Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : April 1843, Vol. VIII, No. IV

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HUNTS

MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE.
A P R I L ,

A

rt.

1843.

I.— L E C T U R E ON T H E M O R A L A N D IN T E L L E C T U A L C U L TU R E
OF A M E R IC A N M E R C H A N T S .

[ T he following lecture, which we publish by request, was delivered before the Mer­

cantile Library Association o f Boston, on the occasion o f its twenty-second anniversary,
by the Rev. George Putnam, o f Roxbury, Massachusetts. W e earnestly recommend its
perusal to the rising generation o f American merchants throughout the country, as being
replete with views that must commend themselves to the universal conscience and
common sense o f the mercantile community.]
T h e Mercantile Library Association, whose twenty-second anniversary
is observed to-night, is composed o f those who are just entering, or prepar­
ing to enter the various departments o f a mercantile life. Th ey are young
men. T h ey profess to be learners yet. T h ey associate for purposes o f
mutual improvement. A library is their visible bond o f union. Their
ostensible, and, I doubt not, their real aim, is to promote among themselves
that large and liberal culture o f the mind and character, which will fit them
to sustain the character o f a merchant successfully and with dignity, with
personal honor and public usefulness— to elevate and adorn their calling
and condition. Th ey are willing to be advised in the furtherance o f these
objects. I am not here to amuse, and I can hardly say, to instruct th em ;
but only to offer such counsels, applicable to them, as I can bring from a
sphere o f life so widely apart from theirs. And if I fall somewhat into the
advisory and direct manner o f address which my profession has made
habitual, I need not apologise to the members for presumption. Th ey are
too young and too ingenuous to repel any friendly advice in advance, and
they are too old to take it for more than it may be worth.
Gentlemen o f the Association. If I have correctly stated your general
objects, and the spirit which animates your organization, and in which you
are willing to meet me and to confer together this evening— then, with
this mutual good understanding, I invite you to consider, in some o f its
points, the general culture which befits the rising generation o f Am erican
merchants. That culture I look at as threefold.
First, and most obvious, the peculiarly mercantile part o f your training—
von. v m . — NO IV .
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M oral and Intellectual Culture o f American Merchants.

the knowledge o f goods and prices, markets, accounts, and commercial
finance. These things you study in your daily pursuits and experience.
There are great subjects connected with this branch o f knowledge, such
as credit, capital, accumulation, which have been ably discussed by some
o f those who have, in former years, preceded me in this service. But they
are not for me, or such as me : I cannot be expected to touch them. The
second head which I had in view in speaking o f a threefold culture, is that
relating to intellectual development and resources, beyond the limits o f
mercantile knowledge and skill, in the strict and narrow sense o f that
term.
And the third relates to character— the morale o f a business
life. These last two heads are more than copious enough to occupy the
hour.
1. Intellectual Culture.— I refer to mental tastes and acquisitions not
peculiar to the merchant, but which are proper to be cultivated by him in
common with all men as favorably situated as he. A merchant, in these
days and in this community, should not be a mere merchant. Skill in buy­
ing and selling to advantage, though a primary and essential part o f his
training, should not be the only part. A mere merchant is a poor crea­
ture ; as is any man whose sole mental anxiety is limited to any one
money-making avocation. It is not enough for the full development and
worthy employment o f an intelligent and active mind, amidst the opportu­
nities which a commercial city affords— it is injurious, it is belittling, for
such a mind to be wholly employed on subjects which bear directly and
exclusively upon selfish pecuniary affairs. The mind so occupied be­
comes, almost to a certainty, narrow in its comprehension, low and earthy
in its plans and conceptions. It will be miserly or purse-proud in pros­
perity, and broken-spirited or desperate in adversity. It is true, indeed,
that many o f the worthy and respectable members o f society, are such as
seem very little interested in any subjects o f knowledge but those which
bear upon the pecuniary concerns o f themselves and the community. Imi­
tate whatever is exemplary, honor whatever is praiseworthy in their char­
acters ; but consider that the means o f education and facilities for knowledge, now generally enjoyed, bestow higher intellectual privileges, and
impose additional intellectual obligations upon the present generation o f
the young. I confess I see no peculiar dignity in the employment o f the
merchant, in itself, which can give any special elevation to that em ploy­
ment. W hat does the merchant do, as such, but fetch and carry, buy and
sell, something to eat or to wear, and to keep accounts ? A s honorable
and useful a pursuit as any other, but it can enjoy no peculiar elevation
except such as may accrue to it from enlarged collateral culture o f mind
and character.
But what is this culture ? I f you care anything about the matter, you
want definite views and purposes. In what, then, does this intellectual
culture consist ? How shall a young man set him self about it ? N o one
can give you a precise and sufficient answer to those questions, because
minds, opportunities, and tastes, are so very various. But to give my own
view as definitely as I can, I would say that every young man o f respecta­
ble endowments and education, would do well to pitch upon some one
branch, or several branches o f knowledge, aside from his business pursuits
and interests, which he will regularly and studiously cultivate, upon which
he will engage and task his faculties, and from which he will store his
mind. It may be any o f the exact sciences, any o f the numerous and




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rich departments o f natural science, or any portion o f the mighty volume
o f the world’s history ; the knowledge o f events, o f nations, o f individuals,
any o f the higher grades o f the a rts; or it may be some more general
and comprehensive, yet still definite literary pursuit. I say definite. A
mere taste for reading, miscellaneous, indiscriminate, though far better
than nothing and not to be disparaged, does not meet my v ie w ; does not
meet the want I am contemplating. It does not concentrate one’ s interest
upon any one point. It creates desultory and superficial habits o f mind.
It prevents mental discipline; gives no strength, no substantial results, no
decided tastes, nor permanent resources. Its tendency is to degenerate,
to beget a craving for mere stimulants— for fiction only, or romantic truth—
very light, poor, and unprofitable literature.
In looking over the catalogue o f your library, printed three years ago,
although I saw there the titles o f many excellent and sound works, and
must own that so large and valuable a collection was creditable to the ex­
ertions o f those who had founded and sustained it, yet, remarking the great
preponderance o f fictitious works and light matter at that time— much
changed now doubtless— I could not but reflect how possible it was for a
man to be a very diligent reader o f books, and yet add little or nothing to
his intellectual strength and resources ; nay, even to grow more and more
incapable o f exerting his own faculties, and o f mastering and delighting in
any substantial knowledge or truly enlarging culture. I do not mean to
denounce novels sweepingly. There are some in our language as improving
as they are delightful. T h ey have their place and their time.
Far less
is poetry to be put under the ban. Good poetry is the purest, richest gift
o f mind to mind, capable o f exercising the best and most ennobling influ­
ences upon our nature. And it is not always to be classed with light lit­
erature neither. The Paradise Lost is not light reading— nor the E xcu r­
sion— nor Hamlet, Othello, nor Lear, when read aright. And many an ode,
or sonnet even, is rich in the mind’s strong meat. But I mean to say that
desultory reading o f any kind, however comprehensive, does not give the
mental training, nor furnish the intellectual stores which I am recommend­
ing. It is a good way, but there is a better. Nothing so much favors the
establishment o f a decided intellectual bias as to have some one central
point o f interest; a favorite subject o f study and thought; some one por­
tion o f the great domain o f truth which the mind loves and strives to mas­
ter thoroughly. A n y one branch o f knowledge heartily engaged in, dili­
gently pursued, well mastered, seems to put an oaken beam into the mind
that strengthens and steadies the whole fabric, and about which all other
fruits and flowers o f literature and general information may hang and clus­
ter, gracefully and securely, not incumbering and unincumbered. But
what shall be— what shall one make that one main beam in the mind ?
The universe is before you to choose from. Y ou know best your own in­
tellectual affinities and fitnesses. I should betray my own incom petency to
give advice, if I w ere so narrow-minded as to designate this or that single
direction as best to be taken. I may say, however, that there is a great
advantage in the more definite and exact sciences and branches o f know­
ledge for those who possess, or can acquire, a taste for them. F or in
such studies there is a sense o f progress. There is a continuity that enables
the mind to perceive and measure its own advancem ent; to call itself to
account for its fidelity; to enjoy the exquisite satisfactions o f conscious
growth and positive and connected acquisitions. A n interest in such stu­




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dies, once awakened, is more likely to be kept up than in others. Link
follows link, o f fact or reasoning in the chain o f truth, and the mind can­
not be diverted from the road without knowing it. It leads to the best
way o f reading, that is, by subjects rather than by books and authors; to
read a work, not because it is newest and most popular, but because, wheth­
er new or old, it is the very one you want to help you on the next stage
o f your inquiries. This is the way to study in order to discipline the mind
most effectually, to enrich and enlarge it most sensibly, and to render you
most capable o f high intellectual effort and gratification.
I may seem to have been addressing the members o f a university; a
com pany o f youths who are to devote their lives and all their faculties to
such studies as they may choose. N o ! I remember where I am and know
to whom I am speaking. And 1 shall not easily be convinced o f the in­
appropriateness o f what I have been saying to the future merchants o f
Boston, even those to whom plodding diligence in business must long, if
not always, be the first maxim.
T here is time for everything; and the whole o f time ought not to be
required for the mere getting o f bread. And it is not. In the present
stage o f civilization, there must be something wrong, if it is supposed that
an entire and constant exertion o f the faculties must be devoted to the ac­
quisition o f the means o f living. There is, and there always has been, a
surplus o f time and strength beyond what is requisite for that purpose, which
must be expended in some other way. And how ? In ancient times it
was spent partly in the construction o f magnificent works— monuments,
castles, temples, pyramids— and in the maintenance o f immense military
establishments, where a large portion o f the population was always in arms,
producing nothing and supported by the productive labors o f the rest.
W ith us those channels o f expenditure are almost wholly closed ; while,
at the same time, by inventions and improvements in the application o f
labor, the fruits o f the same amount o f toil are greatly increased. O f
course, the surplus o f time and strength is grea ter; and what is done with
it ? In some countries o f Europe it seems to be chiefly spent in holidays,
shows, frivolous amusements, and idleness; and the consequent state o f
society, though it may have its charms, we should not deem enviable.
But here that surplus, though variously employed by individuals, is in the
main, as the general rule, devoted to the accumulation o f superfluous
wealth beyond actual wants, and in those public works o f improvement
which reproduce the outlay, and tend to the increase o f riches. This is
right and well, inasmuch as it creates and diffuses new means o f indepen­
dence, comfort, and enjoyment. It is right and well to a certain extent.
But i f nearly all the surplus o f time and labor in any community be thus
expended— if the amassing o f property be the one universal object o f as­
piration, study, and effort— then the heart o f a people becom es cankered
and sordid; its morality low and accom m odating; its mind keen but shal­
low , narrow in its compass, meagre in its stores; petty in its objects. It
is necessary to our best welfare that a portion o f that surplus o f time and
strength be diverted to other objects ; to build up other interests which may
mitigate and counteract the treacherous despotism o f mammon, and keep
the soul independent, free from its debasing thrall. And though some o f
it is demanded for easier recreation, domestic and social, a portion is strict­
ly due to knowledge and study; to the mines o f G od’s truth; to the treas­
ures o f man’s genius and intellect; to nourish mind and keep it upperm ost;




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and to maintain the rightful balance among all the faculties and interests o f
the soul, and o f life.
Even in the most stirring com m ercial city, where traffic and gain are
most "hotly pursued, the individual finds that he needs other resources in
addition to his business, to secure a quiet mind and a contented life. There
is a portion o f time claiming to be otherwise em ployed. Almost every kind
o f business affords, and ought to afford, intervals between labor and sleep ;
some hours every day, some days, perhaps weeks, every year in which
the one engrossing pursuit is intermitted, and the mind is free. Many per­
sons pass such intervals in a sort o f listless apathy; not knowing what to
do, not caring enough about anything to attend to it with any interest; a
state o f torpor without rest. T h ey must be grinding with all their might
at the regular task, or else doing nothing with a will. I suppose that such
intervals breed and nourish more discontented thoughts and habits o f mind,
than all the rest o f life together. T h ey give the mind a fine chance to
conjure up trouble and an xiety; to brood over and magnify all real and
imaginary e v ils ; to nurse up its ill-humors till they rankle into passion,
or stagnate into gloom . The human mind cannot bear vacancy. It will
work upon itself, and work mischief with itself, too, i f it have not som e­
thing out o f itself to engage it. It is bad enough to have the mind cramp­
ed, beggared, and enslaved, by entire and passionate devotion o f every
thought, and every waking moment, to one particular end o f gain or ambi­
tion ; this— were it possible, as it is not wholly— this were bad enough,
but not quite so bad as to have the mind often free from such engrossment,
with nothing else to interest or em ploy it.
A man should have some pursuit which may always be in his power,
and to which he may gladly turn in his hours o f recreation. It must be
something o f sufficient dignity and consequence to interest the intellect o f
a man. Children can play. But to a man mere play, sport, will soon
becom e either so vapid and silly that he w ill grow weary o f it, or else so
exciting as to enlist his passions, and so disorder and corrupt his mind, pro­
ducing in the end the most intolerable sort o f disquiet. F or a man’s re­
creation there must be something manly ; and what so fit to meet the want
as some part o f the boundless realm o f the true, the beautiful, the ingenious
in nature or art, in the works o f God, and the thoughts and discoveries o f
wise, deep-seeing men. W hat so suitable to keep a man from that vacuity
which is the mother o f all mental vagaries and disorders! Men feel the
want, though they may not know what it is they want. T h e rich feel it
as much as others, or more. Old men— and young men, too, easily as
they are amused by little things— feel it, and ow e to it many an anxious
hour and many an uncomfortable habit o f mind ; and so they will, till they
find something to engage the mind adequately and worthily in its intervals
o f relaxation. Said a prosperous merchant to his friend the other day—
“ I have many leisure hours which hang heavy upon my hands, the more
so as I grow older, and with which I know not what to do. I really would
give a large sum to feel as much interest in natural history as you appear
to.”
Gentlemen, there is many a man who would be incomparably hap­
pier with half his fortune, if with the other half he could buy a taste for
some pursuit apart from his business, that might worthily interest and de­
light his mind in the intervals o f wordly ease.
Those tastes are not to be bought. T h ey may be attained, however,
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without money and without price, by those who discern and feel the need
in season, and who will have resolution and patience to supply it.
One or two bright hours o f every day, snatched from a needless or cor­
rupting pleasure, from a rusting indolence, from mawkish sentimentality,
or from the hard and exclusive service o f mammon, and devoted to the
nurture o f intellectual taste and power in the fair regions o f truth, would
give to a respectable intellect a good mastery o f any one department o f
knowledge which it might select, if not indeed o f several, and make it
great and eminent in its sphere. But eminence and fame are not the ob­
jects I would propose. T h ey com e to but fe w ; and to them incidentally
and unexpected. It is enlargement o f mind, elevation o f character, dig­
nity and enjoyment o f life, a general and most happy improvement in the
condition o f society ; these are the objects, and to these such pursuits would
infallibly contribute. If they did not harmonize with the most eager as­
pirations after property, they would, at least, hinder no one in any ration­
al business activity and enterprise. I f they seem not to open the way to
wealth, they are yet nowise incompatible with its attainment, and they
tend to make a man satisfied and self-sustained, with or without its super­
fluities. A n active and well-stored intellect is not at all less fit than others
for worldly business, and is far less likely to be whirled into giddiness or
delirium by the vortex o f prosperity, or swept from its moorings by the
waves o f adversity. It gives steadiness and solidity to the character, so­
berness to one’ s views o f life, and that self-poised evenness to the mind,
which makes the usual changes o f fortune comparatively o f little impor­
tance. It is good for the whole man. F or convenience, we talk o f sepa­
rate faculties, affections, and principles; but they all constitute one mind,
and whatever bias or culture one part receives, affects the whole. Intro­
duce a strong and habitual interest in knowledge, and all the views and
interests o f the mind are so far modified. Give an hour a day to a study
wholly separate from the drudgery o f the world, and all other hours in the
day will, in a degree, be affected by that one. Let the mind be disciplin­
ed to an activity independent o f selfish interests, and you introduce a new
and influential element among all its passions and principles. And I am
sure that few things would work more efficiently for good in our young
men, than a settled taste for intellectual gratification, kept alive and nour­
ished by daily intellectual effort and acquisition.
I know the obstacles— I appreciate the difficulties which young men see
in themselves and their situations. And I have no reproach to utter against
those who turn away, in indifference or despair, from the course I have
pointed out. But I know, too, and we all may learn from many bright
examples, that such culture is not in itself incompatible with an active,
regular, and successful business life ; that both may exist in beautiful har­
mony. W e know that auspicious means and advantages are not essential;
that a strong purpose, a resolute heart, creates its own means or goes on
without them, and makes no other account o f difficulties than to use them.
W herever there is a will, there is a w a y ; and though nothing else be favor­
able, the result may be confidently looked for.
Sure I am, that in speaking to young men, intelligent, well-educated
young men, those whose tastes and habits have not yet become so perma­
nently fixed as not to admit o f change or improvement, those who have
yet enough o f mental elasticity to seize upon every suggestion that relates
to their welfare— in speaking to an audience o f this nature upon this sub­




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ject, I shall address some whose thoughts will not w holly rest upon diffi­
culties or impracticableness, but will kindle with higher conceptions, and
be moved to nobler strivings— strivings to be not the less a merchant, but
the more a m a n ; to unite to shrewd dealing and financial ability a love
and mastery o f some departments o f truth and wisdom which are above
the taint o f grosser pleasures and the din and dust o f traffic and o f gain.
Then ponder these suggestions, you to whom they may be in any de­
gree applicable. Take council with the higher affinities, the generous
promptings o f your nature. D o you say that you have no taste nor turn
that way, and can have none ? Y ou may be right, but do not decide too
hastily. I f you would cast about over the boundless fields o f knowledge,
o f nature, o f Providence, o f man— the earth, the heavens, the sea— the
past, the present— you might think differently. I f you would but just en­
ter the glorious temple o f knowledge, more richly studded with gems than
the fabled grottoes o f oriental gorgeousness— i f you would but pause upon
the threshold— you might perhaps see some shrine before which you could
heartily bow down and pay your devotions, and feel that you were enno­
bled and blessed by daily service there.
2. T h e other branch o f culture alluded to in the beginning o f this ad­
dress must not be omitted, though I have left too little space for its consid­
eration. I mean the morale.
Most o f the members o f this society, it may be presumed, expect soon
to be doing business for themselves. A t present they serve others in hon­
orable compact, for reciprocal advantages. I know nothing o f the rules
o f apprenticeship, or hired service in business, but there is one rule which
must include them all— fidelity. It requires the devotion o f time and tal­
ent to your em ployer’s interests as, for the time being, your own. The
portion o f his interest committed to you is in the nature o f a trust, which
you are bound in honor and conscience sacredly to keep. I f you secretly
appropriate to your own profit, or pleasure, or private risks, any o f that
which belongs to him, then, whether you ever replace it or not, you are
unfaithful and unprincipled. Perhaps he can afford the loss or injury ; o f
that, you are not the proper judge. But at any rate, you have made ship­
wreck o f principle. Y ou are likely to be ruined in character; or if, by
secrecy or indulgence, you are able to retain the confidence o f others, you
will no longer be worthy o f it. Y ou have begun the career o f an unprin­
cipled man. I f you are trusted, you must carry with you the miserable
conviction that you deserve not trust; i f you succeed, you must know that
you ought not to find success. Let the young be scrupulously faithful while
they serve others, and so lay the foundation for good principles in after life.
On going into trade for one’s self, the sphere o f moral principle becomes
wider, while principle itself is exposed to more temptation, open or insiduous, and requires more vigilance. The position is one that demands rec­
titude in all its forms— perfect integrity and fair dealing— perfect truthful­
ness in word and act— perfect integrity and sincerity ; demands them and
puts them severally to the test. This great principle o f rectitude, above
all others, comprehending all others, is the one to be conceived, studied,
established, guarded, lived by, in trade. W e need not dwell on gross de­
partures from it. I only say, let no young man, in the delusive hope o f
enriching himself, fall below Ihe morality o f the law and the tolerated
usages o f trade. Let him take no advantages that would be dangerous or
disgraceful if known. There is not one chance in a hundred o f perma­




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nent success in th is; and even success, thus gained, how dearly were
it bought! A t the cost o f self-respect and peace o f mind, the sense o f
safety and the riches o f principle ! A certain curse follows such success,
and none the less because it is success.
But it is more to the purpose to say, farther, that the ingenuous and
high-souled young man should aspire to something higher than the minimum
point even o f the respected conventional morality in trade. L et him in­
quire, not so much what others do and what is strictly allowable, but what
is absolutely true and downright honest. I f he would set out aright, he
must never consent to practice certain gainful evasions, certain convenient
falsehoods— not so called— o f misrepresentation or concealm ent. Let him
set a higher value upon his principles than upon the petty gains o f an un­
worthy, however customary, artifice. D o not rely upon usage as the safe
rule o f moral action. Y ou have within you a higher, plainer rule. F o l­
low that— your sense o f absolute rig h t; follow that— it is simple, intelli­
gible, and never misleads. I do not know what are the laws and usages
o f trade, but I do know that there are such things as right and wrong, truth
and falsehood ; and I do know that the ways o f man can never supersede,
or rightfully annul, the laws o f G od. Devote yourselves, with unswerving
allegiance, to the right and the true. By all that is noble in the spirit and
high in the hopes o f youth, follow these in the largest and smallest mat­
ters, even to the very letter o f the law o f your conscience and your Maker.
N o doubt there is difficulty in this1— so great, indeed, that many merchants
say that absolute honesty is out o f the question in business; that as the
world goes, business cannot be done upon strict principles o f truth and
right. I f I were to say this, you might well hiss me from your presence
as a foul libeller o f your class and your calling. F or a libel it must be.
In your name and behalf, I pronounce it such. I believe in honest men,
and commend the same faith to you. That the standard o f probity in the
mercantile, as in other pursuits, is too low, need not be doubted; that
tricks and artifices, incompatible with entire truth and rectitude, do prevail
and infect the dealings, more or less, o f almost the purest and truest men,
may be the fact— as merchants say it is. But it is a most important duty,
and should be the most anxious endeavor o f the young men o f the city, to
raise that standard more and more, up to the high-water mark o f absolute
principle; and this is the most pressing consideration that can be present­
ed to you. T o say that it cannot be done, that the policy o f business can­
not be made to square with strict rectitude, is heathenish ; nay, I do injus­
tice to respectable heathenism— it is devilish! It is mounting mammon
upon the throne o f the world ; high up, palpably and avowedly above the
living God ; and declaring that here we owe allegiance, and here we do,
and must, and will, pay our worship. D o not believe the doctrine. D o
not submit to the outrageous imputation. D o not proclaim yourselves
atheists. D o not put your calling out o f the pale o f Christian avocations,
outlawed to religion and morality, and even to a decent humanity. D o
not brand your pursuits with this irredeemable infamy. W ill you permit
us to call your business quarters an Alsatia? W ill you have inscribed
upon your wharves, and streets, and stores, the warning— “ all who enter
here must cheat or starve— no principle here— policy forbids it— the law
o f God cannot be kept here V ’ If that must be your creed, tacit or open,
then I warn you to flee from the city and the haunts o f traffic, as from the
fires o f Sodom or the gates o f hell.




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But not so ! Honesty is the best policy to whomsoever has the courage
to try it. But let me say, no man ever was, or can be, thoroughly honest
and true from motives o f policy a lo n e ; never from the mere calculation
o f the pecuniary advantages o f honesty. The golden image will stand se­
curely on no such earthy pedestal. Y ou will never be thoroughly honest
and true till the man shall outvoice the m erchant; till you dare to pro­
claim— “ I will hold fast m y integrity every whit, even if I s t a r v e n e v e r
till you can say, in the least matter as in the greatest— say in the spirit o f
an old martyr— “ I will do and assert the right, com e what w i l l n e v e r
till you have risen to that great height o f manliness from which you can
deliberately and heartily say— “ it is not necessary that I should be rich,
but it is necessary that I should be true.”
There is principle. Come to
that— and rectitude begins to appear and to deserve its name. Come to
that— and business becomes Christianized and humanized. And then it
must be that policy will find its mate in honesty. Then it must be that a
rational prosperity will insure to the individual, usually and in the long
run— and to the community, always and surely.
Thus a high mercantile probity must be a matter, not o f policy, but o f
prin cip le; made as independent o f circumstances as possible; founded
upon the rock which underlies the unstable sea. A.nd yet it must not be
overlooked that some circumstances are more favorable than others to the
maintenance o f strict integrity. That which will stand firm in some cases,
will quite give way in others o f greater tria l; and surely enough o f human
frailty has been witnessed o f late years to make all thoughtful and wellmeaning persons distrustful o f themselves for the future— humble and diffi­
dent as to the thoroughness and strength o f their principles. Still, each
man has, in some measure, influencing circumstances under his control,
and can, in part at least, choose his own position.
A man’ s integrity is tried and tempted whenever, and in the same pro­
portion as, his wants, ambition, or desires outrun his actual means. H e
who has a regular incom e, large or small, i f he can contentedly bring his
wants and expenses within that incom e, and so keep clear o f debt and em­
barrassment, he is in circumstances very favorable to honesty. H e can
go honestly through life with far less strength o f principle than one differ­
ently situated. He is comparatively free from temptation; his situation
is morally desirable. On the other hand, he whose wants, ways o f living,
and ambition, require a little more than he is earning and receiving— so
that he is harrassed by honest debts which he cannot promptly pay, or de­
sires which he cannot honestly gratify— in a word, if he and his live be­
yond their means, and cannot contentedly restrict themselves to their
means, then his integrity is put to a hard trial. H e is less likely to keep
himself honest than the first, with the same degree o f principle. N ay, he
has already unconsciously begun to be dishonest; and as he goes on,
pushed and perplexed by debts abroad and wants at home, he lives under
the daily, the hourly pressure o f temptation to relieve him self by a little
evasion here, a little deception there, or perhaps some greater and bolder
act o f fraud. W h o o f us cannot call to mind a man o f good purposes ori­
ginally, whose wants and habits have exceeded his means, and who has so
been driven to all manner o f shifts till, step by step, under the pressure, he
has become a great or a petty swindler— living at last upon dishonest ac­
quisitions, or at best upon false pretences ! The circumstances brought the
temptation. N ow circumstances are, in a great measure, under our con ­




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M oral and. Intellectual Culture o f American Merchants.

t r o l; that is, wants and expenses are, and o f course it is our wisdom and
our duty, to the utmost in our power, to shape them so as to diminish or
keep away the inducement to wrong doing.
It is much the same in trade as in living. A man who does business
o f whatever sort exclusively on his own actual capital, is more likely, oth­
er things being equal, to maintain his honesty than one who does the same
business on cred it; because, in case o f unfortunate operations or hard times,
he is pressed by fewer liabilities, and is under less temptation to resort to
unscrupulous methods o f extrication. H e may keep his character, and the
other may lose it, without any original difference in force o f principle.
So credit brings with it its own peculiar moral dangers. But, then, com ­
mercial credit is a necessary element o f modern civilization. F ew can
set out in life without relying upon credit. It is not to be denounced, and
cannot be dispensed with. Neither is it, in itself, a necessary evil ; for,
usually, those who begin with nothing but their character and exertions,
and the consequent credit, furnish more instances not only o f w orldly suc­
cess, but o f probity and general worth, than those who com m ence with the
advantages o f inherited property. Y et, nevertheless, the credit system
tries a man’s principles; and they who stand the test, and stand it out, are
strong men, who may be expected to take a high position in morality and
integrity. There are many who fail in the trial, and happy would it have
been for them had they never subjected themselves to i t ; in a different
sphere they might have been honest men. But credit is a matter o f indef­
inite degrees, and the moral danger lies in the excess and abuse o f the
necessary system. W hatever may be one’s opinion o f the first m oving
cause o f the recent disastrous times, and o f their deplorable moral effects
or accompaniments, it is certain that one essential link in the chain o f
causes was the vast amount o f indebtedness, both abroad and at home, be­
tween man and man— that is to say, the great extension of credit. And
for the future, it seems to me that both the civilian and the moralist can
desire nothing so much as the due regulation o f this system. It is a sub­
ject, I suppose, in part for political wisdom and legislation ; o f that I know
nothing. But I am sure that there is a great deal for the individual to do
in the way o f self-control, self-limitation ; to see that he does not multiply
difficulties and temptations unto himself, to jeopard his own integrity.
In what are called good times, when theie is a general feeling o f confi­
dence and security, I suppose that a young man o f character— any man
o f good standing— can obtain more credit than he ought to a cce p t; may
obtain more facilities for extending his business than he can prudently
avail himself o f ; can see more opportunities o f gain than he can wisely
indulge in. Credit is proffered and continued, until he is tempted to for­
get that a pay-day must com e ; that credit is not capital; that the represen­
tative is not the substance. H e is prompted to go on and feel firm, be­
cause his credit is continued and his obligations can be renewed or extend­
ed. This, if I mistake not, is one o f the ch ief temptations to which young
men, and old ones too— as in times past, so in times to com e, as soon as
prosperity really returns— will be instantly subjected. This is the great
danger to guard against. But suppose a man yields to the flattering
enticement— branches out upon the topmost crest o f the tide— accepts all
proffered credit and every facility he can procure for every enterprise that
wears a promising look ! He is upright, self-confident, and fearless. F or
years, perhaps, he goes on and appears rich and prosperous; he is so, in­




