,531
72,040
89.973
117,893
131,572
150,114
179,084
188,038
213,994
255,151
281.916
322,364
337,502
377,367
413,573
452.885
422,823
498,012
495,969
499,099
540,165
681,012

Miles of an­
nual mail
transporta­
tion.

9,375
9.525
23.210
28,210
845,468
1,799,720
1,799,720
2,208,570
2,208,570
2.208,570
3.057,964
3,279,423
3,504,800
3,504,800
4,120,200
4,250.000
4,499,456
4.550,000
4,600,000
4,600,000
4,694,000
4,694,000
5,135,000
5,160,000

Years.

Years.

Table o f the Receipts, Expenditures, and Miles o f Annual Mail Trans­
portation, from 1789 to 1S38.
Receipts.

Expendi­
tures.

Miles o f an­
nual mail
transporta­
tion.

1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
11-20
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838

730,360
1,043,065
961,782
1,002.973
1,130,235
1,204,737
1.111.927
1,059.087
1,117.490
1,130,115
1,197,758
1,306.525
1,447,703
1,524,633
1,664.759
1,773,990
1,919,300
1,036.267
2,258,570
2,617,011
2,823,749
2,993,556
3,408,323
4,100,605
4,235,077

727,126
748,121
804,422
916,515
1,035,832
1,117.861
1,160,926
1,184,283
1,167,572
1,156,995
1,188,019
1,229,043
1,366,712
1,468,959
1,691,044
1,879,307
1,959,109
960,791
2,266,100
2,930,186
2,977,131
2,763,041
2,841,766
3,532,163
4,621,837

5,307,000
5,601.000
6,336,000
6,767,000
7,677,000
8,585,000
8.800,000
9,200,000
9.990,000
10,100,240
10,330,316
10,638,784
11,054,694
12,872,831
13,709,089
13,700,000
14,500,000
15,468,692
23,625,021
23,854,485
25,500,000
25,869,486
27,578,620
32,597,006
34,500,202

C O M P A R A T IV E R E V E N U E A N D D E B T O F S E V E R A L C O U N T R IE S .

|
COUNTRIES.

Revenue.

P f f t y eaf l
( Inhabitant.

Great Britain.......................... $300,000,000] $12 50
200,000,000
France....................................
6 25
33.250,000'
Spain......................................
2 40
Portugal..................................
10,000.000;
2 80
15,500,000]
Two Sicilies..........................
2 10
8,330.000
States ofthe Church...............
4 16
A ustria...................................
60,000,000]
1 80
Prussia...................................
35,000,000,
2 64
B av aria..................................
12,750,000;
3 00
Netherlands............................
16,000,000
6 95
Belgium..................................
16,600,000
4 38
Denmark.................................
7,400,000
3 70
Sweden...................................
1 86
7,870.000
Russia..................................... 100,000,000;
1 63




Debt.

Proportion o f
Debt to each
Inhabitant.

3,600,000,000 $150 00
1.003,000,000
31 25
740,000,000
53 24
30.000,000
9 50
92,560,000
12 50
65,000,000
25 00
320,000,000
9 55
135,000,000
9 78
50,000,000
12 92
52,500,000
23 00
158,000.000
41 58
50,000.000
25 00
37.000,000
8 75
315,000,000
4 85

Commercial Regulations.

352

COMMERCIAL

REGULATIONS.

A L T E R A T IO N S IN M A R IN E P O L IC IE S O F IN S U R A N C E .

Owing to the innumerable and increasing difficulties which have arisen under the
“ memorandum” clause in cargo policies, the underwriters have been compelled to make
the alterations which will be observed in the annexed notice. It will be perceived that
this memorandum now includes a greater number of articles, as perishable in their own
natures, than formerly; but it is believed that the alteration will not be unjust in its
effect, whilst it will prevent disputes, and settle points of practice which were before
doubtful.
New York, March 2, 1840.
The Marine Insurance Companies of this city have adopted the following memo­
randum, which will be inserted in their cargo policies on and after this d a y :
M emorandum.—It is also agreed that bar, bundle, rod, hoop, and sheet iron, wire of
all kinds, tin plates, steel, madder, sumac, wicker ware, and willow manufactured or
otherwise, salt, grain of all kinds, tobacco, Indian meal, fruity, (whether preserved or
otherwise,) cheese, dry fish, vegetables and roots, rags, hempen yarn, bags, cotton bag­
ging, and other articles used for bags or bagging, pleasure carriages, household furni­
ture, skins and hides, musical instruments, looking glasses, and all other articles that
are perishable in their own nature, are warranted by the assured free from average,
unless general; hemp, tobacco stems, matting, and cassia, except in boxes, free from
average under twenty per cent, unless general; and sugar, flax, flax seed, and bread,
are warranted by the assured free from average under seven per cent., unless general;
and coffee, in bags or bulk, pepper, in bags or bulk, and rice, free from average under
ten per cent., unless general.
No damage to be allowed for goods injured by spotting, except caused by the imme­
diate contact of sea water with the articles damaged.
W A L T E R R. JONES,
Secretary of the Board o f Underwriters.

C U ST O M H O U S E R E G U L A T IO N S .

In future, all merchandise imported—1, on account of a foreign manufacturer ; 2, on
account of a foreign purchaser; 3, on account of a resident owner; 4, on consignment,
the owner residing in the United States, elsewhere than in the city of New York, must,
by a regulation adopted in the custom house of this city, be placed upon separate
entries. This rule applies to all descriptions of goods, dutiable or free. As it varies
from what has been the practice, it is important that it be generally understood.

=£jr The aid thus far extended to our undertaking, encourages us to press forward in
our efforts to render the Merchants’ Magazine all that its warmest friends could wish.
The subjects connected with the great interests of trade and commerce are indeed multi­
farious, but it will be our aim, in time, as far as is practicable, to embrace them all within
the scope of our labors. W e have plans in view, which, when carried out, cannot fail
of giving new interest and permanent value to the pages of this work. Now there are
on our list of patrons, merchants and men of business who will ever command respect
for their intelligence on points relating to their profession, and who have it in their
power to do much towards elevating the mercantile character, and illustrating the prin­
ciples of commerce. To such, we would say, our pages will always be open to the
admission of communications on all topics which may fall within the design of our
Magazine.