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311

deed, for the time, and as the world goes. But the moment will com e— so
surely as the seasons and the years roll on— the moment will com e when
he will be brought up in his career, and that with no gentle v iolen ce; a
period when property will decline in value, when debts must be paid, when
credit must be curtailed or discontinued. Such is but the regular flux or
reflux o f the tide o f worldly affairs, which must alternate, as they always
did and always will. W hat will he do then ? Possibly he may be the one
out o f a thousand who has so prospered as to be beyond the reach o f re­
verse. But more likely he will be one o f the thousand that have done
likewise, who cannot survive the shock and the revulsion, and he must
fall. But how— in what manner and spirit ? Perhaps bravely, manfully,
and with heroic submission to his fate, holding fast his integrity every jot,
doing every act and making every sacrifice to save others from suffering
with him ! But it takes a strong man— an uncommon man— to do thus,
fully and in good faith and throughout. It is m ore likely when he sees
the storm gathering, the danger impending, that he will take the alarm.
The pressure tightens, and he casts about for means o f extrication. Fair
means, if possible ; for o f course, as an honest man, he will think o f no oth­
ers at first. But it is an em ergency ; something must be don e; he is harrassed and perplexed; naturally his moral sense gets bewildered, and he
resorts to all manner o f concealment and evasions. H e must make the
most o f his old character. H e must take this confiding man’s money, and
that industrious woman’ s earnings ; and if he have access to any public
institution, he must plunge his hand deep into its funds, exposing all, every­
thing, and everybody, to his own fearful risks. It must be done, he sa y s;
he has no time to think o f whom he wrongs, or o f any nice question o f
right. A drowning man must seize anything— it is life or death to him.
And so, when he has utterly demoralized himself, and when every resort
proves insufficient, he sinks at last— broken alike in fortune and in char­
acter. His principles could not withstand so overwhelming a mass o f
temptation as his previous career had been accumulating upon him, to
break them down at the crisis.
It is painful to present or contemplate such a picture, but it must be
d o n e ; for the picture is a reality. Every man throughout the land has
seen it. In various degrees o f light and shadow, it is seen everywhere
and in every circle— showing mournfully how easily deluded even wise
men may be, how fragile are the good intents even o f the well-disposed,
how limited the trust we can put in the integrity and strength even o f those
we deem the strongest and the most upright; and, above all, what great
need there is for all to shun the circumstances o f peril and temptation
which beset every avenue o f trade.
But you may say that these remarks refer only to emergencies, such as o c ­
cur only at considerable intervals. So I do speak o f em ergencies. A nd
why not ? T h ey enter into the very idea and system o f trade, and w o to
him who is so short-sighted as to leave them out o f his calculation. D o they
not happen several times during every average business life time ? H e
alone is wise and safe who anticipates and provides against th em ; while
he who starts o ff as if there were to be no severe em ergencies in his
way, puts not only his fortune, but his integrity also, at the most imminent
hazard. Almost any crazy craft can ride gallantly and look well on a
smooth s e a ; but the gale will come, and then there w ill be wanted the
solid oak and iron strength, to stand the wrenchings o f the storm and pass




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M oral and Intellectual Culture o f American Merchants.

unscathed. W e may tremble for the fortune or for the virtue o f one who,
in using credit and commercial facilities, uses them so incautiously that he
appears to forget that the facilities must be restored, and the obligations be
met, when by a change o f times, perhaps, the means o f meeting them have
becom e less valuable and less available.
The worldly wise man will tell you that one very great danger in trade
lies in too wide an extension o f business upon cre d it; that that is the rock
upon which large numbers split. H e will tell you, for our worldly for­
tune’s sake, to beware o f this most seductive snare ;— let me urge you to
beware o f it also for con scien ce’ sake and the soul’s sake. It is as perilous
to your integrity as to your fortune. And why should man, frail as he is
in virtue, heap up against himself needless temptations, which will rush
upon him in the trying hour o f his w orldly peril and perplexity! It is
hard enough for most men to walk uprightly under the easiest circum ­
stances— why should one voluntarily expose himself to an ordeal o f diffi­
culty through which only the strongest pass safely, and even they escape
only as by fire.
I cannot tell, and if I knew as much o f business matters as the wisest
o f m y hearers, I suppose I could not tell what is the exact limit which a
young man should set to himself in the acceptance o f credit and the ex­
pansion o f enterprise. It depends much upon the man ; and yet even here
is a great source o f error, for each one is apt to think him self capable o f
anything in his lin e; it depends, too, upon the merits and circumstances
o f each particular case. But the great danger is o f excess. W orld ly
wisdom should restrict a man very closely, and moral wisdom— conscience
— should restrict him still more. Moral wisdom should forbid his going
deeper than he can calm ly and moderately go, with the desire only o f re­
gular gains, and without intense or passionate engrossment in business—
with industry, indeed, and a fair exertion o f his faculties, but without brood­
ing, exciting, enslaving soul absorption in worldly affairs. H e should keep
his position such that he can contemplate it without being bewildered by
its vastness, and made anxious or oppressed by the com plexity or amount
o f the obligations it in volves; such that the worst times, com e when or
how they may, will not distract him by difficulty, or offer temptations to
deceit and fraud, to breaches o f confidence and trust. It seems best that
a man who has a line o f business which he understands and which will
support him, however humbly, should confine himself to that, and not be
drawn away into operations with which he is not familial'— tempting paths
in which he goes blindfolded, or dazzled by large and uncertain hopes.
There is so much o f chance and risk, o f exciting hope and fear in this, it
partakes so much o f the character o f gaming, that it unsettles the mind
and is morally unhealthy, invariably and o f necessity. W hat proportion
do you suppose o f recent disasters are attributable to some such departures
from a man’ s regular walks o f business— as imprudent as they are demoral­
izing— involving all the moral evils o f an excessive extension o f on e’s le­
gitimate business, with the added evils o f a life and death game o f chance.
L ook to your principles. Make not haste to be rich. Observe, and
aspire not to overleap the bounds which God and nature set to your am­
bition. Devote yourselves to limited, regular plans o f business; be con ­
tent with regular moderate gains. Indulge moderate expectations as the
only safe ones. Reduce your wants and your ideas o f competency and
comfort, rather than enlarge your plans and aspirations beyond due and




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313

sober bounds. D o not wildly seek to be immediately or very rich, or you
will be disappointed, or worse than disappointed 1 Be satisfied to labor
patiently through youth and manhood, with the hope o f a competency for
the decline o f life. This hope may be somewhat more, or may be some­
what less than gratified ; at any rate, it is all which a young man ought, in
wisdom and conscience, to indulge in and act upon. Be not idle or thrift­
less in your pursuits, nor bate a jot o f heart or hope, but be wisely mod­
erate. Y ou will thus be the more likely to prosper, in the worldly sense
o f the w o rd ; and it will be incalculably better for your mind and heart,
your principles, dignity, and happiness.
The subject has no end, but time compels me to make an end to this
address.
Gentlemen, survey your position.
Behold the opportunities and re­
sponsibilities it involves. Y our mission is plain before you, to elevate
yourselves, your class, your calling. T h e best hopes o f the land rest on
the sound knowledge and sound principles o f its youth.
Awake, young men, to the call o f your cou n try ! Y ou see her fainting
under the pressure o f great misfortunes and many sins. She claims this
loyal service at your hands, that, as you com e forward to guide her affairs
and shape her destiny, you bring with you minds large with intelligence,
and strong with truth and with the principles that befit you as wise and
Christian m en ; that you com e triple-mailed with th'e armor o f truth and
rectitude ; with uprightness that will never truckle to a custom, yield to a
bribe, nor dally with a temptation ; and a moderation that will be active
and steady in the pursuit o f a rational prosperity, your own and hers, but
will not be seduced by any flattering breeze to throw away anchor and
compass, and rush madly upon the sea o f delusions, to your foundering
and her distress!

A

rt.

II.—COMMERCIAL BANKING.

It is to be regretted that so little attention is paid to the principles o f
commercial banking. If they were strictly regarded, many o f the objec­
tions to banks o f issue would never be heard o f more.
A ccording to these principles, it is o f little moment how the capital o f a
bank is invested, provided only it be in such form as to be available in
cases o f em ergency. It may be all invested in governmental securities, as
is the capital o f the Bank o f E n glan d; or in bonds and mortgages, as is
much o f the capital o f the so called “ Free Banks” o f this state; or in ac­
commodation notes, renewable at pleasure ; or even in the stock notes o f
the original subscribers, provided they be not men o f straw.
The first object o f those who establish a bank should be, to invest the
capital securely, and in such form as to be readily available in cases o f
emergency, leaving so much free only as is necessary to support the cur­
rent credit o f the institution. The next should be, to confine so many o f
the operations o f the banks as are based on its deposits and circulation, to
business-paper having but a short time to run, making it an inflexible rule
never to renew the same.
*
So long as a bank is conducted on these principles, it stands on a rock
VOL. v m . — n o . iv .
26




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Commercial Banking.

which cannot be shaken. Those who have bills discounted by it, do, in
point o f fact, furnish the funds necessary to redeem its circulation. Its
paper is a mere medium for transferring commodities from producers to
customers.
Each issue having performed its functions, returns to the
bank in the payment o f bills discounted. Its vaults can never be exhausted,
because the current that flows out daily is equalled or exceeded by another
that flows in. The prettiest, and, w e may add, the safest way o f making
money that has ever yet been invented, is that o f banking on commercial
principles. It is creditable, moreover, which some modes o f making money
are n o t; and therefore it ought to receive the especial attention o f those
who wish to make money, and at the same time preserve their reputation.
I f a bank discounts nothing but business-paper, the notes it issues repre­
sent the bills it discounts, and these, in their turn, represent commodities
bought or sold. Whatever these may be, whether flour, sugar, cotton, to­
bacco, or drygoods, they form a fund out o f which the merchant may, in
due season, pay the bill discounted by the bank, and thus enable the bank
to redeem its issues.
So long as banks observe this rule, they cannot, according to this theory,
make issues to ex cess; for the facilities they grant are exactly adapted to
the mercantile business o f the country, increasing as it increases, and di­
minishing as it diminishes. The exact proportion o f currency to com ­
modities is preserved* no matter what may be the fluctuations o f com m erce.
So long, moreover, as banks observe this rule, domestic exchanges can­
not be thrown into disorder. If the trade between different parts o f the
country were reduced to mere barter, (both money and credit being ex­
cluded therefrom,) it is self-evident that exchanges would be regular, for
no part o f the country would part with commodities, except on receiving
commodities o f equal value in return. Equally regular would be the ex­
changes, if, instead o f being carried on by mere barter o f commodities,
they should be carried on by the medium o f paper, which should be the
exact representative o f the value o f those commodities.
But if banks issue notes for the purchase or improvement o f real estate,
they introduce disorder into both currency and exchanges. In such cases,
their notes are indeed the representatives o f commodities, but not o f com ­
modities which can be advantageously sold in time to enable borrowers to
repay what has been lent to them, and thus enable the banks to meet their
engagements. In some parts o f the country, the banks may be under the
necessity o f redeeming the aggregate amount o f their issues once in three
months ; in others, in a shorter, and in others, in a longer period. But it
would be but a poor “ accommodation” to the purchaser o f a cotton plan­
tation in Mississippi, to be obliged to repay his loan before he could carry
his first crop to m arket; or the builder o f a palace in N ew Y ork, to re­
fund what he had borrowed before his wife had had an opportunity o f giv­
ing her first soiree in her splendid mansion. Y et, if the banks o f M issis­
sippi will, in addition to making issues sufficient to circulate the annual
produce o f the soil, also make issues equal to the amount o f the real es­
tate thrown into market, exchanges will be wofully against Mississippi.
Part o f these excessive issues will find their way to N ew Y ork and Phila­
delphia, but the land cannot be exported in order to redeem them. The
same remarks will, mutatis mutandis, apply to the N ew Y ork banks, if
they will make loans to people wherewithal to build palaces at N ew
Brighton.




Commercial Banking.

I

j

315

Particular cases will serve to elucidate the principles o f commercial
banking, and show the difference between it and other kinds o f banking.
A miller, at or near Hagerstown, Maryland, has wheat o f the value o f
one thousand dollars offered to him by the neighboring farmers. H e has
no cash on hand wherewith to make the purchase, but he has a note, bill,
or acceptance, for one thousand dollars, given to him by the factor at Bal­
timore, to whom he made his last consignment o f flour. He has this note
or bill discounted by the Bank o f Hagerstown, and with the proceeds
thereof he purchases the wheat. The farmers take the bank notes, pay
them out to the mechanics and traders with whom they have dealings, and
the notes, after having circulated for a time in the neighborhood o f Hagers­
town, at last reach Baltimore. Th ey are, in all probability, carried to
that city by the Hagerstown storekeepers, and exchanged for drygoods
and groceries. The merchants o f Baltimore deposit them in the banks o f
that city, and the Bank o f Hagerstown thus becomes debtor to the banks
o f Baltimore in the sum o f one thousand dollars. But this is balanced by
the note or bill o f the flour factor for one thousand dollars, which the Hagerstown Bank had sent on for collection. The trade between Hagers­
town and Baltimore, is an exchange o f flour for drygoods and g roceries;
and the value o f the same is expressed in the note o f hand, or bill o f ex­
change, given by the Baltimore flour factor, and in the bank notes issued
at Hagerstown, which form together the medium o f that trade.
This is what is called “ simply making advances,” or “ affording facili­
ties.”
T h e miller has a capital o f his own, invested in flour at Baltimore ;
but he cannot use this in the purchase o f wheat at his mill door. The
farmers do not want flour, or, if they do, he has it not at hand to supply
th em ; but they want to make purchases from the storekeepers, and the
circulating credit o f the bank will answer their purposes. The bank has
not lent capital to the miller, for it had none to len d ; having previously
invested in permanent securities all its original funds. It lends its credit,
and it has a double security that the credit it lends will be sustained ; first,
in the flour at Baltimore, o f the value o f which, the note or bill o f the factor is the representative; and secondly, in the wheat purchased by the
miller, o f the value o f which, the notes issued by the Plagerstown Bank
are the representatives. This is, throughout, a business transaction, and
it is in strict conformity with the principles o f commercial banking.
But take another case. The miller wishes to make an addition to his
mill, and for this purpose requires five thousand dollars. The bank lends
him the amount on a note drawn by an obliging friend, and endorsed by
himself. Here bank notes are issued, not as the representatives o f a value
already existing, but o f a value to be created by labor. Before that value
can be created, that is, before the new mill can be brought to yield an in­
com e, the bank notes find their way, in the natural course o f trade, to Bal­
timore. But there is no flour here now, as in the former case, to consti­
tute a fund for the redemption o f the notes. E ven after the mill shall be
completed, it cannot be transferred to Baltimore.
Suppose fifty operations o f this kind to take place, and it is evident that
the balance will be thrown greatly against Hagerstown ; but a very few
such operations would derange the course o f exchanges. According to
the theory o f commercial banking, while banks discount all good businesspaper o f short dates that is offered, and no other, the channels o f circula­
tion are exactly full. But it is plain, that when a vessel is full, a very few




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Commercial Banking.

drops in addition will cause the water to overflow. L et a bank have ten
thousand dollars o f specie in its vaults, and a circulation o f one hundred
thousand dollars, and suppose this to be exactly adapted to the business o f
the community. Then let it make an addition o f but ten per cent to its
circulation. Inconsiderable as this addition may seem, it m aybe sufficient
to drain the bank o f all its specie.
Apply these principles to the banks in two more distant parts o f our
Union, say N ew Y ork and Mississippi. The trade is much more round­
about than that between Hagerstown and Baltimore, but it is in reality
founded on the same principles. Let us trace its regular course.
A merchant from Natchez repairs to N ew Y ork, and purchases one
hundred thousand dollars’ worth o f goods, giving his notes or bills for the
same. The N ew Y ork merchant has these notes or bills discounted by a
bank, and with the proceeds purchases bills o f exchange on England,
through which he either pays an old debt due in that country, or procures
a fresh supply o f foreign commodities. The Mississippi merchant carries
these goods to Natchez, and there disposes o f them to the neighboring
planters, in expectation o f being paid out o f the growing crop o f cotton.
In due season he receives the cotton, and sends it to a factor at N ew Or­
leans. In the interval, the notes or bills he gave to the N ew Y ork mer­
chant have been sent to the Commercial Bank at Natchez, for collection.
T h ey are now due. H e draws on the factor at New Orleans. The Com­
mercial Bank discounts these drafts, and with what he thus receives, the
Natchez merchant pays the notes or bills he gave to the N ew Y ork jobber
or importer. H ere are still several accounts unsettled. The N ew Or­
leans factor is in debt to the Commercial Bank at N atchez, and the latter
is in debt to the Bank o f A m erica at N ew Y ork . But the factor has, in
the cotton consigned to him, the means o f paying his debt to the bank at
Natchez, and thereby enabling it to settle accounts with the bank at N ew
Y ork. The factor ships the cotton to Liverpool, and draws a bill o f ex­
change on England, which bill he sells, and with the proceeds pays the
N ew Orleans agent o f the Commercial Bank o f Natchez, which agent we
will suppose to be the Union Bank. The Bank o f A m erica at N ew Y ork,
draws on the Commercial Bank at N a tch ez; the latter draws on the Union
Bank o f Louisiana, in favor o f the bank at N ew Y ork ; the Union Bank
sends the foreign bill o f exchange to N ew Y o r k ; the Bank o f Am erica
receives it there, and sells it to an importing merchant, who transmits it
to Europe, perhaps in payment for the very drygoods he had a year be­
fore sold to the Mississippi merchant.
This may seem like a very complicated process o f bill-draw ing; but it
is, in reality, a plain business transaction. The bills and drafts, in all cases,
follow the course o f the goods on which they are founded. The trade be­
tween Mississippi and England, is an exchange o f cotton for drygoods and
other products o f British industry. Mississippi carries on this trade chiefly
through the two ports o f N ew Y ork and N ew Orleans.
Through the
former she makes her imports, through the latter her exports. AH the
notes given and the drafts drawn, are but the representatives o f the goods
received or the cotton sent. The trade, so far as it is carried on in this
country, commences at N ew Y ork, where the importation was made ; and
to that city, in order to liquidate accounts, must the bill o f exchange be
sent which was founded on the exportation made at N ew Orleans. This
bill is forwarded to Liverpool. About the time it reaches that city, the




Commercial Banking.

317

cotton on which it is founded arrives; and thus the accounts between
England and the United States are adjusted.
I f the principles o f com m ercial banking are correct, it would seem that,
as long as these institutions confine themselves to real business transac­
tions, there is little danger o f either foreign or domestic exchanges being
deranged. In addition to the operations o f the Mississippi banks, founded
on goods received from N ew Y ork, or cotton sent to New Orleans, there
would be others, founded on the business transactions o f the citizens o f
Mississippi among themselves. The issues o f the banks resting on such
transactions would furnish the local currency, and as no note would be is­
sued but in consequence o f a value already created and adapted to circu­
lation, there could be no excess o f issues; and while the currency o f Mis­
sissippi was thus kept at par at home, there could be no possibility o f de­
ranging it from abroad, so long as the exchange dealings o f the banks
should be based exclusively on goods received from other states, and pro­
ducts sent to other countries.
But let the banks o f Mississippi, in addition to loans to facilitate Iona
fide commercial operations, also make loans to enable individuals to specu­
late in lands. Suppose a bank should, in addition to an advance o f one
hundred thousand dollars to a merchant, made in order to enable him to
anticipate the proceeds o f his cotton sent to N ew Orleans, advance him
one hundred thousand dollars more to buy wild lands. If we are rightly
informed, such things have been done in Mississippi. This amount may
not enter immediately into circulation, but it must do so, sooner or later.
Suppose that all the banks in Mississippi offered “ accommodations” o f
this kind, and that the aggregate amount is several millions. In the course
o f trade, a portion o f the excess will find its w ay to N ew Y ork, and then
the rate o f exchange, as measured by the price o f bank notes, must be
greatly against Mississippi, unless, indeed, the N ew Y ork banks shall have
made issues, equally excessive, to accommodate speculators in town lots,
dealers in fancy stocks, and builders o f fancy palaces.
W e may suppose all the banks in the country to act in this way, and
those in the north, south, east, and west, to be so nearly equal in their ex ­
cess o f issues, that, for a time, there is little variation from the ordinary
rates o f domestic exchange. But this cannot continue long. The rise o f
prices caused by so general an excess, encourages importations and dis­
courages exportations. Though we have the finest and most extensive
wheat lands o f any country in the world, we cease to export, and begin to
import breadstuff's. This may, for a season, seem to do very w ell; but as
we do not pay as promptly as we ought for what we import, our credit
abroad begins to be affected. The course o f foreign exchanges is turned
against us. The merchants, to avoid paying heavy premiums on Euro­
pean bills, export gold and silver; but hardly does the sum total amount
to five million dollars, before our eight or nine hundred banks find they
can bear no further drains— as with one consent they all stop payment,
and the country is exposed to all the evils, present and prospective, o f an
irredeemable paper currency.
A ccording to the theory o f commercial banking, none o f these evils
would have come upon us, if the banks had made no issues and granted
no credits, except on real business transactions o f short dates.
The 14th and 15th numbers o f the Journal o f Banking, contain the his­
tory o f a bank in which banking on commercial principles, and banking




26 *

318

Commercial Banking.

on the principles too com m only adopted in this country, are both so strik­
ingly illustrated, that we cannot resist the temptation to offer it here in an
abridged form.
The bank in question was chartered in October, 1806. Its capital was
two hundred thousand dollars, divided into one thousand shares o f one hun­
dred dollars each. The first board o f nine directors was chosen on the
3d o f February, 1807. On the same day, out o f this number, a gentle­
man, who held a large and controlling interest as a stockholder, and who
gave direction to its affairs for a quarter o f a century afterwards, was cho­
sen president. T h e bank was opened for business on the 21st o f May,
1807, and a rule established, on that very day, o f the following im port:—
N o paper offered at this hank Jor discount will he accepted, having more
than sixty days to run to maturity.
E very note or hill discounted m tjst b e p a i d a t m a t u r i t y .
N o renewal or fr e s h discount will he made in substitution f o r , or in aid
of, the payment o f an existing indehtedness.
There was no set form o f by-laws enacted. This simple, searching,
and effective rule stood alone, the solitary but inflexible rule for the ad­
ministration o f its affairs. In the outset, some o f its debtors, regarding
a bank in the light o f a benevolent rather than that o f a money making in­
stitution, denounced the rule as most arbitrary and “ unaccom m odating;”
and, in a few cases, a resort to legal proceedings was found necessary to
coerce its observance. The rule, however, was enforced, and its require­
ments obeyed.
The bank, it is to be understood, instituted no impertinent inquisition
into the origin or object o f the paper offered for discount. Parties being
satisfactory, it was invariably “ done.” Experience taught the directors,
that the rule requiring absolute payment at the end o f sixty days, would, in
its operation, necessarily confine their discounts to real business paper—
representing actual transfers o f property out o f the hands o f the payee into
those o f the payer ; the payee received, in consideration o f his note, the
property purchased, which he practically held in trust for the security o f
the holder o f the note.
It was ascertained, soon after the bank was fairly in operation, that its
ability to discount had no sort o f connection with, or dependence on, the
amount o f its capital. A currency, fully equal to the demands o f trade,
was sustained, and more could not have been sustained i f the capital had
been one million dollars. Its circulating notes were issued only in ex ­
change for business-paper representing commodities in transitu, and were,
as already observed, practically received by a lien on those com m odi­
ties.
Once in every sixty days, the whole debt due to the bank was cancelled
by payment. One-sixtieth part being thus paid in, restored to the bank
daily, either its own bills, or the bills o f other banks. A s every new dis­
count carried out the credit o f this bank only— not that o f other institutions,
for prompt and actual payment was required o f their bills— it is obvious
that its circulation supplanted that o f other banks dealing in renewals or
“ accommodation p a p er;” because their paper, as fresh discounts w ere
comparatively few, seldom went into circulation. T o compensate for the
less circulation, the cause not being understood, agents were furnished
with bills o f those banks by their directors, with orders to exchange them
with merchants and trades-people ; and even travellers were annoyed by




Commercial Banking.

319

numerous applications, without effecting their object for any length o f time,
as they were soon returned from whence they issued.
There was no attempt made by the bank to regulate trade or exchanges,
but it was itself regulated by them. The bank was the servant o f trade,
not its master. Its circulation vibrated widely. A t certain seasons, when
the products o f the country were com ing forward to market, it expanded
la rg ely ; at others, it shrunk within very narrow limits.
After some years, it was found that the bank had more capital than was
necessary to sustain its current credits; and as the investment o f this
surplus capital involved a responsibility which it was thought could be dis­
charged with equal safety and greater advantage by the stockholders in
their individual capacities, it was resolved to restore it to them. A cco rd ­
ingly, in pursuance o f a vote taken at a meeting o f the stockholders, on
the 3d o f July, 1816, and with the consent o f the legislature previously ob­
tained, one-half o f the original capital o f the bank (one hundred thousand
dollars) was paid back to the stockholders in gold and silver, or its equiva­
lent, leaving one hundred thousand dollars o f the same article, or its equiva­
lent, in possession o f the bank. A large amount o f money was thus dis­
tributed among the stockholders in aid o f the productive industry o f the
country, which required actual capital for long and fixed periods, and not
lank credit; while the latter continued to be employed as a facility to the
trading community in transferring commodities.
This disposition o f its capital was alike beneficial to the country and the
bank— to the country, because it augmented the national wealth by in ­
creasing the products o f la b or; to the bank, because it called for an en­
larged but legitimate issue o f its currency (the only real source o f profit
which a bank possesses over other modes o f investing capital) to transfer
this increased amount to market.
The bank continued its operations, adhering to the rule governing its
discounts, but found that it had still more capital than was necessary to
support its current credits. T o employ it in discounting commercial pa­
per, experience had shown was not advisable, as the bank’s credit, which
cost nothing, already supplied all the demands o f trade, and adding its
capital would either com pel it to retire an equal amount o f that cred it; or
else, by inflating the currency, enhance prices, promote extravagance and
speculation, and thus endanger the solvency o f its customers, whose en­
gagements the bank held. Accordingly, to protect itself by protecting its
customers, the bank, in the latter part o f 1821, lent on bond and mortgage
twenty-five thousand dollars o f its remaining capital.
This investment being made, recourse was had to temporary loans on
fixed securities, which were soon abandoned, and a further sum, nearly
equal to the residue o f its capital, was, subsequently, permanently lent
on the security o f bonds and mortgages. The bank, meanwhile, con ­
tinued its regular business from year to year, the proceeds o f bills dis­
counted supplying it with means more than sufficient to redeem its own
notes.
Such was the practice o f the bank anterior to the year 1832. And
now, what was the result o f its operations to its stockholders, and what was
its effects on the trading community whose transactions it controlled ?
T h ey may be briefly summed up as follow s:—
First.— F or twenty-five years, being from 1807 to 1832, the bank re­
deemed all its engagements in specie on demand ; although, during part




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Commercial Banking.

o f this time, or from 1814 to 1 8 16 -17, the greater part o f the banks in the
country were in a state o f suspension.
Second.— The dividends o f the bank, while in operation, averaged ten
per cent on the whole capital employed.
Third.— The entire loss o f the bank on discounted paper, for a period
o f twenty-five years, was fifty dollars !
Fourth.— There was not, it is believed, a single fa ilu re among the regular
dealers with the bank from 1807 to 1832, a period o f a quarter o f a century.
Fifth.— A t any time when the bank was in operation, its affairs could
have been wound up, its bills receivable all collected, the banking-house
sold, and the stock returned to the shareholders, on four months’ notice,
without loss.
Such was the condition o f the bank down to the year 1832, when the
spirit o f speculation began to overspread the land. The customers o f the
bank, the history o f which we are narrating, partook o f the general infec­
tion— became clamorous for “ more m oney” — demanded “ accom m oda­
tions” — insisted that the town was already retrograding, or, what was the
same in effect, all other places were advancing faster in the career o f pros­
perity. In vain did the president portray the evils o f departing from the
principles which had sustained both the bank and its customers for a period
o f twenty-five years through great com m ercial difficulties. H e told them
he would sooner risk his life at sea, in a ship without a rudder, than his
character and fortune in a bank dealing in accommodation notes ; that, o f
the two, he would rather find a counterfeit than an accommodation note
among the bills receivable. He was reproached as being quite behind the
age, and as belonging to a school utterly extinct. H e was told that the
resources o f the country had increased and were increasing, and required
more bank capital; and that, in order to maintain the popularity o f the
institution, it must “ accommodate” its customers. Finding resistance in
vain, the president finally told the board that, with a view o f preserving
unbroken the harmony which had subsisted for so long a period, he would
now make a proposition, either to purchase their interest, or sell his own
as a stockholder ; and on fixing his terms, his interest was purchased, and
his stock transferred that day for the first time in twenty-five years.
The principles and policy that had governed the institution, were
thenceforward changed. The permanent investment o f its capital was no
longer continued, but it was employed in discounts. Notes were discount­
ed, with an understanding o f a renewal on a receipt o f five or ten per cent
on each extension. The borrowers from the bank turned speculators, and
converted their pasture-grounds into town lots, which were readily sold as
such at extravagant prices ; products rose, and every countenance beamed
with jo y and gladness. The president was then carefully and constantly
reminded o f the fact that he belonged to an old school, and not to the pre­
sent enterprising generation.
N ow for the sequel. In a very brief period, the bank was compelled
to resort to N ew Y ork brokers to borrow money on a pledge o f bills dis­
counted, to redeem its own circulation, over which a notarial protest was
held for twenty-four hours ; and, in about four years, the bank stopped pay­
ment, and was declared insolvent. Its paper, which had been redeemed
for more than a quarter o f a century in gold and silver, was sold at a
heavy discount. Its whole capital and outstanding circulation, were repre­
sented by unavailable assets.




Internal Trade o f the United States.

321

So striking are the particulars in the history o f this bank, that some
have supposed them to be mere fictions, invented by the editor, or one o f his
correspondents, with the laudable intent o f showing the difference between
banking on commercial, and banking on stock-jobbing and land-jobbing prin­
ciples. They err herein. These particulars are fa c ts . W e have the
name o f the bank. It was situated in a town not very distant from the
city o f N ew Y ork. W e have also the names o f the president, and o f oth­
ers who were connected with the bank. In point o f fact, we were acquaint­
ed with the president by whom the bank was so successfully managed ; and,
also, with at least one o f those by whose misconduct it was subsequently
ruined. The original, from which we make this abridgment, has now
been before the public for more than a year. It has been submitted to
those most cognizant o f the affairs o f the bank, and they have pronounced
it correct in every particular.
It is a history which does certainly exhibit, in a very striking point o f
view, the advantages o f banking on commercial principles. B y adhering
strictly to these principles, both the bank and its customers were safely
conducted through all the convulsions and reverses o f trade attendant on
the embargo, the war o f 1812, the suspension o f specie payments in 1814,
their resumption in 1817, the great bank revulsion o f 1819 -21, the panic
o f 1825, and the banking troubles o f 1828 and 1829.
N or is the rapidity o f its downfall, after it had departed from these prin­
ciples, the less remarkable. It broke in about four years, when the banks
throughout the country were expanding their circulation.
And yet, if we could trace the histories o f the hundreds o f other banks
that have failed in this country, w e would find them to differ but little, in es­
sentials, from the history o f the bank above given, during the last four
years o f its existence. T h ey ad owe their ruin to long loans to govern­
ment, or long loans to individuals; through which, attempts were made
to make mere circulating credit supply the place o f solid, permanent capital.
The truth must not be concealed, that there are strong objections to
banks o f issue, on whatever principles they may be conducted. But if the
banks throughout the country were managed on strictly commercial prin­
ciples, a failure among them would be a rarity indeed, and a general suspension o f specie payments would be impossible.

A r t . III.— IN T E R N A L T R A D E OF T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S .
A l m o s t up to the present time, the whole weight o f population in the
United States has lain along the Atlantic shore, on and near its tide waters,
and a great proportion o f their wealth was connected with foreign com ­
merce, carried on through their seaports. These being at once the cen ­
ters o f domestic and foreign trade, grew rapidly, and constituted all the
large towns o f the country. The inference was thence drawn, that as our
towns o f greatest size were connected with foreign com m erce, this consti­
tuted the chief, if not the only source o f wealth, and that large cities could
grow up nowhere but on the shores o f the salt sea. Such had been the
experience o f our people, and the opinion founded on it has been pertina­
ciously adhered to, notwithstanding the situation o f the country in regard




322

Internal Trade o f the United States.

to trade and com m erce has essentially altered. It seems not, until lately,
to have entered the minds even o f well-informed statesmen, that the inter­
nal trade o f this country has become far more extensive, important, and
profitable, than its foreign com m erce. In what ratio the former exceeds
the latter, it is impossible to state with exactness. W e may, however, ap­
proximate the truth near enough to illustrate our subject.
The annual production o f Massachusetts has been ascertained to be o f the
value o f $100,000,000. If the industry o f the whole nation were equally
productive, its yearly value would be about $2,300,000,000 ; but, as we
know that capital is not so abundantly united with labor in the other states, it
would be an over-estimate to make that state the basis o f a calculation for the
whole country. $1,500,000,000 is probably near the actual amount o f our
yearly earnings.
O f this, there may be $500,000,000 consumed and
used where it is earned, without being exchanged. The balance, being
$1,000,000,000, constitutes the subjects o f exchange, and the articles that
make up the domestic trade and foreign com m erce o f the United States.
The value o f those which enter into our foreign com m erce is, on an average,
about $100,000,000. The average domestic exports o f the years 1841 and
1842, is $99,470,900. There will then remain $900,000,000, or ninetenths, for our internal trade. Supposing, then, some o f our towns to be adapt­
ed only to foreign com m erce, and others as exclusively fitted for domestic
trade; the latter, in our country, would have nine times as much business as
the former, and should, in consequence, be nine times as large. Although we
have no great towns that do not, in some degree, participate in both foreign
and domestic trade, yet we have those whose situations particularly adapt
them to the one or the oth er; and we wish it constantly borne in mind,
that an adaptation to internal trade, other things being equal, is worth nine
times as much to a town as an adaptation in an equal degree to foreign
com m erce. It may be said, and with truth, that our great seaports have
manifest advantages for domestic, as well as for foreign com m erce. Since
the peace o f Europe left every nation free to use its own navigation, the
trade o f our Atlantic coast has probably been five times greater than that
carried on with foreign nations; as the coasting tonnage has exceeded the
foreign, and the number o f voyages o f the former, can scarcely be less
than five to one o f the latter.
N ow , what is the extent and quality o f that coast, compared with the
navigable river and lake coasts o f the North Am erican valley?* From
the mouth o f the St. Croix to Sandy hook, the soil, though hard and com ­
paratively barren, is so well cultivated as to furnish no inconsiderable
amount o f products for internal trade. In extent, including bays, inlets,
and both shores o f navigable rivers, and excluding the sand beach known
as Cape Cod, this coast may be estimated at 900 miles. From Sandy
hook to Norfolk, including both shores o f Delaware and Chesapeake bays,
and their navigable inlets, and excluding the barren shore to Cape May, the
coast may be computed at 900 miles more. And from N orfolk to the Sabine,
there is a barren coast o f upwards o f 2,000 miles, bordered most o f the
way by a sandy desert extending inland on an average o f 80 or 90 miles.
O ver this desert must be transported most o f the produce and merchan­
dise, the transit and exchange o f which, constitute the trade o f this part o f
the coast. This barrier o f nature must lessen its trade at least one-half.
* This valley includes the basins o f the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, and Mobile rivers.




Internal Trade o f the United States.

323

It will be a liberal allowance to say, that 4,000 miles o f accessible coast
are afforded to our vessels by the Atlantic Ocean and G ulf o f M exico. O f
this, only about 2,500 miles, from Passamoquaddy to St. Marys, can be
said to have contributed much, until recently, to the building of our Atlan­
tic cities. T o the trade o f this coast, then, are we to attribute five-sixths
o f the growth and business, previous to the opening o f the Erie canal, o f
Portland, Salem, Boston, Providence, N ew Y ork, Albany, Troy, Philadel­
phia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah,
and several other towns o f less importance. Perhaps, it will be said, that
foreign trade is more profitable in proportion to its amount, than domestic.
But is this likely ? W ill not the N ew Y ork merchant be as apt to make
a profitable bargain with a Carolinian, as with an Englishman o f Lanca­
shire ? Or, is it an advantage to trade, to have the wide obstacle o f the
Atlantic in its way ? D o distance and difficulty, and risk and danger, tend
to promote commercial intercourse and profitable trade ? I f so, the Alleganies are a singular blessing to the commercial men living on their west­
ern slope. Some think that it is the foreign com m erce that brings all the
wealth to the country, and sets in motion most o f the domestic trade. A t
best, however, we can only receive by it imported values, in exchange for
values exported, and those values must first be created at home.
W ith the exception o f tobacco, our exports to foreign nations are mostly
prime necessaries o f life, such as minister, in the highest degree, to the
comforts o f the people who use them. Such are bread-stuffs, provisions,
and cotton-wool, a material from which a great part o f the clothing o f the
world is fabricated. And what do we receive in exchange so calculated
to enrich us as a nation? A m ong other articles imported in 1840, (we
have not before us a later return from the Secretary o f the Treasury,)
w e received tea and coffee, to the value o f (we give round numbers)
$14,000,000 ; silks, and silk and worsted stuffs, near $ 1 0 ,2 5 0 ,0 0 0 ; wines
and spirits, $ 3 ,6 0 0 ,0 0 0 ; lace, $5 00 ,0 00 ; tobacco, manufactured, $870,000 ;
in all, near $30,000,000 out o f an import o f $107,000,000. The dealing in
these articles may have a tendency to enrich, but surely neither those that
consume, nor those whose labor buys the articles above specified, are enrich­
ed. Indeed, if the $30,000,000 o f food and materials for clothing, which are
sent abroad to pay for such poisons and luxuries, are not wholly lost by
being so exchanged, it will be admitted that we are not greatly enriched
by the exchange. L et us not be understood as desirous o f undervaluing
foreign trade. W e hope and believe, that its greatest blessings and tri­
umphs are yet to com e. Many o f the articles which it brings to us add
much to our substantial comfort, such as woollen and cotton goods, sugar
and molasses ; and others, such as iron and steel, with most o f their manu­
factures, give much aid to our advancing arts. But if these articles were
the products o f domestic industry— if they were produced in the factories
o f L ow ell and Dayton, on the plantations o f Louisiana, and in the furnaces,
forges, and workshops o f Pennsylvania— why would not the dealing in
them have the same tendency to enrich as now that they are brought from
distant countries ?
A disposition to attribute the rapid increase o f wealth in commercial na­
tions mainly to foreign com m erce, is not peculiar to our nation' or our
time ; for we find it combatted as a popular error by distinguished writers
on political econom y. Mr. Hume, in his Essay on Com merce, maintains
that the only way in which foreign commerce tends to enrich a country,




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Internal Trade o f the United States.

is by its presenting tempting articles o f luxury, and thereby stimulating the
industry o f those in whom a desire to purchase is thus ex cited; the aug­
mented industry o f the nation being the only gain.
D r. Chalmers says : “ Foreign trade is not the creator o f any econom ic
interest; it is but the officiating minister o f our enjoyments. Should we
consent to forego those enjoyments, then, at the bidding o f our will, the
whole strength at present embarked in the service o f procuring them would
be transferred to other services, to the extension o f the home trade ; to the en­
largement o f our national establishments; to the service o f defence, or con­
quest, or scientific research, or Christian philanthropy.” Speaking o f the fool­
ish purpose o f Buonaparte to cripple Britain by destroying her foreign trade,
and its utter failure, he sa y s: “ T h e truth is, that the extinction o f foreign
trade in one quarter, was almost immediately followed up, either by the exten­
sion o f it in another quarter, or by the extension o f the home trade. Even
had every outlet abroad been obstructed, then, instead o f a transference
from one foreign market to another, there would just be a universal reflux
towards a home market, that would be extended in precise proportion with
every successive abridgment which took place in our external com m erce.”
I f these principles are true, and w e believe they are in accordance with
those o f every eminent writer on political econom y, and if they are im­
portant in their application to the British isles— small in territory— with
extensive districts o f barren land— surrounded by navigable waters— rich
in good harbors, and presenting numerous natural obstacles to construc­
tions for the promotion o f internal com m erce; and, moreover, placed at
the door o f the richest nations o f the w orld ; with how much greater force
do they apply to our country, having a territory twenty times as large, un­
rivalled natural means o f intercommunication, with few obstacles to their
indefinite multiplication by the hand o f m a n ; a fertility o f soil not equalled
by the whole w o rld ; grow ing within its boundaries nearly all the produc­
tions o f all the climes o f the earth, and situated 3,000 miles from her near­
est commercial neighbor.
W ill it be said that, admitting the chief agency in building up great
cities to belong to internal industry and trade, it remains to be proved that
N ew Y ork and the other great Atlantic cities will feel less o f the bene­
ficial effects o f this agency than Cincinnati and her western sisters ? It
does not appear to us difficult to sustain by facts and reasoning, the supe­
rior claims in this respect o f our western towns. It should be borne in
mind, that the North Am erican valley embraces the climate, soils, and
minerals, usually found distributed among many nations. From the north­
ern shores o f the upper lakes, and the highest navigable points o f the Missis­
sippi and Missouri rivers, to the G ulf o f M exico, nearly all the agricultural
articles which contribute to the enjoyment o f civilized man, are now, or may
be produced in profusion. T h e north will send to the south, grain, flour,
provisions, including the delicate fish o f the lakes, and the fruits o f a tem­
perate clime, in exchange for the sugar, rice, cotton, tobacco, and the
fruits o f the warm south. These are but a few o f the articles, the pro­
duce o f the soil, which will be the subjects o f com m erce in this valley.
O f mineral productions, which, at no distant day, will tend to swell the
tide o f internal commerce, it will suffice to mention coal, iron, salt, lead,
lime, and marble. W ill Boston, or N ew Y ork, or Baltimore, or N ew Or­
leans, be the point selected for the interchange o f these products ? Or,
shall we choose some convenient central points on river and lake for the




Internal Trade o f the United States.

325

theatres o f these exchanges ? Some persons may be found, perhaps, who
will claim this for N ew Orleans ; but the experience o f the past, more than
the reason o f the thing, will not bear them out. Cincinnati has now more
white inhabitants than that outport, although her first street was laid out,
and her first log-house raised, long after N ew Orleans had been known as
an important place o f trade, and had already become a considerable city.
It is imagined by some, that the destiny o f this valley has fixed it down
to the almost exclusive pursuit o f agriculture, ignorant that, as a general
rule in all ages o f the world, and in all countries, the mouths go to the
food, and not the food to the mouths. D r. Chalmers sa y s: “ The bulk­
iness o f food forms one o f those forces in the econom ic machine, which
tends to equalize the population o f every land with the products o f its own
agriculture. It does not restrain disproportion and excess in all ca ses;
but in every large state it will be found, that wherever an excess obtains,
it forms but a very small fraction o f the whole population. Each trade
must have an agricultural basis to rest u pon; for in every process o f in­
dustry, the first and greatest necessity is, that the workmen shall be fed.”
A g a in : “ Generally speaking, the excrescent (the population, over and
above that which the country can feed,) bears a very minute proportion to
the natural population o f a cou n try ; and almost nowhere does the com ­
merce o f a nation overleap, but by a very little way, the basis o f its own
agriculture.”
The Atlantic states, and particularly those o f N ew E ng­
land, claim that they are to becom e the seats o f the manufactures with
which the west is to be supplied; that mechanics, and artisans, and manu­
facturers, are not to select for their place o f business, the region in which
the means o f living are most abundant and their manufactured articles in
greatest demand, but the section which is most deficient in those means,
and to which their food and fuel must, during their lives, be transported
hundreds o f miles, and the products o f their labor be sent back the same
long road for a market.
But this claim is neither sanctioned by reason, authority, nor experience.
T h e mere statement exhibits it as unreasonable. Dr. Chalmers maintains,
that the “ excrescent” population could not, in Britain even, with a free
trade in bread-stuffs, exceed one-tenth o f all the inhabitants; and Britain,
be it remembered, is nearer the granaries o f the Baltic than is N ew E n g­
land to the food-exporting portions o f our valley, and she has, also, great­
ly the advantage in the diminished expense o f transportation. But the
eastern manufacturing states have already nearly, i f not quite, attained to
the maximum ratio o f excrescent population, and cannot, therefore, greatly
augment their manufactures without a correspondent increase in agricul­
tural production.
Most countries, distinguished for manufactures, have laid the foundation
in a highly improved agriculture. England, the north o f France, and
Belgium, have a more productive husbandry than any other region o f the
same extent. In these same countries are also to be found the most effi­
cient and extensive manufacturing establishments o f the whole w orld ;
and it is not to be doubted that abundance o f food was one o f the chief
causes o f setting them in motion. H ow is it that a like cause operating
here, will not produce a like effect ? Have we not, in addition to our pro­
lific agriculture, as many, and as great natural aids for manufacturing, as
any other country ? A re we deficient in water-power ? L ook at Niagara
river, where all the accumulated waters o f the upper St. Lawrence basin
V O L. V III. — n o . iv .
27




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Internal Trade o f the United States.

fall three hundred and thirty five f e e t in the distance o f a few miles. Ohio,
or Kentucky, or western Virginia, or Michigan, can alone furnish durable
water-power, far more than sufficient to operate every machine in N ew
England. The former state has now for sale on her canals, more water­
power than would be needed for the moving o f all the factories o f N ew
England and N ew Y ork. Indeed, no idea o f our eastern friends is more
preposterous than the one so hugged by them, that they, o f all the people
o f the Union, are peculiarly favored with available water-power. W e re­
member reading in the North American Review, many years ago, in an
article devoted to the water-power, and its appropriation in the neighbor­
hood o f Baltimore, that southwardly from that city, the Atlantic states
were destitute o f water-pow er; when every well-informed man should
know, that there is not one o f those states in which its largest river would
not furnish more than power sufficient to manufacture every pound o f cot­
ton raised within its boundaries. The streams o f N ew England are short
and noisy, not an unfit emblem o f her manufacturing pretensions and des­
tiny.
But if our water-power should be unequal to our manufacturing exigen­
cies, our beds o f coal will not fail us. One o f these coal formations, having
its centre not far from Marietta, is estimated by Mr. Mather, geologist, to
be o f the extent o f 50,000 square miles. H e says, that in several o f the
counties o f Ohio, the beds o f workable coal are from 20 to 30 feet thick.
Another coal formation embraces the Wabash valley o f Indiana, and the
Green river country o f Kentucky. W e know also o f its existence in abun­
dance at Ottowa and Alton, in the State o f Illinois, and suppose they are
in the same coal basin. Another coal basin has been discovered in M ichi­
gan, and a fifth on the Arkansas river. In some o f these coal regions,
and probably in all, beds o f iron ore and other valuable minerals for manu­
facture are abundant.
W ill laborers be wanting ? W h ere food is abundant and cheap, there
cannot long be a deficiency o f laborers. W hat brought our ancestors
(with the exception o f the few who fled from persecution) from the other
side o f the Atlantic, but the greater abundance o f the means o f subsistence
on this side ? W hat other cause has so strongly operated in bringing to
our valley the 10,000,000 or 11,000,000 who now inhabit it? T h e cause
continuing, will the effect cease ? W hile land o f unsurpassed fertility re­
mains to be purchased, at a low rate, and the increase o f agriculture in
the west keeps down the relative price o f food ; and while the population
o f the old countries o f Europe, and the old states o f our confederacy is so
augmenting as to straiten more and more the means o f living at home, and,
at the same time, the means o f removing from one to the other are every
year rendering it cheaper, easier, and more sp eed y ; and while, moreover,
the new states, in addition to the inducement o f cheaper food, now offer a
country with facilities o f intercourse among themselves greatly improved,
and with institutions civil, political, and religious, already established and
flourishing— are farmers, and mechanics, and manufacturers— the young,
the active, and the enterprising, no longer to be seen pouring into this ex­
uberant valley and marking it with the impress o f their victorious indus­
t r y as in times past ?
I f our readers are satisfied that domestic or internal trade must have
the chief agency in building up our great Am erican cities, and that the in­
ternal trade o f the great western valley will be mainly concentrated in the




Internal Trade o f the United States.

327

cities situated within its bosom, it becomes an interesting subject o f inquiry how our leading interior city will, at some distant period, say 100
years, compare with New Y ork, the Atlantic emporium. For the purpose
o f illustration, let us take Cincinnati as the ch ief interior city. Whether
it will actually become such, we design to discuss in a separate paper.
One hundred years from this time, if our ratio o f increase for the last 50
years is kept up, our republic will number, in round numbers, 325,000,000—
say 300,000,000. O f this number, if we allow for the Atlantic slope five
times its present population, or 40,000,000, and to the Oregon country
10,000,000, there will remain for our great valley 250,000,000. If, to
these, we add the 20,000,000 by that time possessed by Canada, we have,
for our North Am erican valley, 270,000,000. The point, then, will be
reduced to the plain and easily solved question, whether 270,000,000 o f
inhabitants will build up and sustain greater cities than 40,000,000. As
our valley is in shape more compact than the Atlantic slope, it is more fa­
vorable to a decided concentration o f trade to one point. Whether that
point is most likely to be Cincinnati, or some rival on the lake border, we
propose hereafter to consider.
Let us now see what facilities for internal com m erce nature has bestow­
ed on the west. It will not be denied that, for internal trade, the country
bordering the Ohio, Mississippi, and other rivers admitting steam naviga­
tion, are at least as well situated as i f laved by the waters o f an ocean.
Cincinnati being at present the leading city o f our valley, we propose to
connect it particularly with our argument, not doubting that other and
many great towns will grow up on the western waters.. From •Pittsburgh
to Cincinnati, both shores o f the Ohio amount to more than 900 miles.
From Cincinnati to N ew Orleans, there is a river coast o f 3,000 miles.
T h e upper Mississippi has 1,600 miles o f fertile shore. The shores o f
that part o f the Missouri which has been navigated by steamboats, amount
to near 4,000 miles. The Arkansas, Red, Illinois, Wabash, Tennessee,
Cumberland, St. Francis, W hite, Wachitta, have an extent o f shore, ac­
cessible to steamers, o f not less than 8,000 miles.
H ere, then, are fertile shores, to the extent o f near 20,000 miles, which
can be visited by steam-vessels a considerable part o f the year. Taking
these streams together, they probably afford facilities for trade nearly equal
in value to the same number o f miles o f common canals. W ho, then, can
doubt, that in the midst o f such facilities for trade, large cities must grow
up, and with a rapidity having no example on the Atlantic coast. The
growth o f Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and St. Louis, since 1825, gives
us abundant assurances on this point.
But our interior cities will not depend for their development altogether
on internal trade. T h ey will partake, in some degree, with their Atlantic
sisters o f the foreign com m erce a ls o ; and if, as some seem to suppose,
the profits o f com m erce increase with the distance at which it is carried
on, and the difficulties which nature has thrown in its way, the western
towns will have the same advantage over their eastern rivals in foreign
com m erce, which some claim for the latter over the former in our domes­
tic trade. Cincinnati and her lake rivals, may use the outports o f New
Orleans and N ew Y ork, as Paris and Vienna, use those o f Havre and
Trieste ; and it will surely one day com e to pass, that steamers from Eu­
rope will enter our great lakes, and be seen booming up the Mississippi.
T o add strength and conclusiveness to the above facts and deductions,




328

Internal Trade o f the United States.

do our readers ask for examples ? Th ey are at hand. The first city o f
which we have any record is Nineveh, situated on the Tigris, not less than
700 miles from its mouth. Babylon, built not long after, was also situa­
ted far in the interior, on the river Euphrates. Most o f the great cities o f
antiquity, some o f which were o f immense extent, were situated in the in­
terior, and chiefly in the vallies o f large rivers, meandering through rich
alluvial territories.
Such were Thebes, Memphis, Ptolemais.
O f the
cities now known as leading centres o f commerce, a large majority have
been built almost exclusively by domestic trade. W hat country has so
many great cities as China, a country, until lately, nearly destitute o f for­
eign com m erce ?
T o bring the comparison home to our readers, we here put down, side
by side, the outports and interior towns o f the world having each a popu­
lation o f 50,000 and upwards. It should, however, be kept in mind, that
many o f the great seaports have been built, and are now sustained, main­
ly by the trade o f the nations respectively in which they are situated.
Even London, the greatest mart in the world, is believed to derive much
the greatest part o f the support o f its vast population from its trade with
the United Kingdom.
OUTPORTS.

INTERIOR CITIES.

Population.
Population.
London,............... 2,000,000 Pekin,.................... 1,300,000
Jeddo, (? )............ 1,300,000 Paris,.................... 1,000,000
650,000 Benares,................ 600,000
Calcutta,.............
Constantinople,..
600,000 Hang-tcheou,...... 600,000
St. Petersbufgh,.
500,000 Su-tcheou,............ 600,000
Canton, ( ? ) .........
500,000 M acao,................. 500,000
Madras,...............
450,000 N ankin,................ 500,000
Naples,................
350,000 Ring-tchin,........... 500,000
L u blin ,................
330,000 W oo-tchang,........ 400,000
New Y o rk ,.........
320,000 Vienna,.................. 370,000
350,000
L isbon,................
250,000 Cairo,....................
Glasgow ,.............
250,000 Patna,.................... 320,000
Nan-tchang,.........
300,000
Liverpool,...........
250,000
Philadelphia,......
250,000 Khai-fung,............ 300,000
R io Janeiro,........ 200,000 Fu-tchu,................ 300,000
Amsterdam,........
200,000 Lucknow,............. 300,000
B om bay,.............. 200,000 M oscow ,............... 300,000
Palermo,.............
170,000 Berlin,.................... 300,000
Surat,...................
160,000 Manchester,......... 250,000
Manilla,...............
140,000 Birmingham,........ 230,000
Hamburg,............
130,000 L y o n s ,.................. 200,000
Bristol,.................
120,000 Madrid,................. 200,000
Havana,...............
160,000 Delhi,................. .'. 200,000
Marseilles,...........
130,000 Aleppo,.................. 200,000
Barcelona,...........
120,000 Mirzapore,............ 200,000
Copenhagen,......
120,000 Hyderabad,......... 200,000
Smyrna,...............
120,000 D a c c a ,.................. 200,000
St. Salvador,......
120,000 Ispahan,................ 200,000
Cork,....................
120,000 Y o-tchu,............... 200,000
Brussels,.............
120,000 Suen-tchu,............ 200,000
Bordeaux,...........
100,000 Huen-tchu,........... 200,000
V en ice,................
100,000 M ex ico,................ 200,000
180,000
Baltimore,...........
100,000 Leeds,...................
N ew Orleans,....
100,000 Lyons,................... 180,000
Moorshedabad,...
160,000
B oston,................
100,000
Tunis,..................
100,000 Milan,.................... 160,000
Nantes,................
100,000 Damascus,............ 150,000
Hue,.....................
100,000 Cashmere,............ 150,000




INTERIOR CITIES.

Population.

R om e,....................
Edinburgh,...........
T eh eran ,.............
Turin,....................
Prague,.................
W arsaw,...............
Sheffield,.............
Bagdad,................
Brussa,..................
T ocat,....................
Erzeroum,............
Poonah,................
N ag p ore,.............
Ahmedabad,.........
Lahore,.................
Baroda,.................
O rogein,...............
Candahar,.............
Balfrush,...............
Herat,....................
S aigon,.................
Breslau,................
Adrianople,.........
K esh o,..................
R ouen ,..................
Toulouse,.............
Indore,..................
Wolverhampton,..
Paisley,..................
Jackatoo,.............
Tauris,..................
Bucharia,.............
G w allior,.............
F loren ce,.............
Gallipolis,.............
Bucharest,............
M unich,................
G ranada,..............

150,000
150,000
130,000
120,000
120,000
120,000
120,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
90,000
90,000
90,000
90,000
80,000
80,000
80,000
80,000
80,000
80,000
80,000
80,000
80,000

Internal Trade o f the United States.
Population.

Bankok,...............
Seville;.................
Gallipoli,.............
Genoa,.................
Stockholm ,.........
N ew castle,.........
M assalipatan,....
Pernambuco,......
Lima,....................
G reenw ich,.........
A berdeen,...........
Antwerp,.............
L im erick,............
Valentia,.............
Rotterdam,.........
Leghorn,.............
Dantzic,...............
Batavia,...............
Cadiz....................
H u ll,....................
Belfast,................
Portsmouth,........
Trieste,................
M alaga,...............
N ew Guatimala,.
Muscat,................
Algiers,................
Columbo,.............
Odessa,................

INTERIOR CITIES.

INTERIOR CITIES.

OUTTORTS.

90.000
90.000
80.000
80,000
80,000
80,000
75.000
75.000
75.000
75.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
65.000
65.000
65.000
65.000
60.000
55.000
55.000
55.000
55.000
55.000
52.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000

Population.

P opulation.

Ghent,...................
Lassa,...................
Cologne,...............
M o ro cco ,.............
Ferruckabad,........
Peshawen,...........
Q uito,....................
Barreilly,...............
Guadalaxara,........
Koenigsburg,........
T urgan,................
Salonica,...............
Bologna,...............
Bornaserai,...........
Dresden,...............
Lille,.....................
N orw ich ,.............
Perth,....................
Santiago,.............
W iln a ,..................
Cabul,....................
Khokhan,.............
Samarcand,.........
Resht.....................
Casween,..............
Diarbekir,.............
Karahissar,...........
M osu l,..................
Bassora,................
M ecca,..................
Mequirez,.............
Bungalore,...........
Bardwan,.............

329

80,000
80,000
75.000
75.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
70.000
60.000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
60,000

Aurangabad,........
Nottingham,.........
Oldham,................
Cordova,...............
Verona..................
Padua,..................
Frankfort,.............
L iege,...................
Lem berg,.............
Stoke,...................
Kazar,...................
Salford,.................
Strasburg,.............
Arniens,................
Kutaiab,................
T rebizon d,..........
Orfa,......................
T ariga,.................
Cuzco,...................
Puebla,.................
M etz,....................
Hague,..................
Bath,.....................
Constantina,.........
Cairwan,...............
Gondar,................
A v a ,......................
Ram pore,.............
M ysore,................
Bard war,...............
Boli,......................
Ham ah,................
Cincinnati,...........

60,000
60,000
60,000
57.000
56.000
55.000
54.000
54.000
52.000
52.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000
50.000

If it be said that the discoveries o f the polarity o f the magnetic needle,
the continent o f Am erica, and a water passage to India, around the Cape
o f Good Hope, have changed the character o f foreign com m erce, and
greatly augmented the advantages o f the cities engaged in it, it may be
replied, that the introduction o f steam in coast and river navigation, and
o f canals, and railroads, and M ’ Adam roads, all tending to bring into rapid
and cheap communication the distant parts o f (he most extended continent,
is a still more potent cause in favor o f internal trade and interior towns.
The introduction, as instruments o f commerce, o f steamboats, canals, rail,
and M ’ Adam roads, being o f recent date, they have not had time to pro­
duce the great results that must inevitably flow from them. The last 20
years have been devoted mainly to the construction o f these labor-saving
instruments o f com m erce ; during which time, more has been done to fa­
cilitate internal trade, than had been effected for the thousands o f years
since the creation o f man. These machines are but just being brought
into use ; and he is a bold man who, casting his eye 100 years into the fu­
ture, shall undertake to tell the present generation what will be their ef­
fect on our North Am erican valley, when their energies shall be brought
to bear over all its broad surface.
Let it not be forgotten that, while many other countries have territories
bordering the ocean, greatly superior to our Atlantic slope, no one govern­
ment has an interior at all worthy a comparison with ours. It will be ob­
served that, in speaking o f the natural facilities for trade in the North
27*




330

Progress o f Population and Wealth in the

Am erican valley, we have left out o f view the 4,000 or 5,000 miles o f rich
and accessible coasts o f our great lakes, and their connecting straits. The
trade o f these inland seas, and its connection with that o f the Mississippi
valley, are subjects too important to be treated incidentally, in an article
o f so general a nature as this. T h ey well merit a separate notice at our
hands.

A rt . IV.— PROGRESS OF P O P U L A T IO N A N D W E A L T H I N T H E U N IT E D
S T A T E S , IN F I F T Y Y E A R S .
AS EXHIBITED B Y THE DECENNIAL CENSUS TAKEN IN THAT PERIOD.

C H A P T E R X II.
THE FUTURE INCREASE OF THE POPULATION.

H aving ascertained the actual increase o f our population during half a
century, and estimated its natural increase, unaffected by adventitious cir­
cumstances, let us now inquire whether the past increase affords us a rule
for calculating its future progress ; and since, as we have seen, the ratio
o f its increase has been diminishing, whether it will continue to diminish
at the same rate.
The ratios o f decennial increase, we have estimated as follows :—
1800.
1810.
1820.
1830.
1840.
Natural increase o f the white
population, per cent,........... 33.9
33.1
32.1
30.9
29.6
O f the colored, “
............ 32.2
32.2
32.2
32.2
32.2
Actual increase o f the whole
36.45
33.35
33.26
32.67
population, per cent,........... 35.02
In the last series there are two irregularities, which deserve notice.
One was occasioned by the acquisition o f Louisiana; the other was, that
but nine years and ten months intervened between the census o f 1820 and
that o f 1830, instead o f ten years, which was the interval between the oth­
er enumerations. The first augmented the ratio o f increase between 1800
and 1810, about one and a half per c e n t; the last underrated it between
1820 and 1830, about two-thirds o f one per cent.
W hen these irregularities are corrected, the series o f rates o f increase,
per cent, will stand thus :—
35.02

34.95

33.45

33.92

32.67

And this would probably exhibit that diminishing series in the ratios o f
increase, which would take place if the gain to the whites and loss to the
colored population by migration, were to continue to increase in the same
proportion that they have heretofore done.
This, however, is not to be expected.
European emigration would be
immediately affected by a European war, which would at once check natu­
ral increase, and give new employment to a great num ber; so that, instead
o f emigrants from that source increasing, as they have done for the last
thirty years, they would be considerably diminished. Besides, though
peace should continue, it is not probable that those emigrants will increase
in proportion to our increasing numbers, and still less, in the same ratio
as heretofore. The increase o f their number depends upon the condition




United Slates, in Fifty Years.

331

o f both countries ; and although, when the United States contain one hun­
dred millions o f people, they may present six times as many points o f at­
traction as at present, yet it does not follow that Europe will then be able
to spare inhabitants to the same extent. So far as England is concerned,
Canada, N ew Holland, and N ew Zealand may draw off the largest portion
o f her redundant numbers ; nor can it be foreseen how much our own po­
licy may change in encouraging immigration, when the western states
have attained a density equal to that o f the middle states.
But will the diminution in the rate o f natural increase continue unchang­
ed ; and will it not even augment as the density o f population increases ?
On this subject, very contrary opinions have prevailed. W hilst some
have calculated upon an undeviating rule o f multiplication until we have
reached 200,000,000 or more, others have maintained that, although our
population might continue its past rate o f increase until it had reached
60,000,000, a change in that rate would certainly then take p la ce ; as such
a population supposes the whole territory o f the Union occupied, and all
the fertile lands under cultivation. These opinions seem equally removed
from probability. The first is satisfactorily disproved by the diminution in
the ratio o f increase which has already been shown, and which diminution
w e may rationally expect to increase with the increasing density o f num­
bers. The other hypothesis would arrest the present progress o f our popu­
lation when it has reached 60,000,000, which would not be equal to 64
persons to a square mile on the country now occupied by the people
o f the United States. But when it is recollected that the unoccupied
country west o f the Mississippi is yet larger than that now settled, we may
presume that, when the population has reached 60,000,000, the whole o f
the western territory to the Pacific will be more or less settled, and con ­
sequently, that the population will then average less than 33 to a square
mile ; a degree o f density which supposes indeed a progressive abatement
in the rate o f increase, such as we are now witnessing, but certainly none
arising from the difficulty o f obtaining subsistence. That is not likely to
be an efficient check on the progress o f our population until it has reached
an average density o f from 60 to 80 to the square mile.
Without doubt, other checks to natural multiplication, those arising from
prudence or pride, will continue to operate with increased force as our
cities multiply in number and increase in magnitude, and as the wealthy
class enlarges. These circumstances will have the effect o f retarding
m arriage; and in the most densely peopled states, the fall in the price o f
labor, and consequently the increased difficulty o f providing for a family,
may operate also on the poorer classes. It is even probable, that these
checks operate sooner in this country than they have operated in other
countries, by reason o f the higher standard o f comfort with which the
Am erican people start, and o f that pride o f personal independence which
our political institutions so strongly cherish.
The census shows that
their influence has been felt ever since the first enumeration ; and we have
no reason to believe that they will operate with a more accelerated force
than they have done, until the lapse o f near a century.
W e find that each o f the states exhibits a similar diminution in the ra­
tio o f increase to that which we have seen in the whole Union, and that
it is equally manifest whether population is dense or thin— is rapidly or
slowly advancing— is sending forth emigrants, or receiving them from oth­
er states. This fact, which seems hitherto not to have been suspected,




332

Progress o f Population and Wealth in the

will clearly appear in the following tables, in which the progress o f popu­
lation from 1800 to 1840, is shown in all the states whose numbers at the
former period have been ascertained. :—
Table showing the Number o f W hite Females, o f W hite Children under 10 years o f
age, and o f Persons to a Square M ile, in twenty States, in 1800 and 18 40; the P ro­
portion o f Children to Females, at the same p eriod s; the Increase in the number o f
persons, and the Decrease in the proportion o f children during the 40 yea rs; and the
average Decrease in 10 years.

STATES.

M aine,...................
N ew Hampshire,..
Verm ont,...............
Massachusetts,....
Rhode Island,......
Connecticut,.........
N ew Y o r k ,..........
N ew Jersey,.........
Pennsylvania,......
Delaware,...............
M aryland,.............
Virginia,................
North C arolina,...,
South Carolina,....
G eorgia,................
Mississippi,.............
Tennessee..............
K en tu ck y,.............
Ohio,........................
Indiana,..................

Years.

Females.

1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840
1800
1840

74,069
247,449
91,740
145,032
74,580
144,840
211,299
368,351
33,579
54,225
123,528
153,556
258,587
1,171,533
95,600
174,533
284,627
831,345
24,819
29,302
105,676
159,400
252,151
369,745
166,116
244,833
95,339
128,588
48,298
197,161
2,262
81,818
44,529
315,193
85,915
250,664
20,595
726,762
2,003
325,925

Persons Increase Propor­ Decrea’e Decrea’e
Children
to a
of
tion of o f pro­
in
under 10. sq. mile
persons. children portion. 10 years.

54,869
148,846
60,465
70,387
57,692
80,111
124,566
173,037
19,466
25,384
73,682
71,783
195,840
681,091
67,402
103,302
270,233
524,189
15,878
17,406
69,648
93,072
179,761
240,343
122,191
162,282
72,075
86,566
38,248
150,317
1,962
65,269
37,677
234,700
72,234
204,978
18,276
509,088
1,645
248,127

5.
16.7
19.9
30.9
15.7
29.7
48.3
84.3
53.1
83.7
49.2
60.7
11.9
47.6
28.2
49.2
12.6
36.5
29.2
35.4
30.6
42.1
11.7
18.6
9.6
15.2
10.8
18.7
2.6
11.2
.18
6.1
2.6
20.6
5.4
19.2

J
$
(
$
)
(
)
$
J
t
>
$
i
(
1
<
)
$
1
(
(
i
$
>
(
i
1
i
i
(
i
$

(
1.1 i
38.2 $
.13 )
18.8 $

74.*
60.1
65.9
11.
48.5
77.3
14.
55.3
58.9
36.
46.9
57.9
30.6
46.8
59.6
11.5
46.7
75.7
25.7
58.1
70.5
21.
59.1
71.2
23.9
63.
63.9
6.2
59.4
65.9
11.5
58.4
71.3
6.9
65.
73.5
5.6
66.2
75.6
7.9
67.3
81.1
8.6
76.2
86.7
5.9
79.7
84.6
18.
74.4
83.9
13.8
71,3
88.7
37.1
13.3
82.1
17.7 ■
76.1
11.7

1
$
1
(
)
^
)
(
)
i
J
^
i
S
?
(
i
^
1
(
i
(
J
(
)
$
i
i
i
S

13.9

3.4

17.4

4.3

22.

5.5

12.

3.

11.1

2.8

12.9

3.2

17.6

4.4

11.4

2.8

8.2

2.

4.5

1.1

7.5

1.9

6.3

1.6

7.3

1.8

8.3

2.

4.9

1.2

7.

1.7

10.2
S
J
12.
\

2.5

15.4

3.8

6.

1.5

\
\

3.

T h e following table gives the same comparative view o f the preceding
twenty states when comprehended under five divisions, viz :—
* A s the number o f females is very nearly one-half o f the population, one-half the
numbers in this column may be taken as the several proportions o f the children to the
whole population in each state.




333

United. States, in F ifty Years.

LOCAL DIVISIONS.

Years. Females.

N . England States, j
Middle States,........j
Southern States,.... |
Southvvest’n States
o f Mississippi and
Tennessee,..........
Northwest’n States
o f Kentucky, Ohio
and Indiana,.........

i
>
}
)
>
)

Propor- Decre’se Decre’se
Children Persons|Increase
of
tionof I of proin
under 10. sq.toma
ile, persons, children 1portion. 10years.

608,795 386,723 19.2
1800
1840 1,113,453 569,348 34.8
784,068 554,783 15.3
1800
1840 2,381,948 1,327,362 43.6
1800
561,904 412,276 8.9
1840
940,317 637,510 15.9
1800
1840

46,791
397,011

1800
108,513
1840 1,303,351

)
15 .61
<
)
28.3 j
\
)
\

M

63.5
51.1
70.7
55.7
73.
67.8

>
12.4
$
)
15.
$
j
6.4
\

38,639 1-3
77.6 ?
1 2 .4 1
299,969 13.7 \
75.5 ]

3.1
3.75
1.6

2.1

.5

! 92,155 2.3 )
84.9 1
11.1
23.2 |
962,193 25.5 $
73.8 $

3.8

W e see by the preceding tables that the natural increase o f the popula­
tion is inversely as its den sity; and this is apparent, whether we compare
the increase o f the same state at different periods, or the increase o f one
state or one division with another. Thus, in N ew England, where, with
the exception o f Maine, which is. comparatively a newly settled state, the
population is most dense, averaging 50 to a square mile, the proportion o f
children is the smallest, 48.8 per cent o f the females ; in the middle states,
the population is 43.6 to a square mile, and the proportion o f children 55.7
per c e n t ; in the southern states, the population is 15.7 persons to the
square mile, and the proportion o f children 67.8 per c e n t ; in the south­
western states, the population is 13.7 persons to the square mile, and the
proportion o f children 75.5 p e r c e n t; and i f the northwestern states seems
to he an exception to the rule, in having a greater proportion o f children
than the southern states, while they have also a denser population by 9.6
persons to the square mile, it is owing to the extraordinary fertility o f those
states, whereby 25 persons to the square mile does not indicate so great a
relative density as 16 to the square mile in the southern states.
This rule o f the rate o f natural increase acts so uniformly, that w e
may perceive the falling o ff in the rate, not only in 40 years, as we have
seen, but also in each decennial term, o f which the largest states in the
five great divisions may serve as examples, viz :—
Massachusetts prop, o f children under 10 p. cent,........
N ew Y o rk .......................................................
“
Virginia............................................................
“
Tennessee.......................................................
“
Ohio.................................................................
«

1800.1810.
58.9 57.6
75.7
72.8
71.2
69.6
84.6
82.9
88.7
83.1

1820.
53.
67.2
68.
78.8
79.

1830. 1840.
48.
46.9
63.2
58.1
66.4
65.
78.
74.4
74.2
73.3

W hat is true in these states will be found true in the others ; and there
are not more than two or three cases, out o f near a hundred, in which the
comparison can he made, that the proportion o f children, and consequently
the rate o f increase, is not less at each census than at the census preceding.
W hen we perceive the causes o f the diminution o f increase operating so
steadily, and so independently o f the greater or less facility o f procuring
subsistence, we are warranted in assuming that the diminution will con ­
tinue to advance, at the same moderate rate it has hitherto done, until all
the vacant territory o f the United States is settled, after which, another
law o f diminution and an accelerated rate may be expected to take place.
In conformity with the preceding views, we may conclude that the fu­
ture increase o f the population o f the United States will not greatly differ




I

334

Progress o f Population and Wealth in the, etc.

from the following series during the next half century, if immigration con ­
tinues to advance as it has done, v i z :—
1850.
1860.
1870.
1880.
1890.
1900.
39 p. cent.
31.3 p. cent. 30.5 p. cent. 99.6 p. cent. 98.6 p. cent. 97.5 p. cent.
99.400.000
99,400,000
38,300,000
49,600,000
63,000,000
80,000,000
If, however, immigration were to continue as it is, or have but a mode­
rate increase, the ratios o f increase might be thus reduced:—
1850.
1860.
1870.
1880.
1890.
1900.
31.8 p. cent. 30.9 p. cent. 30 p. cent.
99 p. cent.
97.9 p. cent. 96.8 p. cent.
99.000
98,800,000
36,500,000
46,500,000
59,800,000
74,000,000
A t which time, the population will not exceed the average density o f
from 35 to 40 persons to the square mile, after making ample allowance
for the R ock y mountains and the tract o f desert lying at their eastern base.
T h e preceding estimates suppose a slower rate o f increase than has
been com m only assumed in our political arithmetic, and, for a part o f the
time, even by those who have set the lowest limit to our future numbers ;
but this rate cannot be much augmented without overlooking some o f the
facts or laws deducible from our past progress, or gratuitously assuming
some new and more favorable circumstances in our future progress. T h e
lowest estimate, however, ought to satisfy those whose pride o f country
most looks to its physical power, for, at the reduced rate o f increase sup­
posed, our population would, in a century from this time, or a little more,
amount to 200,000,000, and then scarcely exceed the present density o f
Massachusetts, which is still in a course o f vigorous increase. In these
estimates, the increase o f the colored population is supposed likely to con ­
tinue as it has been, or with such small changes as will not materially vary
the result. But the future condition o f that part o f our population will be
separately considered in the next chapter. Some o f our readers, who may
wish to make calculations concerning the past or future increase o f the po­
pulation, may find a convenience in the following—
Table, showing, in different rates o f Decennial Increase, the corresponding rates fo r the
intermediate years, and the number o f years necessary fo r the Population to double,
at different rates o f Increase.
INCREASE
YEARS.

20 p.
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

cent,.
a
It

It
It

t(
It
it
It
It
It
ti

tl
it
it
it
ti
It
tl
It
It

N o. o f
years re­
q uir’ d to
2 years. 3 years. 4 years. 5 years. 6 years. 7 years. 8 years. 9 years. dou ble.
INCREASE , PER CENT, IN—

IN TEN
1 y ear.

1.84
1.92
2.01
2.09
2.17
2.25
2.33
2.42
2.50
2.58
2.65
2.73
2.81
2.89
2.97
3.04
3.12
3.19
3.27
3.34
3.42




3.71
5.62
7.56
3.89
5.88
7.92
4.06
6.15
8.28
4.23
6.41
8.63
4.40
6.66
8.98
4.56
6.92
9.33
4.73
7.18
9.68
4.90
7.43 10.03
5.06
7.66 10.38
5.22
7.94 10 78
5.37
8.19 11.06
5.54 8.44 11.40
5.71
8.68 11.74
5.87
8.93 12.08
6.03
9.18 12.42
6.18
9.42 12.75
6.34
9.66 13.09
6.50
9.90 13.42
6.65 10.14 13.75
6.81 10.38 14.08
6.96 10.62 14.41

9.54
10.
10.45
10.90
11.36
11.80
12.25
12.69
13.14
13.58
14.02
14.45
14.89
15.32
15.76
16.19
16.62
17.05
17.47
17.90
18.32

11.56
12.12
12.67
13.22
13.76
14.33
14.87
15.42
15.96
16.51
17.05
17.59
18.12
18.66
19.20
19.73
20.26
20.79
21.32
21.84
22.37

13.61
14.27
14.93
15.19
16.25
16.91
17.56
18.21
18.86
19.51
20.16
20.81
21.45
22.09
22.73
23.35
24.01
24.65
25.29
26.92
26.56

15.70
16.87
17.24
18.01
18.78
19.54
20.31
21.07
21.83
22.59
23.35
24.11
24.87
35.62
26.38
27.13
27.88
28.64
29.29
30.14
30.89

17.83
18.72
19.60
20.48
21.36
22.24
23.12
24.
24.88
25.76
26.68
27.51
28.38
29.26
30.13
31.01
31.88
32.75
33.63
34.50
35.36

38.017
36.362
34.837
33.483
32.222
31.062
29.991
28.999
28.078
27.220
26.419
25.669
24.966
24.305
23.683
23.097
22.542
22.018
21.520
21.049
20.600

The Third Session o f the Twenty-seventh Congress.

335

It will be perceived by the above table, that our annual increase for the
last ten years was 2.87 per c e n t ; and supposing it to continue with no
greater diminution than heretofore, that the amount o f our increase at this
time is about half a million a year, and, consequently, that our present
numbers exceed 18,300,000.

A kt . V.— T H E T H IR D SE SSIO N OF T H E T W E N T Y -S E V E N T H CON GRESS.

ITS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS.
Y erv melancholy, as was said by Mr. Barnard when resisting the re­
peal o f the bankrupt act, has been the fate o f the “ Twenty-seventh Con­
gress.”
T h e work o f its hands it has itself been forced to destroy. Its
offspring has perished, not so much from the violence o f enemies, as from
the sentence it has itself pronounced. A t the projects it had produced,
which were exhibited to the world as the results o f a great political change,
and as the basis o f a new political system, it has cast the first stone. The
bankrupt law, which was to consolidate the disjointed planks o f state insol­
vency into one great permanent and equitable platform, was torn down
by those who erected it before it was two years old. The proceeds o f the
public lands were voted to belong to the individual states, and then, when
the recipients o f the new charity asked for the promised bounty, the locks
were turned inwards by the operation o f Mr. Berrien’s twenty per cent pro­
viso, and the expected stream was cut off. By the repeal o f the sub­
treasury bill, the national treasury was thrown back upon the imperfect
basis o f 1800, and there it has since rem ained; not because such was the
determination o f congress, but because congress was unable to com e to
any determination on the subject at all. The post-office bill, which pre­
tended to reduce the exorbitant postage o f the present rates, was but a repe­
tition in another key, though not in another tune. It passed the senate,
and was sent to the house for con cu rren ce; but the more liberal amend­
ments proposed by Mr. Briggs, and adopted by the popular branch, o f re­
ducing the postage to five cents under fifty miles, and ten cents over, were
rejected on its return to the senate, and the bill was lost. The private ex­
press bill, which passed the senate by a large majority, met with deserved
neglect in the house. It was not even taken up for action. The ware­
house bill was reported and forgotten. The tariff bill was lifted over the
senate, on the shoulders o f men who pledged themselves to snatch the first
opportunity o f lifting it back again ; and the tariff bill, therefore, instead
o f provoking confidence as a code o f permanent duties, possesses about as
much prospective power as the compromise act, or the law o f 1816. The
only resulting product o f the Twenty-seventh Congress, in fact, like a car
struck upwards on an inclined plane by a single impulse, will, in a little
while, reverse its motion, and retrace the course it has taken. The tariff
bill was put into action against the inclination o f public sentiment, and as
soon as the transient impulse imparted to it dies away, it will run down
the hill with the same rapidity as it ran up.
The bankrupt act forms the most pregnant illustration o f the flippant
legislation o f the late session. N ever did any measure go to the capitol




•

336

The Third Session o f the Twenty-seventh Congress.

supported by a greater mass o f hostile interests than the bill for the estab­
lishment o f a uniform system o f bankruptcy. W hat we want, said the
debtor side o f the mercantile community, is not so much immunity from
our past obligations, as protection for our future labors. T h e state insol­
vent laws, various and discrepant as they are, in most cases only discharge
our persons from imprisonment, and in all cases only operate within nar­
row territorial limits. W e com e not to ask that the custom o f merchants
should be destroyed we ask that it be fulfilled. The property, on the
faith o f the possession o f which we received credit, we cheerfully surren­
der. Secure us, however, from the recurrence o f periodical executions,
which, while they gain but little for our creditors, prevent us from the a c ­
cumulation o f that capital by which alone business can be supported and
debts paid. W hat we, on the other hand, require, said the creditor, is the
power o f attaching the property o f a suspicious debtor by the instrumen­
tality o f a compulsory bankrupt act. If we cannot arrest in the bud a
course o f speculation which is eating up our property, the protection o f the
law will be partial. W e wish for a remedy, which, as an injunction, will
cut o ff our debtors in a course both ruinous to them and to u s ; and will
throw their assets into the reservoir o f a bankrupt court, there to be equi­
tably divided. Such were the demands which went up from opposite sides
o f the com m ercial community ; and it is not to be wondered that, when as­
sisted by the consideration o f the inequality o f our fragmentary code o f
state insolvency, they were successful. T h e bankrupt law was passed by
safe and respectable majorities. It went into operation, no doubt, under
disadvantages, because, to the sanctions o f any general law which shall
purport to relieve the debtor, thousands w ill resort for absolution who have
no meritorious claim for assistance. The reckless gambler, as well as the
honest merchant, placed themselves at its portals to wait for the moving
o f the w aters; and in consequence, through the generality o f the opera­
tion o f a system which should never have been extended beyond the trad­
ing interests, there were many cleansed whose insolvency was the result
o f speculative extravagance and not o f business misfortune. That the
universality o f the scope o f the law should excite wonder, there is no
doubt. Nothing is more absurd than to extend to the people at large, a
custom purely m ercantile; and we have no doubt that if the laws regula­
ting limited partnerships were stretched over the whole community— i f
every little social combination was declared to be within their scope— i f
families could not marry and give in marriage, or eat and drink, or buy
and sell, without being declared to be placed under all the restrictions with
which limited partnerships are tied down— there would be an outcry as
great against the whole partnership system as there was against the bank­
rupt act. Primary meetings were held o f planters in Kentucky, and gra­
ziers in Vermont, w ho were terrified at finding themselves within the jaws
o f so terrible an inquisition. The farmer could not understand what were
the agricultural vicissitudes so pressing as to require that he should be
placed within the cognizance o f bankruptcy by compulsion, or that his
creditors should be invited, by bankruptcy, when voluntary, to absolve them­
selves from their obligations. Petitions went up on mammoth rollers, di­
rected, not against the existence o f the law, but against its universality;
and the house o f representatives, by a majority almost as great as that
which was afterwards exhibited in the seriate, after a month’ s debate, in
which almost everything besides the question at issue was discussed, atoned




The Third Session o f the Twenty-seventh Congress.

337

for their error in making the saving clauses too wide by repealing the
bill altogether.
A bankrupt law, limited in its scope to the trading classes, and embrac­
ing in its operation both the voluntary and the compulsory provisions, is
essential to the prosperity o f the mercantile community ; but, essential as
it is, we wish that the short episode o f bankruptcy with which we have
been favored, could be wiped from our history. T h e interests o f the
country demanded a law limited to the honest though unfortunate trader;
the wisdom o f congress produced a law which gathered in every class o f
insolvency. The interests o f the country demanded a system o f bank­
ruptcy both cautious and perm anent; the wisdom o f the legislature pro­
duced in one session a system most loose, and in the next session repealed
it. The paltry excuse that, after all no injury was received, because what
was done had only been undone, cannot be held good. The eventful pa­
renthesis o f the bankrupt law, has done much. It has unsettled the whole
econom y o f trade. It has afforded an instance o f volatile legislation most
disgraceful to our character, and most dangerous to our credit. B y the
passage o f the law, a principle, in other countries as old as insolvency it­
self, but in this country o f comparative novelty, was incorporated in the
com m ercial code. It was acquiesced in with alacrity, as forming a just
ingredient in an equitable scheme o f mercantile jurisprudence. It sank
at once into the composition o f every bargain struck. It became a motive
in the origination o f every adventure started. It entered as fully into the
consideration o f every contract, as the laws assisting the collection o f
debts. It was accepted and repealed; and the lesson it has taught is, in
in the first place, that, on the mere suggestion o f political profit, the hand
o f congress will be thrust into the concerns o f trade, and, in the second
place, that there is no inconsistency so glaring as to fall without the circle
o f congressional dexterity.
T h e bankrupt bill, on which so very much has been done, stands in
striking contrast with the warehouse bill, on which nothing has been done
at all. T h e system o f warehousing, under an equitable tariff, would be o f
but little m om ent; but, under the duties o f 1842, it becomes a necessary
instrument in the carrying on o f the importing business. Great duties,
often lapping over the value o f the article imported, can but rarely be
paid instantaneously; and though, on bond being given, the article is in the
hands o f the merchant, there are cases when the locking up o ^ capital in
order to supply security necessary to the completion o f a custom-house
bond, becomes most inconvenient. Large establishments, with large means,
may be able to pay the duties on demand, or to give satisfactory bond for
their future paym ent; but to houses just starting, with not much more to
hang on than honesty and enterprise, the task is very often impossible.
On the subject o f the propriety o f the system, we do not know that there
has been tnuch difference o f sentiment. It was asked that fire-proof stores,
o f sufficient dimensions, should be erected in connection with the chief
ports o f entry, for the purpose o f warehousing, free o f duty, goods, whose
owners found it inconvenient immediately to pay the charges against them.
So unanimous was the expression o f opinion by the boards o f trade o f the
great Atlantic cities, that it was a matter o f great surprise when it was
found that a majority o f the committee o f com m erce, in the senate, with
M r. Huntington at its head, had reported unfavorably to the project, and
that the house o f representatives had refused any action on the subject
VOL. VIII.— no . iv .
28




338

The Third Session o f the Twenty-seventh Congress.

whatever. Mr. Kennedy, o f Maryland, who had charge o f the house bill,
is reported as urging, week after week, that attention to the measure which
a naked respect to its advocates alone should have suggested ; but Mr.
Kennedy’s efforts appear to have been unavailing, as the introduction o f
the warehouse bill, in every instance, was resisted by objections so prompt
and obstinate, that it was tiually.lhrust aside in order to leave greater mar­
gin for political debate and personal altercation. The objection made by
Mr. Huntington in the senate— an objection, by the way, o f which the
house took no manner o f notice— that it would reduce the present revenue
three millions o f dollars, is worthy o f no permanent weight. Even ad­
mitting the first year’s deficit to be so great— though it was maintained
by Mr. W oodbury, that it could not exceed half a million— it is very clear
that its only practical result will be the transfer o f the difference, whatever
it may be, from this year’s accounts to the next. The goods on which the
charge arises, will still remain in the custom-house; and the duties to be
paid on them belong as surely to the government, as if they were paid on
the moment o f unshipping. If, in consequence o f the temporary delay
al'ising from the commencement o f the system, the receipts o f this year
are a million less, the receipts o f next year will be a million more. W e
are confident, that so far from a diminution o f receipts resulting from the
warehouse system, it will be found in the end, by stimulating importations,
to add considerably to our revenue.
Injurious as have been its levity on the bankrupt question, and its apathy on the warehousing scheme, it must be confessed that the most heavy
blow struck by congress at the merchant service, was that aimed ostensi­
bly at the navy. A t a period o f suspicious calm, when, at the capitol, ne­
gotiations were proceeding on which hung peace or w a r ; when, by the re­
port o f committees, it was made known that the Oregon territory was slip­
ping from our clutch ; when we were told by those engaged in the coast­
ing business that the navigation o f the frith o f the Bahamas, through
whose narrow funnel one-fifth o f our trade passes, had been made preca­
rious by the precedent established with the C reole; when we were told by
those in the East India and South American trade, by those who were oblig­
ed to skirt round the western coast o f Africa, that their voyages were often
broken up by the visitation o f British cruisers, and that, in several instances,
vessels which had been stranded on the African shores were destroyed by
the natives, and their crews massacred, through the absence o f our mari­
time police ; at a period when our com m erce throughout the world stood
in crying need o f that sanction which our helplessness and our faithlessness
had destroyed, and which nothing but the presence o f an adequate squadron
can recover ; at such a period, it could scarcely have been expected that a
proposition to crib in and hamper the naval service should be carried
through congress. W e have spoken already on the subject, and we should
pass it over at this period in silence, were it not for the additional means
taken to emasculate both merchant and naval service during the paroxysm
o f retrenchment which marked the closing scene o f the late session. It
was expected by the country at large, that congress would have seized the
opportunity o f retracing its steps, as well on its navy operations, as in
everything else it had undertaken. That the Ashburton Treaty has left
the com m erce o f the country as unsettled as it found it— that the Creole
principles had not been abandoned— that the right o f visitation was still
maintained— and that the monster o f impressment was screwed down in




The Third Session o f the Twenty-seventh Congress.

339

Lord Aberdeen’s portfolio, only to jump upon us more unexpectedly in the
event o f an European war, cannot be denied. It was asserted on the floor
o f the senate by a great leader, and it was reiterated on the floor o f (he
house, that the Oregon boundary would be a source o f difficulty much
more ominous than that which arose from the Canada frontier. W e can­
not do less than regard it as a most melancholy infatuation, that at the
moment when our com m erce was most exposed, when our wounds were
opening afresh, when our traders in foreign seas were lifting up their
hands to us for protection, we should cut o ff the supplies.
W e have projected largely, but nothing has been done. T o Mr. U p­
shur, as Secretary o f the N avy, we owe the conception o f plans o f suffi­
cient magnitude to ensure our safety and redeem our name ; but though
in accordance with his suggestions, home squadrons and African squadrons
have been voted, not only have the requisite appropriations been refused,
but the narrow salaries by which the service is sustained, have been cut
down. H e looked to congress for assistairce ; and, under the pretence o f
affording it, in the same voice in which they launched ships which will
never be built, and detached squadrons which will never be organized,
they struck a vital blow at the heart o f the navy. W e now place upon
the people at large, the same charge which congress has disregarded.
Though the fringe o f the service alone has been docked, in reality its substance has been wounded. General legislation in a republic, is, in most
cases competent when it outspeeds public opin ion ; but here the wound
may be cureless. Ships may be equipped on the spur o f the moment, a
full marine may be transferred from merchantmen to cruisers, but never
can officers o f gallantry and discipline be created in the em ergency o f a
sudden attack. W hen we cut down the pay o f the navy below that o f the
remaining professions, w e destroy the hope o f competency which is neces­
sary to justify a man o f enterprise and character in enlisting within its
ranks. Pay m aybe cut down till our captains become the skippers o f the
o c e a n ; but never then, when the time comes for action, can their ancient
bearing be restored.
T h e tariff, which we proceed rapidly to consider, as the only creative
measure o f the late congress, was passed hastily and injudiciously. A s a
retaliatory measure, it was unjust, because the provocations it was design­
ed to retaliate w ere in the process o f withdrawal. The barriers o f Eng­
lish prohibitions were melting a w a y ; and the tendency o f English com ­
m ercial legislation called to us rather to lower than to heighten our duties.
It is to be feared that the passage o f Mr. M ’ Kennan’ s bill— though we
have heard that o f its pedigree there is some doubt— will cast us a genera­
tion back in the history o f commercial restrictions, and, by the production
o f a state o f bad feeling, but illy suited to our enlarging mercantile capabili­
ties, will lead to a series o f vindictive tariffs, whose result will be the pros­
tration o f our ch ief staples. A s a retaliatory measure, therefore, it was
ill judged, but it was still worse when viewed as a revenue bill. So tight
did it draw the ligatures over the mouths o f some o f our ch ief channels o f
trade, that the circulation will be comparatively checked, and the corres­
ponding duties annihilated. Sheffield cutlery, which, at twenty per cent,
would yield a million revenue, at fifty per cent will yield nothing. T w o
and two in customs, said Adam Smith, do not make fo u r; and, in our case,
two and two have made zero. T h e result has been two-fold. In the first
place, we have whittled down our revenue in as great a proportion as we




340

The Third Session o f the Twenty-seventh Congress.

have augmented our duties. Had the country been free from embarrass­
ment, such a course, in a mere revenue light, would be unobjectionable ; but
at present it provokes to our credit dishonor, as well as mutilation to our
com m erce. W e apply to European capitalists for loans, at the same time
that we give away the income from our public lands, and lower the revenue
from our customs. W e expose ourselves to the contingency o f insolvency,
by dissipating the assets with which our debts are to be paid. A t law, a
conveyance would be deemed fraudulent which went to defeat previous
cred itors; and though there is no tribunal before which, as a nation, we
can be cited to appear, we have incurred a moral odium which can neither
be avoided nor removed.
O f the expediency o f legislative retaliation in any shape, there is great
doubt. W e recollect hearing that, when Mr. Hood was in the height o f
his power in the Irish House o f Commons, he was very often carried away
by the warmth o f his temperament, and by the pressure o f debate into a
vehemence so great, that his coat would be torn open and his breast expo­
sed through the violence o f his gesticulation. The ministry were weak—
Mr. Fitzgibbon was still a com m oner and a whig, and even Lord Castlereagh, then Mr. Stewart, had lent the powerful influence o f his family and
talents to the opposition ; and against Mr. H ood, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Burgh,
and Mr. Fitzgibbon, they had nothing to offer but the argument o f numer­
ical superiority. F or a long time, Mr. H ood’ s philippics went unanswer­
ed ; when suddenly, one o f the servants o f the castle hit upon a method o f
reply which inspired the majority once more with enthusiasm. Throw ing
him self into a paroxysm o f passion, he rivalled Mr. H ood, who had that
evening been unusually energetic, not only by pulling o ff his coat, but by
pulling o ff his wig in addition. W e confess that there would be som e­
thing ludicrous, were it not for the momentous consequences it entails, in
the scheme o f retaliation in com m ercial legislation. Great Britain has
hit upon a system by which she has crushed the few agricultural staples
o f which she is possessed ; and we have answered her, not by showing the
folly o f her course, but by crushing for ourselves the boundless agricul­
tural staples with which we happen to be endowed. Great Britain, a great
manufacturing but not a great producing country, with not corn enough to
feed its own inhabitants, with a climate in which nothing o f greater luxu­
riance than the hardy northern grains can flourish, has thought that policy
the most plausible which leads her to protect her manufactures in deroga­
tion to the few other staples she possesses. The United States, with a ter­
ritory stretching from regions almost arctic to the torrid heats o f the G ulf
o f M exico, with a surface broken into exposures the most various and di­
vergent, sometimes slanting upwards on the sides o f those great moun­
tains that form the spine bone o f the western hemisphere, sometimes spread
into plains o f boundless fertility and vast extent— with a territory whose
fields in one latitude are bristled with the sturdy northern corn, while in
another they are plaided with the tobacco flower or feathered with the
plumes o f the tobacco plant— the United States, with every facility as an
agricultural country, and as yet, from the dearness o f domestic labor and
the cheapness o f foreign goods, but few manufacturing capabilities, have
retaliated the British tariff by laying a damper on their own productive
resources. By the influence o f protective duties, laborers have been drawn
from the field to the workshop. S o great has been our dread o f Manches­
ter goods, that we have nressed from our cotton fields and our coarser




The Third Session o f the Twenty-seventh Congress.

341

northern factories, workmen to manufacture, at a high premium, an inferior
imitation o f the British fabric. W e have replied to the British tariff, not
by giving full scope to what are in fact the great staples o f our country,
but by adding our own sanction to the prohibitive system which is destined
to drive them from the market.
W ith considerations, however, which bore upon the tariff bill when still
before congress, we have at present but little to do. If the com m ercial
interests had been consulted, they would have hesitated a long time before
they sanctioned it ; but it must be borne in mind, that the ground on which
it stands now, is vastly different from that which supported it before its
enactment. W hat the country wants, is rest. That principle o f wise in­
action, to use the phrase o f a great political leader, by which alone the
legislature can secure the commercial interests o f the country from con­
stant experimental agitation, operates now almost as strongly in favor o f
the tariff bill as it formerly did against it. In a country so powerful and
so elastic as this o f our own, there is no quality so essential as a perma­
nent system o f commercial legislation. I f each congress should not only
revoke the deeds o f its predecessors, but swing wildly to the other extreme
o f the cycloid, a precedent o f agitation will be set, which, to the more
reckless o f our capitalists, will result in the maddest speculation, and to the
more prudent, in utter inactivity. W hen the government graduates the
duties on an yone article o f importation, on Nurem berg toys, for instance,
at forty per cent, it pledges, in fact, its credit to the Nuremberg toy-maker
that his goods shall be admitted within our custom-house at the duty which
has been specified. If the duty be known to be permanent, the German
producer has a clear course to take. If the market price will do more
than compensate him for the cost and the duty together, he will enter at
once into the trade as he would into any prudent domestic adventure, with
the reasonable certainty o f profit. But if the idea go abroad that the rate
will be changed, that it may be raised to eighty per cent, or lowered to
ten, the adventure becomes at once a gambling speculation. T h e manu­
facturer knows not on what terms to go to work ; and the result will be,
that, from want o f confidence in the government alone, not only the Nu­
remberg toy traffic, but the whole o f our one hundred millions o f foreign
trade in addition, will be prostrated.
It will not need farther illustration to show that a vacillating tariff is not
less fatal to the manufacturing and to the producing, than to the trading
interests. It is fatal to the manufacturer, because he knows not whether
to-morrow the market will be glutted by foreign goods at home prices, or
whether every fresh cargo shall be repelled from our ports by the guns o f
prohibitive duties. It is fatal to the producer, because, by its production,
it produces a corresponding oscillation in the foreign demand. What the
producer, the manufacturer, and the trader, join in asking is, immunity
from future aggressions. T h e country has suffered long enough from
frivolous and experimental legislation. That the present tariff must be
let down, it will be admitted, even if for the sake o f revenue alone ; but
what we ask is, that it be done wisely and gradually. The protected
manufactures should be taken easily down stairs, and not thrown out o f
the window. The obnoxious duties will continue to be obnoxious to the
consuming classes, but they should be suffered as a temporary evil. The
time will, before long, arrive, when they can be safely lowered, and we
trust that a few more years will see us in possession o f a tariff whose only




28*

342

The Third Session o f the Twenty-seventh Congress.

discrimination will be those which a regard to revenue may suggest. But
it must be recollected that, though the manufactures o f the country have
been unduly forced, it will be better to moderate the atmosphere by de­
grees, rather than to expose them to vicissitudes which will destroy the
principle o f vitality within them.
Such considerations we throw out as com ing into play into the present
moment. Standing, as we do, in a period which, like a trough in the sea,
marks the interval between two distinct and hostile waves, it becomes our
duty to ponder carefully the bearings which open on us. Legislation like
that which we have been rapidly reviewing, will never, we trust, be re­
peated. On looking carefully over the list o f bills acted on or proposed
to the late congress, we have been struck with the wilderness presented.
There is scarcely a spot to be seen where the eye o f the traveller can dis­
cover the mark o f labor regularly or systematically applied. The bank­
rupt act was built up and razed to the ground by the same hands. The
navy bills were designed to desolate, and not to produce. T h e warehous­
ing scheme was passed over. T h e action on the assumption plan, was
simply that o f negation. The sub-treasury was torn down as affording a
safe-guard insufficient for the protection o f the treasury, and the treasury
has been, in consequence, left without any protection whatever. That the
exchequer scheme, in either o f its three official manifestations, ought to
have been passed, is not here asserted, though it is clear that its rejection
laid upon congress still more imperatively the duty o f securing the public
moneys. There were features in the executive scheme, the strongest o f
which was that authorising the dealing in exchange, which form danger­
ous ingredients in a bill for the safe keeping o f the public monies ; but we
should have felt much better satisfied with the result, if congress, exercis­
ing, in one instance, at least, its proper legislative functions, had passed the
bill, with the exception o f those passages which were the most obnox­
ious.
T h e action o f congress on the postage bill, was scarcely more satisfac­
tory than that on the warehousing question. F or the last few years, it has
been clear that the present rate o f letter-duties is too onerous ; and it must
be admitted, since the experience o f the changes in the British post-office,
that a great reduction would not only facilitate the business operations o f
the country at large, but that it would increase the revenue o f the depart­
ment.
There is no article o f taxation so sensitive as letter-writing.
T here are thousands o f letter-writers in each county town who would in­
dulge themselves largely in the luxury o f correspondence could its expense
be moderated. T h e costs o f the mails will be augmented in a very tri­
fling degree by the doubling o f their burdens, and yet, we are confident,
not only from the English experience, but from a single glance at the ele­
ments o f our own population, that, by a reduction o f postage to the amount
o f fifty or sixty per cent, twice as many letters would be mailed. There
is no reason why there should not be the same unchecked correspondence
carried on between corresponding houses in neighboring cities as there is
between corresponding houses in the same c i t y ; and we are convinced
that, if the postage be reduced, not only will the amount o f mercantile
letters passing to and fro be greatly increased, but that it will be vastly
multiplied.
O f the bill relating to private expresses, with the amendment o f Mr.




Home Trade P referable to Foreign.

343

Merrick,* which passed the senate, the editor o f this Magazine has already
spoken with a distinctness which renders any further comment unneces­
sary .j'
The Twenty-seventh Congress is now extinct, and, as can be readily
drawn from what has been said, the memorials it has left on the public
statute book, consist chiefly o f self-repealing acts and declaratory resolu­
tions.
O f the great schedule o f measures sketched out by Mr. Clay,
when opening the extra session, but one item lemains. T h e national bank
never was properly b o rn ; the land distribution act, if born at all, was des­
titute o f the chief functions o f vitality ; the bankrupt law died through the
hands o f its own fram ers; and the tariff is impregnated with the seeds o f
rapid dissolution. Little, indeed, could have been done by elements so
various as those o f which the governm ent was composed. Into three hos­
tile divisions the community had divided itself; and while the executive
department was in the hands o f one party, the legislative belonged to an­
other, and the people, if the elections were to be taken as a test, to the
third. Under aspects so opposing, with the president operating on one
side, and the electoral body on the other, it is no wonder that congress
should have been thrown into a state o f alternate attraction and repulsion.
Disreputable as has been the vacillation thus produced, we may have rea­
son to congratulate ourselves that, through a more complete harmony o f
the elements, a greater unity and energy o f action had not existed. Com ­
m ercial legislation should be most cautiously conducted ; and if the bills
which, in the preceding pages, we have rapidly reviewed, were handed to
us as samples o f the method o f proceedings to have been generally adopt­
ed, it may be that the evils which we have suffered are less serious than
the evils we have escaped.

A r t . V I.— H O M E T R A D E P R E F E R A B L E T O F O R E IG N .
T h e r e are few commonplace facts better established than that “ what
is far-fetched, must be dear bought.”
The consumer has to pay the ex­
penses o f transporttftion in proportion to the distance and difficulty o f pro­
curing it. T h e greater the distance, generally, the greater must be the
expense.
.
N ow , there are principles involved in this homely' admitted truth which
require to be understood, and to have their consequences pointed out in
this country. Th ey have a bearing upon the all-important subject o f our
home trade as contrasted with foreign, and in leading to a discussion, vi­
tally important to us as a nation and which ought to be settled at once, to
w it: “ Can we supply our home wants ourselves, without an expensive
carrying-trade, and is it not better and wiser to do so, than to depend on

* This amendment reads as follows : “ That ‘ mailable matter,’ and matter properly
transmittable by mail, shall be deemed and taken to mean all letters and newspapers,
and all magazines and pamphlets periodically published, and all written and printed mat.,
ter whereof each copy or edition shall not exceed one pound in w eight; but bound books
o f any size shall not be held to be included within the meaning o f these terms. A nd
any packet or packets o f whatever size, being made up o f any such mailable matter,
shall subject all persons concerned in transporting the same to all the penalties o f this
law equally as if it or they were not so made up into a packet or packages.”
t See National Intelligencer o f February 25, 1843.




344

Home Trade P referab le to Foreign.

foreign nations to supply us merely for the sake o f encouraging com m erce,
unless with a view to exchange surpluses?”
W e have been induced to throw together a few reflections on this sub­
ject, from having lately perused a most sensible treatise o f an English
writer on political econom y,* the most sensible book on this abstruse
science, we think, which has lately reached our shores. It contains dis­
cussions which ought to be thoroughly examined by every student on the
questions o f free trade and home protection. It is the soundest piece o f
clear log ic which we have read for a long while, and we commend it to
those who have free minds and love to be convinced fa ir ly , as a treat not
often met with among the suborned and distorted witnesses on subjects o f
this nature, paid and put forth by English authority. In Mr. Atkinson,
they will find an author not to be trifled with. Under a conviction that
the subjects o f which he treats had not received a fair investigation, he
joined an association in London, and, with a committee o f eight persons,
investigated the science o f political econom y and found it had been falsely
stated. A crow n commissioner being afterwards appointed to examine
the causes o f the distress o f the hand-loom weavers, he was appointed, at
a public meeting o f the Spitalfield operatives, to construct a case for the
commissioners, which, in connection with a committee from their body, he
afterwards presented ; and from the practical information thereby obtain­
ed, he has been enabled to arrive at conclusions which are to be relied on,
and are o f the utmost importance. A ll the rudiments o f the education o f
Am ericans on these subjects, being obtained from English sources, and
being in a manner ex parte statements, involving us in their policy, it is
important that we should examine this work with that attention which it
most richly deserves.
Although political econom y and perpetual motion yet remain among the
occult sciences, and men are baffled in their endeavors to discover their un­
fathomable mysteries, still the attempts to explore them are not useless. In
regard to the former, science and genius have accomplished much ; the one,
by clearing away the wrecks o f accumulated errors, an Herculean task, and
the other, by presenting new structures, better suited to the improved intelli­
gence and taste o f modern times. W hat the present#age demands, is not
likely to be long neglected. Progress is its law— utility its object. Men are
too remote now from the days o f Adam and E ve, to hope with sickly longing
for the lost bliss o f paradise. Labor is our l o t ; and, as “ the world is all
before us,” thanks to Columbus and his bold co m p e e rs! and we A m eri­
cans have by far the better half o f it, it is worth while for us to set to, in
good earnest, to make the most o f our distinguished condition. T o go
blindly to work with our young eyesight, stumbling over errors which time
and antiquated habits have fastened on our cis-Atlantic brethren, would be
the height o f folly. The spectacles o f books and facts which have en­

*

“ P

r in c ip l e s

of

P o l it ic a l E

conomy

; or, the Laws o f the Formation o f National

Wealth, developed by means o f the Christian Law o f Governm ent; being the Substance
o f a Case delivered to the Hand-loom Weavers.

By

W

il l ia m

A

t k in s o n ,

London.”

General Tallmadge, the President o f the American Institute and o f the Home League,
having received two copies o f this work, he has presented one to the Institute, which is
deposited for public use in its valuable library, and the other is in our hands for review,
under the sanction o f the Central Committee o f the H om e League.




Home Trade Preferable to Foreign.

345

lightened them we certainly, ought not to despise, but it is our duty and our
privilege to think and act for ourselves. Avoiding their errors, we shall
still find enough o f our own to excite the keenest vigilan ce; but i f we are
faithful to our true interests, and independent enough to maintain and en­
jo y them, the star o f empire, newly risen in our western hemisphere, will
long maintain its ascendancy.
It is time that our countrymen should have their own system o f political
econom y. W hat we most need, is a paternal or protective government,
working with and for the people. The greatest difficulty which every man
o f business and every practical investigator o f productive industry in this
country experiences, is the perpetual instability, unsettled principles, and
vacillating character o f our legislation, state and national. The general
government (o f course, we do not speak o f the present administration
m erely) resembles closely an elective monarchy, where the rulers are
chosen from foreign states. E very com ing election gives us a new set o f
political stepfathers, who take good care o f their own party adherents, but
leave the commonwealth to take care o f itself. W hat one party builds up,
the other, as i f instinctively, goes to work to pull down ; and the effect o f
this is, as far as trade and confidence are concerned, that men o f business
or capital, without any home department o f the government to look after
and protect their interests, find themselves perpetually at a loss, uncertain
how to act, and standing in fear o f falling into nought by the blunders or
hostility o f their own rulers.
But, mischievous as this policy is, and disastrous to the best interests o f
the commonwealth, there seems to be no use in complaining, since the
people themselves are the supporters o f it, and exult in that popular excite­
ment which cares not how much they sacrifice, provided they can do so o f
their own free accord, or to serve their party. W e will not stop, there­
fore, to deplore this peculiar feature o f Am erican sovereignty. W e only
say it is peculiar, since no other nation, Christian or savage, that we know
of, professes anything like it ; but, as we continue to grow , in spite o f all
opposition, though not so fa s t as we might, it may be, that by and by we
shall outgrow this self-inflicting folly. L et it have its course. Until we
do outgrow it, however, palliative remedies alone can be adopted to im ­
prove our condition ; but without a protective government and a home de­
partment, free from political vacillage, no permanent prosperity can be
expected. The present state o f the com m ercial world abroad, and our
own relations in connection therewith, demand serious consideration ; much
more than our government, without a board o f trade, or any particular de­
partment devoted to its interests, appears disposed to give it. A discus­
sion o f the question, whether a home or foreig n trade be most advantageous
to a country, has o f late years been going on in Europe, and is now the
great leading problem, which is about to be solved by practical experience.
Nations, weary o f shedding each other’s blood, have laid by their swords,
“ hung up their bruised arms for monuments,” and are now marshalling
their industrial forces, under the most skilful leaders, to see who can do
themselves the most good by encouraging the arts o f peace. England has
hitherto taken the lead in this noble enterprise, as she has, indeed, in al­
most every great improvement o f modern science ; but in her haste to be­
com e rich without exhibiting always the fair plain dealing towards others,
which, par excellence, is styled plain English, she at last finds her wily pol­
icy mischievous to herself, her com m ercial diplomacy repudiated, and her




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Home Trade P referable to Foreign.

former customers turned into most formidable rivals. Her free trade no­
tions, which have hitherto operated as a decoy, she is now compelled to
stand by, as a defence ; and, having entrenched herself behind the spoils
which Adam Smith, Huskisson, M ’Culloch, Poulet Scrope, and others,
have gathered from all nations by their plausible, but profoundly deceptive
theories, having lost the use o f her lasso, and induced Germans, French,
and Russians, with not a lew Yankees, to turn their heels against her, she
now finds herself placed, as it were, in Coventry, and would be glad o f a
parley with any one, even on terms she once despised.
W e do not mean
to reproach her. W e have no right to quarrel with her for the deep game
she has been playing, nor for the trophies she has won by her political doc­
tors who have hallucinated the world, nor for her Argus-eyed board o f
trade, her squadrons o f com m ercial spies in all directions, and her love o f
mercantile supremacy and extended empire. All these, were we English­
men, we should doubtless feel a just pride in approving. W e should be proud,
too, o f such an enlightened and patriotic statesman as Sir Robert P e e l;
and, in the anguish o f our hearts, we say, we need in this country just such
an indefatigable and popular leader, to take care o f our Am erican interests ;
we wish “ That heaven had made us such a man.”
But great as the difficulties are, which now invest the Island Queen in
her commercial and domestic relations, gigantic as the labors o f her min­
isters must be to change her front towards the world, we have no doubt
she has the ability to accommodate herself to the new condition o f things
without dismay. As far as we are concerned, we feel prepared for over­
tures o f astonishing concession on her part, which we hope our government
w ill have the sagacity politely to decline. R e c i p r o c i t y is the new note
that is to be struck in her political gamut, by which all nations are to take
the pitch ; but we think we can now get along better without what she
would call reciprocity than with it.
Greek gifts, on taking leave, we
are rather shy of. But we have no doubt there will be a tremendous
clam or in this country to accept the proffered boon, so to be considered,
and we think it time some warning should be sounded on this subject. If
the corn laws are to be repealed, it will doubtless be expected that we shall
have open ports for British manufactures. Our farmers must sell their
bread-stuffs, and the government must have enough revenue. The manu­
facturers must be destroyed, mechanics and laborers driven into the wil­
derness to till the earth, and the northern hive o f working freemen put
down to aggrandize the southern monopolists, and to people their swamps
with slaves. W e may not be right in our conjectures ; but, right or wrong,
it can do us but little harm to look at this subject in perspective.
The United States, at this moment, present a curious anom aly: a peo­
ple nearly prostrate with the full possession o f their natural faculties, and
abundant means for the progress and improvement o f every interest in
the land. A nation in a trance, without the rapture which usually a c­
companies it. A constellation o f sovereignties, arrested in their orbit
without apparent cause, but requiring a miracle to set them in motion
again. The universal Yankee nation going into a state o f petrifaction !
Eighteen millions o f people, in possession o f the finest continent and the
freest government in the world, all complaining o f hard tim es! How is
this ?
A t the date o f the last census, we had in the aggregates for every man,
woman, and child, in the land, an ox or a cow , a sheep and a h o g ; 5 bush­




Home Trade Preferable to Foreign.

347

els o f wheat, 1 bushel o f rye, 22 bushels o f corn, 7 bushels o f oats, 6 bush­
els o f potatoes, 50 lbs. o f cotton, 2 lbs. o f wool, 10 lbs. o f sugar, 5 lbs. o f
rice, 1 ounce o f tobacco, and a great supply o f other necessary comforts
and luxuries. Every head had a comfortable shelter, every individual
sufficient apparel, every hand something to work with ; and, with the excep­
tion o f slaves, nearly every child had the means o f religious and moral in­
struction. And yet, with all these abounding comforts, with over two
millions o f tons o f shipping, with houses, stores, railroads, and canals, im ­
proved farms, bridges, vehicles o f all sorts, mills, factories, and ten thou­
sand other sources o f wealth, and at least fifty millions o f specie, we have
the perpetual cry throughout the country, that the times were never so
hard, and one would almost think our last day was at hand ! Really we
must exclaim again, how is this ? Is the government disabled, or are the
people paralyzed ? Or, comet-like, are we merely turning the corner o f
our Aphelion ?
W e shall not stop to inquire out the cause o f this unnatural state o f
things. W e shall not compare our present situation with that o f our ven­
erated ancestors, who found themselves during, and at the end o f the revo­
lution, destitute o f nearly all the comforts we now possess. W e shall not
even glance at the undaunted energy and noble resolution which, without
means almost o f any sort, without any real money, without factories, rail­
roads, steamboats, and the host o f modern improvements which we pos­
sess, induced them to go to work manfully felling the trees o f the forest,
in ploughing the land, and furrowing the ocean, in exchanging help with
one another for the purpose o f erecting bridges, sawmills, gristmills, fac­
tories, churches, and public buildings, thus inspiring confidence among
themselves and in their government, with a determination to promote the
common weal and give bodily existence and support to that independence
whose spirit had carried them through the revolution. W e meant not
to glance at these glorious rem iniscences; it is enough for us to condense
all the reflection we are capable o f in remedying our present maladies, and
to task our humble ingenuity in contriving a mode o f disentrancing the
country from its wretched self-distrust.
It will clearly be perceived, from the premises we have stated, that there
is no want o f the elements o f wealth or means o f profit in this country.
There is not merely an abundant supply o f the necessaries o f life, but an
embarrassing surplus o f money,produce, and labor. And yet, no real value
can be attached to these, so long as they remain unemployed or motionless,
any more than motive power can be produced from a steam engine resting
upon a dead centre, or the water o f a mill privilege, running to waste over
its fa lls , be considered productive without use or profit. Mutual confidence
and steady co-operation among those who possess these surplus means o f
productive wealth, are alone wanting to produce all we can ask for. L et
the moneyed capitalist have but confidence, and the idle laborers be em­
ployed, and the surplus produce will then be consumed, or bartered for
luxuries we do not produce, thus giving a basis for increased capital, ex­
panded industry, and ample re-production.
The key to this confidence will alone produce mutual action. But
where is this to be found ? W e will not ask how has it been lost, but who
has it— where can it now be obtained ? Is it buried in the earth, or rust­
ing in the sea, or hid in the cabinet o f the government, or stolen by some
contentious faction o f the people ? T o the government w e will first ap­




348

Home Trade Preferable to Foreign.

p e a l; and if they cannot produce it, we will then contentedly seek it else­
where.
N ot to deal in metaphor, however, we will now assert, in sober earnest,
that the people have a right to look to the government immediately and
permanently for the lost momentum to be restored to business operations,
and the primum mobile which is to give new action to the commonwealth.
With them exists the power and the means to inspire confidence among
ourselves, and in this way to remedy the evils that exist. Nothing but
confidence in their aid and protection, in the stability o f wise laws, by
which men o f capital and the employers o f that capital everywhere can
count upon as affording a reasonable security and profit, will ever restore
to us our accustomed prosperity. It is certain, and we must be allowed
to say it once more, vacillating legislation is the death-blow to confidence.
S y s t e m and permanency must be secured— the best system, o f course,
which wisdom and patriotism can devise ; but a permanent system, even
i f it is not perfect, is better than any one that is perpetually uncertain.
Let the law o f the land, as regards protection to our home interests, and
the kind o f currency which is to influence them in the mode o f collecting
revenue or taxes, the best system for a currency between the states for
national use and commercial exchange, a fixed law for enforcing the pay­
ment o f contracts, whether o f states, corporations, or individuals, and for
the relief o f honest debtors who are insolvent; let these and a few other
well-matured enactments, not to be disturbed by party machinations, be
once adopted, and then the whole interests o f the country will again be
prospered, and have an enduring growth. Or, if congress in its wisdom
should deem that all these measures are inexpedient— that free trade, as it is
called, is better than protection to our home interests— that an indiscrimi­
nate reciprocity is to reduce our aspiring manufacturers and well-condi­
tioned laborers to the level o f foreign, oppressed paupers— that the rates
o f subsistence which the slave and the serf have, are to be the maximum
o f wages for the free mechanic and yeom anry o f the north and west (the
necessary result o f open ports and f r e e trade)— that no system o f currency
or exchanges is to be thought o f— that a bankrupt law is never again to be
enacted, and that states may pass stay laws with impunity, and corporations
and individuals laugh their creditors to scorn without any means o f redress
being allowed them— if, we say, the government should choose to adopt a
system o f measures o f this sort, let it be s o ; and provided, it is a system,
the people will then know on what to calculate. Submission or revolution
would then be decided u p on ; and some movement would at least take
place which, we contend, would be far better than the present fatal state
o f suspense and inaction.
But we shall probably here be told, that the government proper has no
control over its own acts, even should it take the responsibility o f adopt­
ing either system o f policy above described. This we admit and deplore.
O f late years, the government seems to have no country, and the country
no government. The whole ring is given up to political gladiators. W h o
will take the responsibility to break it up ? W h o is there now alive patri­
otic enough to wield W ashington’ s sword or Franklin’ s staff? N o one
m a n ; but we can all do this if we go unitedly and resolutely to the polls,
and enforce the downfall o f party tyranny. And the first step the people
have to take in this measure, is to be informed themselves what country
they belong to. A re they friends o f their own home interests, or in love




Home Trade Preferable to Foreign.

349

with every foreign humbug that is offered them by political necromancers
and romancing free trade theorists ? In order to create such a system as
can alone give efficacy to a government really national in its character,
let the sovereign people, before going to the polls, ask themselves if they
are true to the cause they profess; or if, while professing to be friends o f
home industry and a protective tariff, which they know to be sound prin­
ciples, and best calculated to serve their own and the common good, will
not a little wheedling o f some flattering politician, some promise o f hol­
low distinction in a ward meeting, some treacherous squeezing o f hands
or pledging o f healths, rob them o f their high privilege, and cause them,
after all, to throw it away for that which is directly the reverse o f what
they want. This has hitherto been the case, to a fatal extent; and thus
we see that the people themselves have flung away the key to their pros­
perity, and it will be in vain to look to their government to restore it, un­
til there is fidelity used in the exercise o f the elective franchise. The
great question o f a preference to home industry over foreign, and o f a de­
cided protective government, must be a test-question at the start. N o
man interested in the success o f free labor, be he a landholder, capitalist,
farmer, mechanic, or workman o f any sort— no citizen, dependant upon the
free exercise o f industry, enterprise, and talent, should look to our govern­
ment exclusively to protect him in the management and security o f these
rights. H e must protect himself by voting only for such men as he may
be sure will vole for the interests o f home industry— for protection— in
short, against the system opposed to protection. W hat that is, is clearly
defined and adhered to by the opponents o f free labor and home industry.
The foreign monopolists o f capital and pauper labor, and the privileged or­
ders, as they call themselves, in possession o f the chattels o f industry at
the south, contend boldly for free trade— free to deny freedom to those
who wish to w ork and maintain themselves. Their position is defined and
fought for with uncompromising fidelity; and such is the power o f party
machinations, that with the aid o f the treacherous fragments o f that por­
tion o f congress whose constituents are a majority in favor o f the protec­
tive system, and the selfish Galeos com posing sectional cliques, who pro­
fess to care for none o f these things, but will vote in opposition to their
own brethren if their sect can gain any consequence by it, the result is
defeat and confusion to every truly national policy which conflicts with
southern privileges and foreign interference.
N ow , under this stale-mate system, do not our free agriculturists, hard­
working mechanics, embarrassed merchants, and suffering laborers, who
will not go to the polls, or go there only to throw away their votes for
some needy demagogue ready to cajole and cheat them, make a very sorry
figure in complaining o f hard times ? A re they not guilty o f patricide, or
o f impoverishing and demoralizing their country, until it is repudiated
every where, and seems to be a disgraceful effigy o f what it was and should
be ? In the name o f com m on sense, we would ask, how long is this sys­
tem to last ? “ There is an orphanage,” said Curran, “ that springs not
from the grave
and if we do not wish our children to bear this reproach,
we must see that our conscript fathers, as well as ourselves, are disentranced from the harlotry o f party. Sound principles must be supported,
and not unprincipled men. The free interests o f the whole country must
govern, and not the peculiar privileges o f those who, with free trade upon
their lips, wish to fasten manacles upon the limbs, and chain the tongues
VOL. VIII.— no . iv .
29




350

Home Trade Preferable to Foreign.

and thoughts o f those o f their countrymen who prefer the independence
o f living by their own labor rather than by the toil and sweat o f slaves.
A ny other system than this may be tolerable, but this never can be toler­
ated. The union o f free trade, and slave or pauper labor, in lieu o f pro­
tection to the labor and interests o f free Americans, is, o f all confederacies,
the most monstrous, virtually annihilating our national Union, and abroga­
ting every principle o f independence.
W e will now proceed to the examination o f the treatise we have under­
taken to review ; and only regret that, with our best efforts, we shall not
be able to do the author justice. Until the work is republished in this
country, we can only recommend those who may be desirous o f perusing
it, to apply at the Repository o f the Am erican Institute, and they will
there find a copy deposited in its library.
Mr. Atkinson appears to have examined, faithfully and dispassionately,
all the great works on political econom y, and to be as much at home in
his criticisms on the theories o f Adam Smith, Malthus, Say, Reardo, Huskisson, Scrope, and others, as Handel or Mozart were in the management
o f their favorite instruments. He has left no note untried, nor does he
suffer the slightest variation from perfect harmony to escape him. His
great aim appears to be, to improve the condition o f society ; not by the
destruction and dilapidation o f the present order o f things, but by pro­
ducing a permanent and effectual remedy for its existing evils. His
theory is, to build up, and not to pull d ow n ; to advance, and not to go back­
ward. In his preface, he observes,—
“ It is established, that a society cannot derive benefit from a retrogressive movement,
or by members turning round upon and against each other, and encroaching upon the
enjoyment of each other’s property; and the proposition takes also a more extended
range, for it shows, not only that benefit cannot be derived, but that a great destruction
of value, property, or capital, must ensue from such a course, and thus injury will be
the result, or more poverty and destitution be created. The remedy, therefore, is en­
tirely of a prospective character. It enjoins that a more moderate and just course, both
of desire and of action, be observed in future, than has hitherto been observed. It
insists on greater regard being shown to the labor and properly of persons in general,
and this to be effected by commercial laws being based in future upon the true princi­
ple established, in place of the false principle which is brought under examination and
condemned.”
T h e true principles here alluded to are the social, rational, Christian
principles, o f protection to all interests, in contra.distinction to the dis­
social, selfish, free trade theories. Progress and increase o f population
being the law o f society, he argues conclusively, that “ a constant increase
o f means or capital is required to sustain it, and to be kept i n a d v a n c e o f
it."
He contradicts and disproves the preposterous conclusions o f Malthus,
that there is a generative force in mankind, the exercise o f which sur­
passes the means provided by the Creator for their support. He admits
that, “ i f man should be able to procure only sufficient fo o d f o r his own want,
his species could not increase.
This, however, is not the case. A n increase
o f means must precede an increase o f the species."
In his illustration o f the individual acquisition o f excess or surplus prop­
erty, and the social exchange o f this surplus, he evinces the most clear
and satisfactory results. The whole argument appears to us perfect, com ­
mencing at page 154. H e then alludes to the great law o f P r o p o r t i o n ,
founded on right or justice. In illustration o f this part o f his treatise, he




Home Trade Preferable lo Foreign.

351

introduces a most useful and convincing diagram, in which is clearly
proved, that " t he principle o f confictio n or competition between states, is
equal/,y injurious in an advanced, as it has been shown lo be in an early
stage o f society ; and that its effect is, in every instance, a destruction o f
vaiue or capital.”
He then proceeds to illustrate this, upon the experi­
ment o f converting a home trade into a foreign.
But, before introducing this complete argument, we wish to refer to his
quotation from Adam Smith and others, by which it will appear, that these
champions o f the free trade theories had to allow, what we have ventured
to place at the head o f this article, v i z : that the home trade is preferable
to foreign.
In the 2d book and 5th chapter o f the “ W ealth o f Nations,” Adam Smith
necessarily admits the superior advantage o f the home trade, as follows :—
“ T he capital which is employed in purchasing in one part o f the country, in order to
sell in another the produce o f the industry o f that, country, generally replaces, by every
such operation, tw o distinct capitals, that had both been employed in the agriculture or
manufactures o f that country, and thereby enables them to continue that employment.
W hen it sends out from the residence o f the merchant a certain value o f commodities,
it generally brings back, in return, at least an equal value o f other commodities. W hen
both are the produce o f domestic industry, it necessarily replaces, by every such opera­
tion, tw o distinct capitals, which had both been employed in supporting productive la­
bor, and thereby enables them to continue that support. T he capital which sends Scotch
manufactures to London, and brings back English corn and manufactures to Edinburgh,
necessarily replares, by every such operation, tw o British capitals which had both been
employed in the agriculture or manufactures o f Great Britain.
“ The capital employed in purchasing foreign goods for home consumption, when this
purchase is made with the produce o f domestic industry, replaces too, by every such
operation, tw o distinct capitals : but one o f them only is employed in supporting domes­
tic industry. The capital which sends British goods to Portugal, and brings back For.
tuguese goods to Great Britain, replaces, by every such operation, only one British cap­
ital : the other is a Portuguese one. Though the returns, therefore, o f the foreign trade
o f consumption should be as quick as those o f the home trade, the capital employed in
it will give but ONE-UALF the encouragement to the industry or productive labor of the
country."

In the 1st volume and 248th page o f Monsieur Say, it is stated :—
The British government seems not to have perceived that the most profitable sales
to a nation are those made by one individual to another within the nation ; for these lat­
ter imply a national production o f tw o values— the value sold, and that given in ex­
change.*
“ Thus two o f the most eminent writers on the science o f political economy answer
the question now propounded in a similar way, being compelled, by the facts o f the case,
to agree in their conclusion, that home trade is doubly advantageous over foreign.”

Another quotation here follows, from Mr. McCulloch, wherein he admits
that the question o f which is best, horn • or foreign trade, does not allow
o f any satisfactory solution. Ricardo’s objections to Adam Smith’s theory,
o f the two home values for one foreign, is next examined, and are proved
absurd. W e think, however, that some exception to Mr. Atkinson’s rea­
soning on this subject m ly be taken. If the principles laid down in the
sequel are correct, the question o f exchange o f values, whether by for­
eign or domestic com m erce, is o f little importance as regards the result
to the general profit, which is the question, independent o f expenses o f trans­
portation. The saving o f these expenses, however, gives the home traffic
the advantage. But if, after the home trade is pushed to its utmost extent,
an exchange o f surplus products can be made with foreign states, and
com m erce can thereby be carried pn profitably, this is all clear gain to
both countries.




352

Home Trade Preferable to Foreign.

T o us. there seems no deduction o f political econom y more evident than
this ; and yet, how mystified are all the reasonings on this point made to
appear, where admitted in modern treatises put forth under English au­
thority. Commerce has a noble daring in it, and, as far as voyages o f
discovery and civilization, o f social intercourse and national improvement
are concerned, we hail it as a blessing and a benefit to any people en­
couraging i t ; but viewed in the light o f a profitable occupation, in the
general pursuits o f national econom y, we think it must submit to this rule.
T

h e m a x im u m

o f a m a t io n ’ s t h r if t w i l l

be in s u r e d , w h e n a l l t h e e x

­

are made a t h o m e t h a t c a n b e m a d e a d ­
v a n t a g e o u s l y , each trade or employment, being free, but favored by the
discriminating and fosterin g protection o f a wise government, i n t e r e s t e d in
directing and encouraging the best pursuits o f its citizens, regard being had
to permanency, concentrated and united efforts, the most favorable soil, cli­
mate, position, and natural advantages, which the country will permit o f ;
and when, in addition to these h o m e i n t e r e s t s b e i n g s e c u r e d , all its sur­
plus products can be exchanged with f o r e i g n nations, on such terms as
shall increase its comforts, provide ample revenue f o r the support o f govern­
ment, and, by encouraging commerce, add to the enterprise and intelligence
o f the people, extending their influence without impairing their indepen­
dence.
The advantage o f concentrated effort and a good position, as far as ar­
tisan labor is concerned, may easily be discovered by proper reflection.
Or, let any one go to Low ell now, and compare the prices o f the tools,
machinery, building, fuel, & c ., compared with what they were in 1822,
when her factories were first com m enced ; when her iron castings were
carted up from Easton, instead o f being, as now, turned out warm at the
doors o f her machine-shops ; when the tools, to make tools with, had to
be brought from England, or some remote inland tow n ; when her looms,
spindles, carding-machines, and a thousand other inventions, now all made
by her own citizens at home, had to be picked up in different distant
places, and at prices doubly, trebly, and in some cases, ten times higher
than they now are. This kind o f concentration it is w hich has carried
England ahead o f all the world, in her manufacturing enterprise. Leeds,
Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Glasgow, with many other minor
centres o f industry, have extended their Briarian arms across the world ;
and the little islands that are the workshops o f all other nations, and,
compared with the vast possessions her industry and political craft have
given her, are like petty sand-banks in the ocean, possess a physical com ­
pactness which seems almost from necessity to have thrust advantages in
her way, in spite o f her free trade theory o f expansiveness. Vastness,
extension, and the love o f pulling apart, we consider great drawbacks to
our industrial success in this country ; and were it not for the keenness
o f invention, the energy and perseverance o f a free people, together with
the physical advantages we possess, we should hardly be able to keep up
with our venerable Anglo-Saxon relative in the arts o f peace. She has
difficulties to surmount, however, which we have not, and can never dream
o f having; and if our government and people can only once be possessed
o f the invaluable knowledge which she has, o f giving preference to home
interests in all cases, and o f being sociable with other nations only when
it is for our interest to be so, and will throw off this transcendental pio­
neering in the search after universal free trade, w e should yet witness in
changes of lab o r




and

stoc k

Home Trade Preferable to Foreign.

353

our favored country a people worthy their privileges, and o f the ances­
tors from whom they are sprung.
L et us now revert to the direct argument and statement made by Mr.
Atkinson, to prove the truth o f Adam Smith’s position, questioned by R i­
cardo, but not refuted by him ; and which is the most interesting fact to
us Americans, at this time, that can be discussed. A t page 174, he
sa y s:—
“ I will frame my proposition o f illustration upon the fact o f converting a home trade
into a foreign, and I will assume my examples as appertaining to the two countries France
and England. I will suppose that both these countries having made considerable ad­
vance in civilization and improvement, it is found that in England the commodity wheat
is dearer than the same commodity is in France, and that the commodity cotton manu­
factures is cheaper. That is, in England wheat is as the number 12, and cotton manu­
factures as the number 8, making together the number 2J. N ow in France the reverse
o f this is the case; that is, wheat is as the number 8, and cotton manufactures as the
number 12, making together the number 2d. It must be remarked here, that, as regard­
ing the two commodities, when taken in their combined character, the people o f both
countries are upon an equally o f enjoyment; for, if the consumers o f England have to
pay more for their wheat, yet they have to pay less for their cotton manufactures. So
o f the consumers o f France ; if the cotton manufactures o f that country are dearer than
those o f England, yet the wheat is cheaper, so that, taken together, the facts amount to
the same result. The question to be tried is, whether it will be advantageous to the
people o f both countries to leave off exchanging or demanding the dearer commodity in
each, and to commence buying the cheaper commodity. That is, the people of England
to leave off demanding the wheat produced by the labor o f their own countrymen, and
to demand that produced by the labor o f the people o f France ; and the people o f France
to leave off demanding the cotton manufactures produced by the labor o f their country­
men, in order to demand those produced by the labor o f the people o f England.”
“ In accordance with the setting out o f the diagram,* I will take the number o f the
people o f England as five millions, and 1 will assume that half a million o f them are
employed in producing wheat. In the next place I will assume the capital o f England
to be o f the aggregate value o f one hundred millions o f pounds sterling, and that, o f
this, the proportion derived from wheat is ten millions. The remainder o f the popula­
tion, or four millions and a half, are employed upon nineteen other classes o f produc­
tions, some o f which are made up o f single commodities, others comprise numerous
commodities. There will be then a value o f ninety millions assignable in various pro-

Population.
A ........... ...
B............ ...
C................
D ........... ...
E ............ ...
F ....... . ...
G ........... ...
I I ........... ...
I .................
J.................
K ....... . ...
L ................
M ........... ...
N ........... ...
0 ................
P ............ ...
Q ............ ...
R ............ ...
S ............. ..
T ............ ...




Production or Capital.
Number.
Value.
500,000....... ........ W heat.................................... . £10,000,000
200,000.......
4,000,000
200,000........
4,000,000
150,000.......
3,000,000
150,000.......
3,000,000
250,000........
5,000,000
300,000.......
6,000,000
280,000.......
5,000,000
270,000........ ....... W oo!........................................
5,000,000
270,000........
. , 5,000,000
270,000........
5,000,000
“
.........
270,000....... ....... Silk
5,000,000
270,000.......
5,000,000
270,000........
5,000,000
270,000.......
5,000,000
270,000.......
5,000,000
270,000........
5,000,000
270,000.......
5,000,000
270,000.......
5,000,000
000,000.......
5,000,000
5,000,000

£100,000,000
29*

354

Home Trade Preferable to Foreign .

portions, amongst the nineteen classes o f productions. A s to the commodity now in
question, that is, wheat, we have to trace out its operation upon the general capital.
“ In the first place, then, a portion o f it will necessarily be consumed by its own pro­
ducers ; that is, one-tenth, or one million value. T he remaining nine millions value will
go to be exchanged, or will constitute a demand for certain portions o f the other nine­
teen classes o f commodities, each in its proportion. Thus we discern mutual action or
dependence. A s the commodity A , or wheat, is, to a certain extent or degree, depend­
ent upon a portion o f the commodity B, so an equal portion o f the commodity B is de­
pendent upon the portion o f the commodity A . The same fact exists as regards the
commodity C, the same as regards that o f D, E, F, and G, and so onwards throughout
the entire series. Portions o f each being exchanged for portions o f the others, thus es­
tablishing the principle o f connexion, union, or general dependence. The nine millions
value o f A , or wheat, therefore, will form the substance o f demand for an equal nine
millions value o f other commodities, each in its degree, which, in their turn, will form
the substance o f demand for the nine millions value o f A , or wheat. Thus, it is evi­
dent, that there are tw o values here incorporated— firstly, the value o f A , or wheat;
and secondly, an equal value o f other things, for the purpose o f exchanging with which
wheat was produced, and by the demand o f which it was called into existence, the other
things constituting the corresponding general value, having been called into existence by
the demand made by those who produced wheat.
“ Upon viewing the state o f the population and capital o f France, constructed upon a
diagram o f a similar plan, it will be evident, that it will be under the operation o f the
same principle as that just described as existing in England. Certain portions o f the
general capital will be dependent upon the value o f the cotton manufactures which is
exchanged in the country ; that is, supposing their value to be ten millions, one o f which
is consumed by its own producers, then there will be also other nine millions depend­
ent upon the demand made by means o f other productions o f equal amount, and which,
in their turn, are also dependent upon it: thus constituting in France the tw o sources
o f production or value.
“ T o put the proposed change into effect, first as regards England :— Upon the import­
ation o f the wheat o f France, the consumers or demanders of English w heat prefer the
cheaper commodity o f France, consequently that o f English growth is displaced to the
degree in which the supply takes place, the French being substituted for it. And now
it must be noticed, as the immediate effect o f such a change, that, as the demand for
English wheat ceases, so there will be a corresponding cessation o f demand for those
commodities, or capital, which have been produced for the purpose o f exchanging with
the English w'heat; for if B will not exchange with A , it is clear that A cannot exchange
with B. Thus then, in the first place, there occurs derangement in the demand for the
commodity o f class A , or wheat, being a direct effect produced by a direct cause. The
next thing is, a cessation o f demand o f a portion o f the commodity o f the class B, be­
ing an indirect effect, brought about by an indirect cause, namely, that o f re-action, on
account o f the injury done to the class A , who are the demanders o f a part o f the com ­
modity o f class B ; for it must be remembered that the demand o f France is not to con­
sist o f all those productions or capital which heretofore have form ed the matter o f de­
mand hy the producers o f English w h ea t; but, in the place o f this, the new' demand is
to be concentred in one commodity, that o f cotton manufactures. T he reaction, there­
fore, issuing from the disturbance or injury done to class A , will be carried on through­
out the entire series, with the exception (for the present) o f class K, or cotton manu­
factures.
“ N ow , in the state o f things here instanced, we discern an infraction o f the great law
o f proportion, which, I contend, is not confined in its operation to one part, but is ex­
tended over the wlfole body o f capital. For if the members o f class B find the demand
for their commodities diminished, so that the supply becomes disproportioned to the de­
mand, or in excess, the only resource apparent to them in such emergency is that o f
entering into competition with each other, in order to dispose of, or to sell their com ­
modity, which cannot be done without a sacrifice being made o f a portion o f its value.
A similar state o f facts will ensue, also, as regards the producers in every other class.
Thus injury is sustained, in the first place, by existing capital, and in the next, the future
increase o f it, or the general profit, will, it is evident, come forth under circumstances
less auspicious to the formation o f capital.
“ And now, as regards the commodity under class K, which is cotton manufacture—
increased demand is to be made in this quarter; but it is all-material to consider and to
bear in mind that whatever increase does take place, must be derived from the general
stock or capital, that is, from the aggregate o f the existing commodities. To whatever




Home Trade P referable to Foreign.

355

degree an extension o f production takes place in this quarter, ju s t such equal degree
must be consumed in form ing the production, and all this matter o f consumption must
be abstracted from the existing capital, which, when put together in value, will form
the cost o f the production. Up to this point there is no increase. Let any amount
whatever be produced, the increase will consist only in the p r o f i t accruing from the
aggregate o f the production when exchanged, that is, the excess o f value, when sold,
over and above the value consumed in procuring the commodity. In addition, I con­
tend that this class o f commodity, or cotton manufactures, will become subject to the
same law which operates on every other class o f production; for an increase o f demand
will incite an increase o f supply from many new sources, the effect o f which must be
that the profit will descend to the general level o f that derivable from other sources o f
production.
“ I desire here to call your attention again to the diagram representing the entire body
o f capital; for, I submit to you, that I have shown by correct application to its matter
o f laws previously elucidated, that the result o f the change proposed must be, in every
quarter, a destruction o f value or capital.
“ With regard to the question as it affects the capital o f France, I need not dwell upon
it at length, for it will be obvious that the same principle will bring about there the same
result; that is, the producers o f cotton manufactures will sustain direct injury by the pro­
duction o f English labor being substituted for the production o f French labor. Again,
the injury done to the demand for French cotton manufactures will diminish the demand
o f this class o f producers for all those commodities upon which they have been accus­
tomed to make a demand, thus causing a general retrogression or declension o f value, or
exchangeable power o f the entire capital o f the country.
44 W hen the question which has now been tried is contemplated in a moral point o f
view, in addition to a physical, the same deviation from a right course o f moral action
will be discerned, as was shown to exist in the less expanded example contained in the
more early part o f my argument. In respect o f the French case, it will stand thus:—
A class o f the people, comprising a great number o f them, is employed upon the manu.
facture o f articles o f cotton. From a small beginning the trade has increased to a con­
siderable extent, thus enabling those engaged in it to set up a demand amongst the com­
munity for whatever other commodities they may want, the extent o f which demand is
measured or indicated by the aggregate amount o f their own productions. Here, I con­
tend, that the various productions or property, thus demanded, became under the power
and control o f its possessors only by reason o f the producers o f cotton manufactures
having directed their labor into a channel which was serviceable to all others, as well as
to themselves; that is, t h e y created the demand which constitutes the value or the prop­
erty o f other classes to the degree in which their own commodity was recognized as
useful, and under that incentive exchanged. Let the matter be viewed in what light it
may— let the utmost ingenuity be displayed for the purpose o f changing the character
here assigned it, yet, I contend, it will still be simple and apparent; it will remain o f
the nature o f a t r u s t . The property or value in possession o f A , B, or C, cannot be
held as o f right belonging to A , B, and C, but as belonging to others. T he portion o f
A ’s property to B and others, and o f B’s to A and others, and so onwards. N ow , for
the French people to desert their own producers because they are offered a commodity
either procurable at less cost, or more inviting in the nature o f its fabric, is a breach o f
compact, a gratification o f the selfish principle at the expense, or by the degradation o f
the social, and hence a violation o f the law which God has ordained as good for the
guidance o f man. As in the case o f France, so likewise in that o f England.
“ Upon concluding the proposition o f illustration which I have now submitted, I beg
to call your attention to the remarkable fact, o f my having been necessarily led to the
construction o f the identical proposition incorporating Two Values, as extant in the
works o f Adam Smith and Say, and which, as I have shown in my first argument, has
formed hitherto an impossible barrier in the state o f the science. For, although writers
on the science have not found it expedient to avoid noticing and treating o f the strong
and remarkable proposition framed by these authors, yet, in every instance, they have
treated it either with acknowledged incapacity to solve such a proposition, or, in their
attempts to solve it, their arguments have fallen back powerless and discomfited.
44Having thus examined the principle o f confliction or competition, and concluded
upon its rejection, I proceed, in the next place, to define what constitutes and measures
out, the precise degree o f advance which may be made in the development o f the crude
material o f nature, by means o f labor assuming various divisions and subdivisions o f
employment, and aided by the laws o f social compact. Upon reverting to the origin o f
a system which has been already set out, we discern respecting the first motion o f it.




356

Homc.Trade Preferable lo Foreign.

that the superabundant production o f A became a matter o f advantage or profit to him,
when B presented another production in exchange for it, that is, demanded it. So in
the case o f B. Thus, it is evident, that the superabundant production o f A , or his prof,
it, marked out the degree o f advance as regarded A and B. So again on the formation
o f a third division, or C. The increase or profit o f A and B, measured out the degree
o f advance or improvement to be undertaken. The third division having been effected,
or established successfully, and an increase taking place in all, the aggregate o f this in­
crease or profit forms again the fund, by means o f which a further advance may be made,
and so, I contend, must the principle here developed continue its operation throughout
any given series o f exchanges. Just so much may be done— more cannot be done.
Thus it has been established, that capital, or means, must have precedence o f popula­
tion, and be so continued. The increase o f capital, then, or as it lias been termed, prof­
it, measures out or indicates exactly, the extent o f the power o f improvement. I f this
law o i'degrce, as issuing from the general body o f capital, be observed, the result would
be the additional observance o f the law o f proportion, as applicable to each commodity
in its separate character, and thus a perfect system would be in operation, exemplifying
the two great points desired, namely, abundant production and a ju s t low o f diffusing it.
“ As the matter here contended for is the most important feature o f the entire subject,
I will refer again to the diagram, in order that it may be set forth in the clearest point o f
view. In this diagram we discern the popula ion o f a state to be in number five mil­
lions, and its capital o f the value o f one hundred millions. W e discern, moreover, the
several divisions o f employment, the productions o f each being exchanged generally,
form the substance o f support, or the power o f each class to buy or to enjoy. N ow it
must be remembered, that the agreed postulate o f the problem I am working, is that o f
finding out the method whereby a constant increase o f the fund here exhibited may be
insured, in order to provide for a constant increase o f the people who are to subsist by
it. Upon applying the great law o f demand, as it has been established in my argument,
to all the sources o f production set out in this diagram, the result will be a continuity o f
this power or demand, in order to preserve existing interests, and then an advance from
this basis adequate to the increase which each fund acquires by reason o f the new por­
tion o f it, or the increased production acquiring value by the general demand made for
it by others. Thus if the increase or profit o f the one hundred millions capital be ten
per cent during a year, in that case there will be a fund o f ten millions out o f which to
effect the changes undertaken by the entire community.
“ Such a course o f action being observed, and a sufficiency secured for all the mem­
bers, a community might then be in a state to afford a sacrifice or expenditure of a por­
tion o f capital. The manner o f doing this would then become a matter for deliberation.
It might be decided, by means o f such surplus, to substitute a mechanical instrument for
manual labor; it might be decided to exchange a portion o f production made by the
labor o f the community for a portion o f another production procured by the labor o f
another community, or in fact, in any other method devised. But whatever direction
industry is decreed to pursue, the laws now developed should be adhered to, for the pur­
pose o f preserving in the change made the existing rights o f all; or if an encroachment
be made, an equivalent granted, thus fulfilling the great moral law of justice. I f a state
should do contrary to this, and decide upon importing, for the sake o f mere pleasant or
luxurious consumption, an article which was not to be procured amongst its own people,
and in effecting such or any other change, should disregard the established right o f any
o f its own people, its case would be precisely as that o f the parents of a family who
should be found regaling themselves with wine while they permitted their children to
want food. Let the children be well taken care o f in the first place, and then the m od­
erate enjoyment o f wine would be in conformity with right or the law o f God.
“ By the entire matter o f argument which has now been advanced, I contend, that
the principle o f unitedness, co-operation, or conjunction, is shown to be the law ordained
by the Creator for forming and preserving the strength and well-being of states. It will
be observed, that the principle thus affixed to progressive motion, is in its nature analo­
gous to the laws which govern matter in general. In order to produce constructive har­
mony, a strict combination and co-movement o f parts are necessary; and in contradis­
tinction, discord, derangement, and destruction, arise from powers meeting in conflict.
Commencing in a small centre, and continuing an expansion under the form o f a regu­
larly connected series o f advancing circles, establishes the principle o f union or co-action,
in opposition to that o f confliction, competition, or repulsion. And one law or principle
being applicable to all states, that is, truth being o f universal application, it will follow,
that the interests o f all associated communities o f people or nations are identical; and
also that they are the contrary o f being identified, and that there is no principle by which




Trade and Manufacture o f Salt in the United States.

357

powers having their origin in distinct centres, and advancing from these centres, can be
made to merge and move in a direction opposite to that from which the original impulse
is received.
“ In order that the operation o f the great general law* which I have here contended for,
may be clearly discerned and comprehended, let a map o f the eniire world be placed open
for inspection. Let it then be supposed, that the existence o f man upon this sphere has
just commenced, or, that two persons only are existing. That these two persons and
their progeny are to develop the matter before them by means of labor. T he work
must, o f necessity, be accomplished portion after portion, or by degrees, and by mutual
assistance, or by numerous divisions o f employment. In conducting the process o f de­
velopment, the powerful, though simple law o f regard for the operations o f each other’ s
labor, that is, a series o f exchanges under the rule o f justice, is to be observed ; thus the
expansion is to be carried on from man to man, or by labor and labor, to any conceivable
extent.
“ N ow , let it be supposed, that after the lapse o f a certain time, two families resolve
on quitting this first or original community and compact, and to commence a separate
course o f action, for which purpose they betake themselves to another and a distant part
o f the world. T he same process o f acquiring, must, o f necessity, be observed in this,
as was observed in the community formed first. N ow here a distinct nation will arise,
and, it will be obvious, that the principle o f advancement will be o f a character precisely
the same as that o f the society first instanced. Thus there will be no identification o f
interests between the parties who compose the first community, and those who compose
the second, for this has been broken by the parties themselves having quitted the original
association or sto ck ; but the law o f action will continue the same, and will be as im­
perative on the persons composing the second community, as it was on those composing
the first.
“ A ll nations have attempted, at various periods o f their history, by instituting numer­
ous commercial regulations and restrictions, to effect, in some degree, the object here
explained, and the records o f our own country present remarkable examples o f the fact,
and they appertain to the circumstances, both o f our domestic and foreign relations. But
the natural and inherent selfishness o f man, intent mainly upon his own interests and
gratifications, has urged him to disregard, to oppose, and to break dowrn, all such regu­
lations, and therefore it is, that by the course o f events, the existence o f distress and
destitution in stares, has become almost as great, as if such beneficial laws and regula­
tions had never been framed. And so greatly does the inclination to do wrong, exceed
the inclination to do right, that if it had not been for the impediment interposed against
the free or indiscriminate and licentious intercourse o f nations by the confusion o f lan­
guage, no community on earth would ever have attained to any considerable degree o f
eminence or power, unless indeed a new law o f action, very different from the natural
one, had been not only promulgated, but also obeyed generally.”

W e regret that our limits will not allow us to continue further quota­
tions from this invaluable work, nor permit us to add many comments we
have made, applying to our own situation. But we must close with the
hope o f seeing the whole work soon reprinted in this country, and that our
citizens generally may investigate and understand a subject in which our
national welfare is most deeply interested.
c. c. H.

A

rt.

V II.— T R A D E A N D M A N U F A C T U R E OF S A L T IN T H E
U N IT E D S T A T E S .

T h e Annual Report o f the Superintendent o f Salt Springs, and Inspec­
tor o f Salt, in the county o f Onondaga, the salt region* o f N ew Y ork, for
1843, prepared and published in pursuance o f the requirement o f a law o f
the state, furnishes much valuable information touching the manufacture
and trade in this important article o f consumption and com m erce. Taking
this report and a variety o f other data, as the basis, we proceed to lay before
our readers, in as condensed and comprehensive form as possible, some ac­
count o f the progress o f the salt trade and manafacture o f the United States.




338

Trade and Manufacture o f Salt in the United States.

The quantity o f salt manufactured in the United States in 1840, added to
the quantity imported in that year, would make an aggregate o f 14,302,337
bushels, which would give to each man, woman, and child, in the Union,
a proportion o f near seven-eighths o f a bushel o f salt..* The following tab le f exhibits the aggreg te amount o f salt manufactured in 1839, in each
state and territory o f the United States. It shows how widely this mineral,
so necessary for man, is diffused throughout the country.
Statement o f the A gg rega te Amount o f Salt manufactured in the year 1839, in each
State o f the United States.
state.

Bushels.

Maine,.........................................
N ew Hampshire,......................
Massachusetts,...........................
Connecticut,...............................
N ew Y ork,.................................
N ew Jersey,...............................
Pennsylvania,.............................
Delaware,....................................
M aryland,...................................
Virginia,......................................
North Carolina,.........................

50,000
1,200
376,596
1,500
2,867,884
500
549,478
1,160
1,200
1,745,618
1,493

state.

B ushels.

South Carolina,.........................
K entucky,..................................
O h io,...........................................
Indiana,......................................
Illinois,........................................
Missouri,.....................................
Arkansas,...................................
Florida,........................................

2,250
219,695
297,350
6,400
20,000
13,150
8,700
12,000

T otal,.................................

6,179,174

The amount o f duty on salt, imported in 1840, and secured to be paid
to the United States that year, was $017,362, less than four cents to each
inhabitant. About four-fifths o f the foreign salt imported into N ew Y ork
in 1341, was T u rk ’s Island.
The following table exhibits the quantity o f salt imported into the Uni­
ted States from foreign countries during a period o f ten years, from 1832
to 1841, inclusive, and also the rate o f duties, as follow s:—
Imports and Bate o f Duties.
WHEN IMPORTED.

1832,..............
1833,..............
1831,..............
1835, ............
1836;..............

Quantity.
Bushels.}:
5,041,326
6,822,672
6,058,076
5,375,364
5,088,666

R a te o f duty.
Cents. M i'ls.

10
10
9
9
8

0
0
4
4
8

WHEN IMPORTED.

1837...............
1838,..............
1839...............
1840,.............
1841'..............

Q uan tity.

Bushels.
6,343,706
7,103,147
6,061,608
8,183,203
6,823,944

R a te of duty.
Cents. Mills.

8
2
2
6
6

8
8
8
7
7

The following statement shows the amount o f foreign salt imported into
the United States in 1841, and the value th ereof; also the country from
whence exported :—
WHENCE

imported .

Quantity.
Bushels.

Value.

* “ Municipal Gazette.”

WHENCE IMPORTED.

D ollars.

Swedish W est Indies,.
9,314
833
Danish West Indies,..
708
134
Dutch West Indies,...
235.143 19,3 )9
England,....................... 3,381,980 525,133
Scotland,......................
40
19
Ireland,.........................
87,119 15,798
British West Indies,... 1,770,631 154,720
British North A m ’can
Colonies,................ :
52,200 13,591
France on the Mediter­
119,558
6,731
ranean,.....................
French W est Indies,..
3,443
376
Spain on the Atlantic,
325,473 23,218
Spain on Mediterran’ n,
64,513
4,763

Quantity.
B ushels.

Portugal,.......................
M adeira,......................
Fayal &, other Azores,
Cape de Verd islands,.
..............................
S ic ily ,...........................
T u rk ey ,........................
M e x ico ,........................
B razil,...........................
Cisplutine Republic,...
Argentine Republic,..
Total,... ............

596,302
18,696
3,877
16,144
17,217
68,670
1,969
14,739
6,360
9,620
20,224

Value.
D ollars.

44,158
1,479
385
1,080
798
2,304
182
2,766
349
963
2,407

6,823,940 821,493

t Sixth Census o f the United Slates,

t T he bushel is reckoned at fifty-six pounds, and the duty on the same quantity.




Trade and Manufacture o f Salt in the United States.

359

O f the above salt imported in 1841, a portion was exported during the
same year. T h e following statement shows how much, and the valu e;
also, to what country :—
WHITHER EXPORTED.

Quantity. Value.
Bushels.

Dutch East Indies, ....
British Honduras,........
British American Colonies, ..........................
Australia,......................
Manilla and Philippine
islands,......................

Cuba,.........................
T exas,...........................
M exico,.........................
Central Rep. o f Amer.

197
263

2,000
150

600
50

438
25,623
8,010
13,325
319

WHITHER EXPORTED.

Quantity. Value.
Bushels.
Dollars.
8,582
1,606
8,175
1,601
200
100
4,728
894

Total,...................

72,912 $23,466

WHITHER EXPORTED.

175
10,249 Entitled to drawback,..
3,502
4,217 Not entitled to drawb’k,
462

During the same year, (1 8 4 1 ,) th
ported was as follows :—

Dutch East Indies, —
Dutch West Indies,....
British American Col­
onies,.........................

Brazil,............................
Argentine Republic,...
Asia generally,.............
South Seas, & c .,.........

Dollars.

608
754

Quantity. Value.

59,111 $18,105
13,801

$5,361

whole amount o f domestic salt exw h ith e r exported .

Bushels.

Dollars.

50
317

43
111

Cuba,.............................
T e x a s,...........................

213,527

62,121

Total,....................

Quantity. Value.
Bushels.

Dollars.

1,040
150

415
75

215,084 $62,765

The salt springs o f N ew Y ork, and her facilities for manufacturing salt
and transporting it to market, are superior to any in the United States.
These springs are located on the Erie and the Oswego canals, and in the
vicinity o f the Seneca and the Oneida lakes, the borders o f which will
furnish wood for fuel for a great number o f y e a r s ; and when this is ex­
hausted, supplies o f bituminous coal can be obtained at a low rate, from
the mines at Blossburgh, Pa. For a market, N ew Y ork has the great
lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Michigan, with which it is connected by
means o f the Erie and the Oswego canals.
T h e salt springs around the Onondaga lake were known to the abo­
riginal inhabitants, who communicated their knowledge to the white set­
tlers. One o f the latter, about 45 years since, with an Indian guide in a
canoe, descended the Onondaga creek, and by the lake approached the
spring on Mud creek. Salt water was obtained by lowering to the bot­
tom, then four or five feet below the surface o f the fresh water o f the lake,
an iron vessel, which, filling instantly with the heavier fluid, was drawn
up. In this way, by boiling the brine, a small quantity o f brownish color­
ed, and very impure salt, was obtained. W ith the settlement o f the coun­
try, the vicinage was explored, and many other sources o f brine discover­
ed. Many wells were sunk, generally to the depth o f 18 feet. There
was a great difference in the strength o f the water which they afforded;
varying with the seasons, and diminishing in drought nearly one-third.
W ith the introduction o f hydraulic machinery for pumping, in 1822, a more
rapid influx o f brine has been produced, with an increase o f strength, from
20 to 25 per c e n t ; standing at 13° on the hydrometer o f Beaume, o f
which, the point o f saturation is 22°. That degree has, with little change,
been since maintained.
The springs are in the marsh extending round the head o f the lake.
This marsh was formerly two miles long, and half a mile broad, but has
been diminished by an artificial reduction o f the lake. The plain, on




360

Trade and Manufacture o f Salt in the United States.

which are the lake, and the villages o f Salina and Syracuse, is bounded on
the south by hills o f gentle ascent and moderate elevation. The soil o f
the plain consists o f vegetable earths, imperfectly decomposed, marls,
clays, loams, sand, and gravel.
T h e principal springs are at Salina and Geddes. From the former the
water is obtained for the works at Salina, Liverpool, and Syracuse. T h e
well has been excavated to the depth o f 22 feet, by 10 in diameter.
A difference o f opinion prevails relative to the source o f the brine.
From the fact that the circumjacent rocks, when exposed to the humidity o f a
cellar, gave forth crystals o f salt, Mr. Eaton inferred, that the brine was
produced by their elementary materials. This opinion he supposed to be
supported by the absence o f gypsum in the saliferous rock here. But he
appears to have erred in this, since we are assured by Mr. Forman, that
‘ it is a matter o f general notoriety, that lumps o f gypsum are thrown up
in digging salt springs and wells in the village ; and in sinking a salt well
at Montezuma, 116 feet deep, beautiful specimens o f gypsum were found,
nearly transparent.’ D r. Lew is C. B eck, and others, also dissent from
this opinion ; and it would seem, from later publications, that Mr. Eaton
has not full confidence in his hypothesis. The general opinion is, that
beds o f rock salt exist here, as at other salt sp rin gs; and it is sustained
by the fact, that the geological character o f the strata, through which the
brine passes, resembles that o f the strata overlaying the beds o f rock salt,
near N orwich, in Cheshire, England ; and that o f the strata in the vicin­
ity o f the salt mines at Cardona, in Sp ain ; and in other localities in Eu­
rope. W hether such deposits o f rock salt have an oceanic or volcanic
origin, will, perhaps, ever remain a vexed question.
If such beds be here, they lie at great depth.
Borings have been
made at Onondaga, at several points ; in one instance, to the depth o f 250
feet, without finding fossil salt, and without passing through the saliferous
rock, much o f the distance being in cemented gravel. But the very im­
portant fact was elicited, that the strength o f the brine increased with the
depth o f the well.*
The salt springs next in importance to those o f N ew Y ork, in the Uni­
ted States, are those at Kenawha, Virginia. A ccording to the last census,
the quantity o f salt manufactured at these salines is 1,600,000 bushels.
T h ey have the advantage o f the Onondaga springs in the article o f fuel,
there being an abundance o f mineral coal contiguous to the springs, the
cost o f which, delivered at the salt works, does not exceed one dollar per
to n ; but their brine is much weaker, as may be seen by the table taken
from the report o f Dr. Beck, for 1837, which exhibits the relative strength
o f the different brines from which salt is manufactured in the United States,
as follow s:—
A t Nantucket, 350 gallons o f sea-water give a bushel o f salt.
B oon’ s L ick, (M issouri,) 450 gallons o f brine give a bushel o f salt.
Conemaugh, (P en n.,)
300
do
do
Shawneetown, (Illinois,)
280
do
do
Jackson, (O hio,)
213
do
do
Lockharts, (M iss.,)
180
do
do
Shawneetown, (2d saline,) 123
do
do
St. Catharines, (U . C .,)
120
do
do




* Gordon’s Gazetteer o f N ew Y ork, 1836.

Trade and Manufacture o f Salt in the United States.
Zanesville, (O hio,)
Kenawha, (V a .,)
Grand River, (Arkansas,)
Illinois River,
Muskingum, (O hio,)
Onondaga, (N . Y .,)

361

95 gallons o f brine give a bushel
75
do
do
do
80
do
do
80
do
50
do
do
41 to 45 do
do

Since the above table was published, stronger brine has been obtained
at the Onondaga salines. There is an abundant supply, from 30 to 33
gallons o f which yields a bushel o f salt.
T h e strong brine springs near Abington, are at Saltville, Washington
county, V a. Washington county borders on East Tennessee and North
Carolina. The springs are located between the Clinch mountain and Blue
Ridge. W hile engaged in boring for these springs, in 1840, salt rock was
discovered at the depth o f 220 feet below the surface o f the ground. This
salt rock was penetrated by boring 166 feet without being passed through.
It yields a large proportion o f chloride o f sodium. Specimens o f the rock
are deposited in the State G eological Cabinet, at Albany.
A correspondent o f the superintendent o f salt springs, in Onondaga, has
recently furnished an analysis o f this rock, and also o f the brine o f the
springs, by Professor Hayben, Geologist, & c ., as follows, viz :—
“ Analysis o f Salt Rock.
Oxide o f iron,.....................................
Sulphate o f lim e,................................
Chloride o f calcium ,..........................
Chloride o f sodium,..........................

0.470
0.446
trace
99.084

100.000
“ One pint o f brine yielded, in saline matter, 2,432.25 grains, equal in
a gallon to 19,458 grains, or 2.77 lbs. avoird. 18 gallons o f the brine
produce a bushel o f salt o f 50 lbs.”
Some improvements have also been made in the springs at Shawneetown,
Illinois. T h ey now furnish brine, 100 gallons o f which yields a bushel
o f salt.
Within the past two years, a salt spring has also been discovered in a
rock boring 661 feet deep, upon Grand River, at Grand Rapids, Michigan,
about forty miles from Lake Michigan. A copper tube o f three inches
diameter, was inserted in the boring to the depth o f 360 feet, for the pur­
pose o f excluding a weaker vein o f water nearer the surface. T h e brine
raised in this tube to the height o f 35 feet above the surface o f the ground,
and flowed over at the rate o f 7 gallons per minute. It requires about 70
gallons o f the brine to yield a bushel o f salt. The manufacture o f salt
upon a small scale has been commenced at this place by the proprietors
o f the spring, Messrs. Lucius, Lyon, & Co.
The manufacture o f salt at Onondaga springs, has increased rapidly,
producing, from the duty paid to the state, a very large revenue. The
following statement exhibits the quantity o f salt manufactured in each year,
from 1826 to 1842, inclusive, and the amount o f duties paid into the treas­
ury o f the state :—
30
V O L . V III.— NO. IV .




862

Trade and Manufacture o f Salt in the United States.
Bushels o f salt
m anufactured.

1826,......
1827,......
1828........
1829,......
1830........
1831........
1832,......
1833,......
1834........
1835........

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

827,508
983,410
1,160,888
1,291,280
1,435,446
1,514,037
1,652,985
1,838,646
1,943,252
2,209,867

A m ’ t o f duties
collected.

$103,438
122,926
145,111
161,410
179,430
189,254
206,660
229,580
116,595
132,592

50
25
00
00
75
38
62
75
12
02

Year.

B ushels o f salt
m anufactured.

1836...........
1837,.........
1838,........
1839,.........
1840,.........
1841,.........
1842,.........

1,912,858
2,161,287
2,575,032
2,864,718
2,622,305
3,340,769
2,291,903

T o ta l,...

32,626,191

A m ’ t o f duties
collected.

$114,771
129,677
154,501
171,883
157,338
200,446
137,514

48
22
92
08
30
14
18

$2,653,131 71

Previous to 1834, the rate o f duty was one shilling per bushel, since
which it has been six cents. This charge accounts for the diminished
revenue in 1834 and 1835, upon the increased product.
By a statement contained in the report o f the superintendent and in­
spector for 1838, we perceive that the net revenue from salt duties from
1818 to 1824, inclusive, were as fo llo w s:—
1818........................................
18 19,.....................................
1820.......................................
1821,
............................
1822,
............................

$36,536
62,569
67,703
57,588
58,834

62
10
12
00
74

1823..
1824.,

$75,807 89
93,553 92
Total,.

$452,593 39

The whole amount o f duties refunded in 1842, in conformity to a reso­
lution o f the Commissioners o f the Canal Fund allowing a drawback o f
duty on salt arriving at certain points specified in the said resolution,
is ...........................................................................................................
$14,553 83
6,075 87
Total amount o f duties refunded in 18 41 ,...............................
Increase in amount paid in 1842, o f drawback o f d u tie s ,..

$8 ,477 96

This last item shows that an increased amount o f salt manufactured at
the springs during the past year, has been disposed o f at the more distant
markets.
The total amount o f expenditures for all purposes during the year
1841, a re...........................................................................................
$ 5 3,98 4 89
Total expenditures in 1842,.......................... .............................
42,619 96
Expenditures o f 1842, less than those o f 1841, by the
sum o f......................................................................................

$1 1,36 4 93

The following tables, from the report o f the Superintendent and Inspec­
tor, exhibit (1 ) the quantity and quality o f salt inspected in each village
o f Onondaga, N . Y ., in each month, during 1 8 4 2 ; (2 ) the number and
extent o f the manufactories employed in the manufacture o f coarse and
fine salt in the town o f Salina, the 1st o f January, 1 8 4 2 ; (3 ) the super­
ficial feet o f vats occupied, and also, the amount o f coarse salt manufac­
tured by the coarse salt companies during the year 1 8 4 2 ; (4 ) the amount
o f salt inspected annually from 1826 to 1842, both inclusive, and the an­
nual increase o f the same :—




Trade and Manufacture o f Salt in the United States .

363

1.— A Table showing the Quantity and Quality o f Salt inspected in each Village in
each month during 1842.
In

lo4z.
January,...........
M arch,.............
April, ...............
M a y ,................
....... .....
June,................
July,.................. .. ..............
.............
August,............
.............
September,.......
O ctob er,.......... .. ..........
N ovem ber,......
D ecem b er,...... •• .............

V

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

•• ..............

T o ta l,..

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

1,288.22

845,022.02

149,724.18

A p r il,...............
M a y ,................
June,................
..............
July,..................
A ugust,............
.............
September,....... .. .......
October,...........
.......
N ovem ber,......
D ecem b er,......
.............
In




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

G

197.08
712.20
192.20
230.08
874.16
13532
566.14
710.00
331.28

A ggregate.
Bush. lbs.

4,430.26
832.34
296.54
19,501.22
38,962.44
107,440.02
155,128.36
135,616.04
146,891.42
122,430.06
110,234.26
8,505.50

3,961.42

850,272.10

Dairy Salt.
Bush. Ibs.
131.36
124.46
163.42
2,795 04
1,936.38
2,467.32
2,547.05
2,892.00
1,384.00
2,323.20
1,535.28
527.00

A ggregate.

18,828.22

654,992.18
A ggregate.

Bush. lbs.

10,280.20
776.36
1,791.28
11.868.44
37,482.38
95,776.36
86,992.28
79.235.44
93,815.02
125,086.22
82.142.44
29,743.14

e d d es.

Fine Salt.

Dairy Salt.

Bush. lbs.

B ush. lbs.

Bush. lbs.

5.40
84.52
231.54
56.46
1,456.32
3,659.00
2,354.12
3,890.10
270.24

1,876.34
89.40
142.33
6,799.52
11,085.36
36,610.20
25,112.42
15,267.00
15,127.34
17,833.22
19,423.42
5,177.50

25.00
157.04
444.14
555.28
545 28
173.28
317.46
191.50
22.28

1,876.34
89.40
142.38
6,810.36
11,327.36
37,286.32
25.725.04
17.269.04
18,960.06
20,505.24
23,510.46
5,470.46

12,009.46

154,532.18

2,433.02

168,975.10

Dairy Salt.

A ggregate.

th e

V

il l a g e of

B ush. lbs.

..... ....

486,439.34
of

Dairy Salt.
Bush. lbs.
12.08

Bush. lbs.

Coarse Salt.

M a y ,.................
June,.................

.

158.12

In t h e V il l a g e
Coarse Salt.

1 o4 z i

na

Fine Salt.
Bush. lbs.
4,418.18
832.34
99.46
18,789.02
38,770.24
107,209.50
154,254.20
135,480.28
146,325.28
120,590.52
109,902.54
8,347.38

I n the V illage of S yracuse.
Coarse Salt.
F ine Salt.
Bush. lbs.
Bush. lbs.
35.00
10,113.40
555.12
96.34
1,627.42
33.48
9,039.48
2,410.14
33,135.42
64,545.46
28,763.14
8,798.14
75,647.12
12,569.30
63,774.14
61,802.14
30,628.44
38,987.28
83,775.30
21,898.04
58,709.12
5,503.12
23,713.02

1842 .

T o ta l,..

Sau

il l a g e o f

.................
..............
................
................
.................
.................
1,130.10

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

T ota l,..

1842.
January,...........
February,.........
M arch,.............
A p r il,...............
M a v ,................
June,................
July,..................
August,............
Septem ber,......
O ctober,..........
N ovem ber,......
D ecem b er,......

th e

Coarse Salt.
Bush. ibs.
.................

L

iv e r p o o l .

Fine Salt.
Bush. lbs.

2,725.36
804.06
400.44
35,596.50
59!233.36
118,790.52

Bush. lbs.

Bush. lbs.

231.28
643.40

2,725.36
804.06
400.44
35,596.50
59,470.08
119,434.36

364

Trade and Manufacture o f Salt in the United State.?.
1.— A Table showing the Quantity and Quality o f Salt, etc.— Continued.
In

the

V illage

of

L iverpool — Continued>

Course Salt.

1841.

Fine Salt.

D airy Salt.

A ggregate.

Bush. Ibs.

Bush. lbs.

July,...... .........
August,.........
September,....
October,........
N ovem ber,...,
December, ...

94,560.50
81,039.40
65,050.50
81,652.22
70,729.52
4,604.00

1,090.12
449.36
25.28
6.34
21.00

Bush. lbs.
95,651.06
81,489.20
65,076.22
81,659.00
70,729.52
4,625.00

Total,.

615,194.46

2,468.10

617,663.00

Bush. tbs.

2.— A Table showing the Number and E xten t o f the Manufactories employed in the
manufacture o f Coarse and Fine Salt in the town o f Salina the 1st o f January, 1842.
No. of
No. of
No. of superficial No. of gal’s
TILLAGES.
in kettles.
feet of vats.
manufact. kettles.
Salina fine s a lt,.......................
119,232
194,370
78
2,694
96,428
36
1,514,120
Syracuse fine salt,...................
1,280
45,551
G eddes,............................................
18
624
126,238
Liverpool,........................................
157,179
51
2,194
3.— A Table showing the Superficial F eet o f Vats occupied, and also the amount o f
Coarse Salt manufactured by the coarse salt companies during the year 1842.
No. of bushels
Superficial
NAME OF COMPANY.
manufactured.
feet of vats.
54,643.00
618,000
Onondaga Salt Company, Syracuse,..........
65,079.24
Syracuse
“
“
“
“
..........
750,568
16,825.20
139,392
Henry Gifford & Co., Syracuse,................
5,203.54
S. C. Brewster, Geddes,...............................
30,622
4,886.20
Parmalee & Allen, Geddes,........................
95,616
1,288.22
57,024
Cobb & Hooker, Salina,.............................
62,208
N ew Y ork Salt Company, Salina,............
13,176.00
6,160
Syracuse Steam Salt Company, Syracuse,
161,101.28

Aggregate,.

4.—A Table showing the Amount o f Salt inspected annually from 1826 to 1842, both
inclusive, and the annual increase o f the same.
Year.

1826,
1827,
1828,
1829,
1830,
1831,
1832,
1833,
1834,

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

No. o f bushels.

Increase.

Year.

827,508
983,410
1,160,888
1,291,280
1,435,446
1,514,037
1,652,985
1,838,646
1,943,252

..........
155,902
177,478
130,392
144,166
78,591
138,948
185,661
104,606

.....
1835
1836
.....
1837,..............
1838...............
1839,
.....
1840,
.....
1841,
.....
1842,
.....

No. o f bushels.

Increase.

2,209,867
1,912,858
2,161,287
2,575,032
2,864,718
2,622,305
3,340,769
2,291,903

266,615
..........
248,429
413,745
289,686
...........
718,464
...........

T h e annual consumption o f salt in the United States, is about 14,000,000
bushels. In the year 1841, there were 6,179,174 bushels o f salt im ­
ported into the United States, o f which 1,522,333 bushels were entered at
the port o f N ew Y o r k ; and during eleven months o f 1842, ending 30th
November last, 1,661,495 bushels o f foreign salt were entered at the
same port.
T h e whole quantity o f domestic salt exported in 1841, was only 215,084
bushels, o f which quantity 213,527 bushels w ere sent to the British c o lo ­
nies o f Canada, where it was subjected to a duty o f 10 cents per bushel
o f 56 lb s .; and in the year 1842, Am erican salt entering the Canada ports,
paid a duty o f 12 cents per bushel.




Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

MONTHLY COMMERCIAL

365

CHRONICLE.

S ince our last number the Twenty-seventh Congress has adjourned, having repealed
nearly all the laws relating to commerce and finance which it enacted. The sub-treas­

ury plan o f the former administration, for the management o f government finances, was
repealed, and no substitute has been adopted ; consequently, in spite o f the repeal, the
general state o f credit, and the currency o f the Union, have enforced the practical ob­
servance o f the principles o f the sub-treasury more than even during its legal existence.
A national bank was first proposed as a substitute, but was defeated by the presidential
veto.

Since then, various exchequer plans have been proposed, each embodying, in a

greater or less degree, an expansion or borrowing feature.

The cabinet measure was

the most so, inasmuch as it proposed an issue o f paper money on the credit o f the gov­
ernment. Each and all o f these measures have been defeated, and there is now every
appearance o f a legal restoration o f the sub-treasury. A bankrupt law has been passed,
and repealed ; a law for the distribution o f the public lands was passed, and repealed; a
high or protective tariff alone remains, a monument o f the commercial regulation o f the
defunct congress. The revenues o f the government have, of course, suffered immensely
under the evil influence o f a vacillating course o f government, which is most destruc• tive to commercial prosperity. The result is seen in the simple fact, that when this con­
gress commenced its sittings, the national debt was $7,300,000, and is now $24,700,000,
with an estimated deficit o f $7,000,000 in the revenue for the coming year.

The legal

price o f sterling gold has been reduced from 94 8-10 per dwt. to 94 6-10.
T h e markets, both for imported and domestic goods, as well as for agricultural pro­
duce, have, for a long time, been in abeyance ; that is, during the transition from a paper
to a specie currency, a great scarcity o f circulating medium has existed, which has caused
all markets to be stagnant because o f the impossibility o f procuring money in exchange
for produce except at very high rates, as indicated in the low prices o f the articles of
produce and merchandise.

This vacuum, to which we allude, has existed to a very

great extent since July, 1842, at which time the exchanges turned in favor o f this coun­
try.

A t the same time, a great majority o f those banks which before had furnished a

fictitious paper medium were failing, or preparing for the action o f the several legisla­
tures, which were expected to close their affairs.

A t N ew Orleans, the great agricultu­

ral point, the banks resumed specie payments, and, by so doing, reduced their circula.
tion from $4,000,000 to less than $1,000,000.
o f circulation, have been put in liquidation.

T he Illinois banks, with some millions

Those o f Alabama and Arkansas have also

been wound u p ; and at all important points, the same results have been produced.

Sim­

ultaneous with this reduction, the turn o f exchanges induced imports o f specie, to fill the
channels o f business vacated by the withdrawal o f discredited paper.

The withdrawal

was sudden, while the repletion was gradual and tedious; accordingly, during the eight
months which have elapsed since July, the vacuum has been greatest, the distress most
pressing, and prices lowest.

In our July number, we gave a table o f the prices of arti­

cles in most o f the leading cities, in order to show the great inactivity which then pre­
vailed in all the channels o f trade; we will now take the prices then given at St. Louis
and Cincinnati, and compare them with present rates at those points, in order to show
the fall which has taken place :—




30*

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

366

P rices

of

P roduce

at

St. Louis and

C incinnati J u l y ,

J u ly , 1842.

Articles.
Bagging,..............
Beeswax, Amer.,
Coffee, C u b a,....
Cordage, Amer.,.
Flour, superfine,.
Mackerel, N o. 1,
Raisins, Malaga,.
Gunny bags,.......
W heat,................
C orn ,...................
Hemp, clean,—
Hops,....................
Iron, bar,.............
Lead, pig,............
Cotton, Upland,.
W hale O il,.........
Beef, m ess,.........
Pork, “ .........
Hams,..................
L a rd ,....................
Butter,.................
R ice ,....................
Salt,......................
Steel, Eng., blist.
Brandy, Cogniac,
W hiskey, rectif’d
Sugar, N. Orleans
T obacco, 1st,....
T ar.......................
W o o l, American,

St. LotIis.
13 a 16
25 a 27
11 a 12
10 a 1 2
$ 4 50 a 4 75
15 a 16
25 a 1 50
18 a 2 0
75 a 78
20 a 2 1
88 a 10 0
18 a 19
a 6
$ 3 0 0 a 3 05
a ...
60 a 75
0 0 a 6 50
# 5 0 0 a 5 25
4 a 5
a 5
6 a 8
$ 4 75 a 5 00
$ 2 25 a 2 50
17 a 18
$ 1 25 a 2 0 0
17 a 18
44 a 6
4 a 5*
* 3 0 0 a 4 50
a

a

H

1842, and

M arch ,

1843.

M arch , 1843.

Cincinnati.
... a
a 20
ii a
1 2 a 14
$ 3 75 a 4 00
a 16 50
$ 1 25 a 1 50
a
50 a 60
2 0 a 25
8 8 a 10 0
20 a 22
44 a 5
3 a 4
74 a 1 0
62 a 75
S 6 0 0 a 7 00
$ 5 0 0 a 5 50
3 a 5
4 a 5
5 a 6
,f5 0 0 a 5 50
35 a 40
a 16 4
$ 1 50 a 2 0 0
1 2 a 13
4 a 64
5 a 6
$ 4 50 a 5 00
2 0 a 30

St. Louis.
12 a
23 a 24
94 a 1 0
9 a 11
$ 2 50 a 2 75
0 0 a 13 00
a
14 a 15
35 a 37
14 a 15
60 a 65
1 0 a 15
a
$ 2 50 a
a
a
$ 6 6 6 a 7 00
$ 5 50 a 6 0 0
a
34 a 44
6 a 10
a
40 a 45
18 a 2 0
$ 2 0 0 a 2 50
14 a 15
4 a 44
$ 4 0 0 a 5 00
« 3 0 0 a 4 00
25 a 30

m

Cincinnati.
a
a
io a ii’
a
$ 2 50 a 2 56
a
a
a
45 a 50
16 a 2 0
$ 5 0 0 a 5 50
a
a
$ 3 6 6 a 3 50
a
50 a
a ...
• 6 6 6 a 6 25
6 a 64
4 a 4|
5 a 64
a
a
a
$ 2 0 0 a 2 25
1 2 4 a 13
44 a 5 4
4 a 5
$ 4 50 a 5 00
2 0 a 30

This exhibits a general and great falling o ff in prices at the commercial centres; the
practical causes o f which were, that o f the scarcity o f money, assisted by the early set.
ting in o f the winter, which locked up unusually large stocks of all articles, both in the
interior and at the marts o f export.

T he same causes prevented the immediate distri­

bution o f the large sums o f specie imported.

A s the spring season approaches, however,

eastern funds and specie find their way west in constantly increasing currents, causing
prices to rise at all the leading lake ports. Wheat, within a short time, has gone up 25
to 30 per cent at Chicago, Peoria, and other ports, and is now higher than the above
quotation at St. Louis and Cincinnati.
business must inevitably spring up.

These are the great movements on which a large

T he supply o f all descriptions o f produce is immense,

and the ability o f the producers to sell, at comparatively very low prices, greater than
ever before, because the present crops have been brought forth during a period o f low
rates o f labor, severe industry, and great frugality.

T he average rates which now rule,

may be estimated to be about the cost o f production, yielding no surplus to the laborer.
Every advance on those rates yields a proportional profit to the farmer, and, in the same
degree, enables him to resume his purchases o f goods in the Atlantic ports, which are at
corresponding low rates.
Prices being now estimated at their lowest points, the effect o f a rise may be estima­
ted in the following table, showing present rates and the effect o f a rise o f 2 0 per cent
in the value o f agricultural products, the quantities being those estimated on a basis of
the census o f 1840, according to a report o f the Commissioner o f Patents:—




307

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

Articles.
W h e a t,.................... .bushels
M
B arley,....................
O ats,........................
R ye,.........................
Buckwheat,............
Indian C orn,..........
Potatoes,................
H a y,.........................
Flax and H em p,...
T o b a c c o ,...............
Cotton,....................
R ic e ,.......................
Silk C ocoons,........
Sugar,.....................
W in es,....................

il
«(

14

44

44

Quantities.
102,317,340
3,871,622
150,883,617
22,762,952
9,483,409
441,829,246
135,883,381
14,053,335
158,569
194,694,891
683,333,231
94,007,484
244,124
142,445,199
130,748

Price.
75
50
22

50
40
42
25
$ 10

00

$ 1

20

6i
8
24

50
5
50

Value.
$76,738,005
1,935,811
33,194,395
11,381,476
3,793,363
185,568,283
33,790,845
140,533,550
19,028,370
12,169,330
54,666,658
2,350,187
122,062
7,122,259
65,374

Value at a rise
o f 2 0 p. cent.
$92,065,606
2,322,971
39,833,274
13,657,771
4,502,035
222,681,939
40,549,014
168,640,260
22,834,042
14,613,196
65,599,989
2,820,224
146,474
8,546,710
78,448

$582,639,968

$699,167,961

These figures give a difference o f near $120,000,000 in a rise o f only 20 per cent from
the present low rates in the purchasing power o f the great producing classes.

W ith a

free foreign outlet for the surplus, and uninterrupted influx o f specie, the rise will be at
least 50 per cent in the leading articles, such as cereal grains, cotton, & c., giving, at a
fair computation, $ 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 , to be placed at the disposal o f the agricultural classes
for the purchase o f the goods o f which they stand so much in need.

T o effect a mate­

rial rise in prices, an extraordinary foreign demand would appear to be necessary, by
reason o f the unusual quantities o f all descriptions o f produce ready for market when the
advancing spring shall again open the channels o f internal communication. T he W a ­
bash and Erie canal, opening from Lafayette, Indiana, to Lake Erie, will open the pro­
ductions o f an immensely prolific soil to market.
ready for shipment on that route.
the Miami extension, in Ohio.

Near 60,000 barrels o f pork are now-

T he Illinois canal will contribute its share, as also

All these new sources o f supply coming in competition,

the increased productions o f the old routes cannot but exert a powerful influence in
keeping down prices; but they offer a broad foundation for an immense superstructure
o f national prosperity.
T he instrument by which all these elements are to be put in motion, is the specie
which has accumulated to such a degree in the Atlantic banks.

On this foundation, the

general prosperity o f the country never presented an aspect more auspicious.

Banking

credits, as an instrument o f commerce, have nearly ceased to operate; cash business
on a specie basis, through short individual bills, have taken their place.

Hence, while

the real trade o f the country presents every appearance o f renovation, the public credit
o f some o f the states and the banks can scarcely keep their position.

Even at points

like N ew Orleans, where the greatest accumulations o f specie have taken place, the
weak banks, which resumed in November, have again stopped.

In our article o f Octo­

ber, we remarked that it was matter o f doubt how far those institutions would be able to
recover.

They were enabled, in order to resume, to get an extension o f their liabilities,

which have again matured, finding the banks worse off than before, inasmuch as thenassets have greatly depreciated in value, while they have earned nothing in the way o f
business, although speci , at N ew Orleans, has increased near $6,000,000.

What a

comment is this upon the pretence, kept up for several years, that favorable exchanges
were necessary to a resumption! I f an institution is able to pay its debts, it is o f no
consequence from what quarter the debts are demanded.
The N ew Y ork banks have experienced the same accumulations o f specie deposits,
without encountering any improvement for the employment o f their funds. This has
induced a resort, in order to employ money temporarily, to the very dangerous expedient




388

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

o f loaning upon stocks.

By thus giving means to a large class o f enterprising men, an

apparent rise in prices o f most stocks, to a considerable extent, has been effected.

By

apparent rise, we mean an advance, created by purchases for temporary putposes, and
not growing out o f absorption for permanent investments. T he rise is dependant upon
any demand which may spring up for money for other purposes, which must cause a
realization in stocks, and consequently a fall in prices equivalent to the rise they have
undergone.

In our December number, we remarked that “ Treasury.notes had fallen

to par, and United States

6

per cent stock has been yet utterly neglected.”

Since then,

Treasury-notes have risen to 14 per cent premium, and the G per cent stock has been
all taken, and now commands

6}

per cent premium, notwithstanding that an addition­

al issue o f $5,000,000 o f Treasury.notes has been authorized, to be ultimately funded
in a

6

per cent stock, ten years to run.

cent premium.

N ew Y ork

6

per cent stock has been at 3 per

This sudden change in the market has been produced by the necessity o f

the banks to find employment for their funds, beyond what was afforded by the purchase
o f bills for the import o f specie.

It is thus that banking always creates an unhealthy

and feverish action, in whatever direction its funds are forced.

T he large deposits now

in the banks will undoubtedly, with the advancing spring, find other employment, and
the movements o f the banks be checked, rather than enhanced.
T he use o f institutions as places o f discount and deposit when the circulating medium
is entirely specie, and business conducted on individual bills payable in specie, is less
hurtful than to allow them to supplant the constitutional currency with their own emis­
sions ; but it is far safer to the public and to all concerned, that the banking transactions
should be conducted through private houses o f known wealth, skill, and integrity, than
through an irresponsible association o f men, who, for the most part, are rather borrow­
ers than lenders.

W hen those associations are allowed to issue their own promises as

money, a train o f evils, almost without end, is awakened.

Paper, considered as a ma­

terial whereof to make money, has none o f the requisite qualities in it.
ful, and easily aome at.

It can be had anywhere, and for a trifle.

It is too plenti­

T he only proper use

for paper, in the room o f money, is to write promissory notes and obligations o f payment
in specie upon.

A piece o f paper, thus written and signed, is worth the sum it is given

for, if the person who gives it is able to pay it, because, in this case, the law will oblige
h im ; but, if he is worth nothing, the paper is worth nothing.

But when an association

o f men undertake to issue paper as money, the whole system o f certainty and safety is
overthrown, and property set afloat.

Paper notes, given and taken between individuals

as a promise o f payment, is one thing, but paper issued by an association as money, is
another thing.

It is a phantom which vanishes, with looking at, into thin air.

M oney,

when considered as the fruit o f many years’ industry, as the reward o f labor, sweat, and
toil, as the widow’s dowry and children’s portion, and as the means o f procuring the
necessaries and alleviating the afflictions o f life, and making old age a scene o f rest, has
something in it sacred that is not to be sported with, or trusted to the airy bubble o f pa.
per currency.
stock-jobbers.

One o f the evils o f paper money is, that it turns the whole country into
T he precariousness o f its value, and the uncertainty o f its fate, contin­

ually operate, night and day, to produce this destructive effect.

Having no real value in

itself, it depends for support upon accident, caprice, and party; and as it is the interest
o f some to depreciate, and o f others to raise its value, there is a continual invention go.
ing on that destroys the morals o f the country.

There are a set o f men who go about

making purchases upon credit, and buying estates they have not wherewithal to pay for;
and having done this, their next step is to fill the newspapers with paragraphs o f the
scarcity o f money and the necessity o f a paper emission, to improve the value on their
hands.
T he pretence for paper money has been, that there was not a sufficiency o f gold and
silver.

This, so far from being a reason for paper emissions, is a reason against them.




369

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

Gold and silver may be called the emissions o f nature; paper, that o f art. T he value
o f gold and silver is ascertained by the quantity which nature has made in the earth.
W e cannot make that quantity more or less than it is ; and, therefore, the value being
dependant upon the quantity, depends not on man.

Man has no share in making gold

and silver; all that his labors and ingenuity can accomplish is, to collect it from the
mine, refine it for use, and give it an impression, or stamp it into coin.

A s the precious

metals are, to but a small extent, the production o f the United States, they are, there­
fore, articles o f importation ; and if paper emissions are allowed, they operate to prevent
the importation o f coin, to send it out again as fast as it comes into them, or to cause it
to be wrought up into plate and other articles, to pamper the luxury o f those who are
ostentatiously wealthy on the property they have obtained from others on paper prom­
ises.

The quantity consumed in this manner may be estimated from the fact, that the

census returns give the value o f the manufactures in the precious metals for 1840 at
$4,734,960.

The value o f the coin thus worked up may be estimated at $3,000,000,

which would give, for the last twelve years during the paper expansion, $36,000,000,
taken from the circulating medium because its place was usurped by paper.

Consider­

ing gold and silver as articles o f importation, there will in time, unless prevented by pa­
per emissions, be as much in the country as the occasions o f it require, for the same
reasons there are as much o f other imported articles.

W hen, by the free use o f paper

for money, the circulating medium becomes very full, the channels o f circulation purge
themselves.

T he paper can be put to no other use, but the precious metals can be used

in articles o f ornament and luxury, which articles, purchased with paper money, become
comparatively cheap ; hence the large consumption for these purposes, indicated in the
above figures from the census table.

W hen money becomes scarce by the withdrawal

o f paper from circulation, the quantity o f bullion o f this description which seeks the mint
for coinage sufficiently tests the enhanced value o f the precious metals for purposes o f
circulation; at the same time it corroborates the fact, that the quantity o f paper emitted
had too much swollen the volume o f the currency, which was proved by the rise in for­
eign exchanges. So far from paper money being necessary to the uniformity o f the ex­
changes and the facility o f commercial transactions, it is directly the reverse. Nearly
all the business o f the country is transacted by means o f individual notes and bills, for
the most part drawn in one section and payable in another.

So long as all these bills

are payable in specie, there can, by no possibility, be a greater fluctuation in the ex­
change than the cost o f shipping specie.

Instances are daily occurring.

The supply

o f bills recently fell short on N ew Orleans, and holders put the rate up to 2 a 2| pre­
mium. Purchases instantly ceased, all shippers preferring to send specie than to buy
bills at 2 per ce n t; consequently, $500,000 in specie went forward within a few days,
until the rate fell so low as to make it more profitable again to buy bills.

W hen bank

paper becomes the medium in which individual bills are payable, their value is always
uncertain, for the reason that the quantity o f bank paper out, and consequently its rela­
tive value, depends solely upon the will o f the institution— emissions may be made so
rapidly that a bill may lose 20 per cent o f its value in going to N ew Orleans.

For in­

stance : A bill to purchase 10,000 lbs. o f cotton, worth $1,000, may be sent forward.
Within the ten days which it occupies in going, the banks may have discounted their
bills so freely to operators, that their competition has advanced cotton two cents, conse­
quently the bill, on its arrival, may buy but 8,300 lbs.
were not allowed to issue bills.

This could not occur if the banks

This undue expansion, it was formerly supposed, was

checked and prevented by the control o f a national bank, which collected and returned
the bills so emitted for specie to the issuing bank ; but experience has shown that a gen­
eral expansion through the whole country may be brought about under such an institu­
tion so as to ruin the whole.

It was pursuant to this desire that so many repeated at­

tempts were made, during the late congress, to establish an institution to regulate ex-




I

370

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

changes.

Every such attempt, however, failed; yet notwithstanding, the exchanges

were never lower or more uniform since the formation o f government than now.
rates are as follows :—
R ates

of

D omestic B ills

at

N ew Y

ork .

1842.

Places.
B oston,........
Philad’ lphia,
Baltimore,...
Richm ond,..
N . Carolina,
Savannah,...
Charleston, .
M obile,........
N. Orleans,.
Louisville,...
N ashville,...
St. Louis,....
Cincinnati,..
Indiana,......
Illinois,.........

February.
38
i a
7 a Sf
o a 3
9 a 124
5* a 5 4
24 a 3
1 4 a 1!
1 2 4 a 13
64 a 7
9 4 a 10
14 a 144
13 a 14
15 a 16
16 a 17
17 a 18

M ay 1.
i a
i
par a di. s
a
h
4
7 i a 74
54 a 5 i
94 a 2 4
14 a U
19 a 2 0
6| a 7
5 a 6
17 a 18
6 a
8 a 10
a 10
a

The

M ay 30.
Nov. 15.
par a
par a
i
4
a
par
a
i
4
4
1
a
a
4
i
4
24 a 3
14 a i f
34 a 34
a
2
14
14 a 1 4
n a 2
a if
i f a 14
29 a 30
19 a 2 0
1 a 2
pr. 1 } a 2
34 a 4 di. 2 a 24
1 2 4 a 15
di. 4 a 5
4 a 5 di. 1 4 a 2
4 a 5 di. 1 4 a 0
8 a 9 di. 3 a 3 4
7 a 9
a

1811.
March 16.
par a
4
par a
4
par a
4
1 a 14
a
14
if
4 a
i
a
4
1
a
14
1 4 Pf1 a 14 P r *
f a 1 4 di.
a 34 di.
3
14 a 2
1
a 14
2
a 94
1
a 14

Average,.. 8 7-10 a 9 6-10
7-10 a 9-10
From an average o f over 9 per cent, the rates have been reduced during the year to less
than 1 per cent by the mere operation o f the laws o f trade, based upon specie currency.
T he regulator is specie, acting with the competition o f private dealers in bills.

In the

same time an immense reduction has been made in banking, by the liquidation o f the
following banks at the leading points :—
Banks.
Capital.
Banks.
Capital.
Illinois,.....................
2
$5,423,185
Alabam a,................
6
$12,279,255
13
5,963,960
O h io,........................
N ew Orleans,.........
10
25,860,409
Arkansas,................
1
3,520,000
Total cap. liquidated,..
$53,056,809
This is an immense reduction, and has been the real cause o f the regulation o f the ex­
changes, by compelling the banks to resume and withdraw from circulation those bills
the depreciation o f which has heretofore been erroneously considered as the rates of
exchange.
T he features o f the market, as we have described them, are not peculiar to this coun­
try.

T he English markets present the same aspect.

fallen to
96.

T he rate o f money in London has

a 2 per cent on the best commercial bills; 3 per cent consols have risen to

T he Chancellor o f the Exchequer has reduced the rate on exchequer bills from 2 d.

to 1 \d. per diem ; and the Bank o f England, at its last usual notice for loans, put the
rate down to 3 per cent— the previous notice was 3£ per cent.

All these movements

not only indicate an unusual abundance o f money, but a firm conviction, at the great
centres o f accumulation and among capitalists, that that abundance will be permanent.
One o f the most singular features o f this state o f things is, that this abundance o f money
has continued for many months without producing a rise in prices or stimulating trade,
a result which it has never before failed to bring about.
articles are constantly falling.

On the contrary, the leading

Cotton is lower than has ever been known before, arising

from the same cause we above pointed out as likely to continue the low rates for agricul­
tural produce here, viz : superabundance o f production.

It has seldom or never happen­

ed before, that low prices o f goods and produce, and a superabundance o f money, has
failed to restore activity to trade and buoyancy to the m arkets; nevertheless, such is
now the case.

The anomaly can be ascribed only to two powerfully operating causes.

T he one is a growing conviction, based upon dear-bought experience, that money can­
not be employed in industrial pursuits at a rent o f 6 per cent, and enable the operator to




371

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.
sustain himself under the burden.

A ll the great losses which the numerous bankrupt­

cies o f late years have involved, point to this as the leading cause. In the above list of
$53,000,000 o f bank capital sunk in agricultural employments, we have an undoubted
proof o f the truth o f the proposition.

N o pursuit, least o f all the prosecution o f agricul­

tural industry, will yield 6 per cent for the rent o f hired capital above all the other charges
and expenses incident upon the occupation.

A loan o f money at such rates must, there­

fore, inevitably ruin either the borrower or the lender— one, or both.
which renders people now so slow in engaging in enterprises.

It is this view

During the past ten years,

m oney has been largely employed in speculative enterprises, which, yielding a large
profit, could afford a high rent for the money hired for their conduct.
prises have, nearly in every instance, failed ultimately.

Those enter­

In this country, they have in­

volved the ruin o f the associations instrumental in furnishing the capital.

The ruin of

those speculative enterprises has left no channel for the employment o f money, except
the prosecution o f industrial pursuits, which will not yield an interest to the lender in
any degree proportional to the rate heretofore enjoyed by the capitalist.
Another reason for the universal depression has been the simultaneous hostile legisla­
tion on the part o f most o f the countries o f Europe in relation to their intercourse with
each.

During the past year, six different nations have passed tariffs, with the avowed

object o f excluding British goods from their respective markets; the result o f which is
evident in the great decrease in the value o f British exports for the year ending January
5, 1843, notwithstanding the decreased money-values o f those exports.

T he following

is a comparative table o f the exports for a series o f years:—
Articles.
C oal an d C u lm ,.......................................
C o tto n M a n u fa c tu re s,...........................
“
“
Y a r n ,...............
E a r th e n w a r e ,..........................................
G lass,...........................................................
H a rd w a re an d C u tle r y ,.......................
L in e n M a n u fa c tu re s ,............................
“
“
Y a r n ,...............
M e tals, v i z :— Iro n an d S te e l,..........
C o p p er a n d B ra s s,....
L e a d ,..............................
T in in b ars, & c ..........
T in p la te s ,....................
S a lt,..............................................................
S ilk M a n u fa c tu re s,.................................
S utfar, re fin e d ..........................................
W o o l, S h eep or L a m b s’, ....................
W o o lle n Y a r n ,........................................
W o o lle n M a n u fa c tu re s ,.......................

1811.
£ 5 7 6 ,5 1 9
1 7 ,5 6 7 .3 1 0
7 ,1 0 1 ,3 0 8
5 7 3 ,1 8 4
4 1 7 ,1 7 8
1 ,349,137
3 ,3 0 6 ,0 8 8
8 2 2 ,8 7 6
2 ,5 2 4 ,8 5 9
1 ,4 5 0 ,4 6 4
2 3 7 ,3 1 2
138,787
336,529
213,479
792,648
440,8 9 3
330,233
4 5 2 ,9 5 7
5,327,853

1842.
£ 6 7 5 ,2 8 7
16,232,510
7,266,968
600,759
4 2 1 ,9 3 6
1,623,961
3,347,555
9 7 2,466
2,8 7 7 ,2 7 8
1,5 2 3 ,7 4 4
2 4 2 ,3 3 4
86,5 7 4
368,700
175,615
788,894
5 4 8,336
555,620
552,148
5,748,673

1843.
£ 7 3 3 ,5 7 4
1 3 ,910,084
7,75 2 ,6 7 6
554,221
310,061
1,392,888
2 ,3 6 0 ,1 5 2
1,02 3 ,9 7 8
2 ,4 5 3 ,8 9 2
1,821,754
357,377
199,911
3 4 8,236
2 0 6,639
5 8 9 ,6 4 4
4 3 9 ,3 3 5
5 1 0,965
573,521
5,199,243

T o ta l,..................................
£ 4 3 ,9 5 9 ,6 1 4
£ 4 4 ,6 0 9 ,3 5 8
£ 4 0 ,7 3 8 ,1 5 1
The falling off in the three great articles o f British manufacture, v iz : cotton, linen, and
woollen, which form the great bulk o f her exports, has been immense, while the export
o f yarns has increased ; the latter forming the material for the manufactures o f the con­
tinent, where yarn-spinning has not so far advanced.

These are the results o f the re­

action, upon England, o f its protective and prohibitive policy, so long persevered in ;
although, perhaps at this moment, the policy o f England is the least exclusive o f any
nation.

Her system has been greatly modified during the last year, particularly in re­

gard to her intercourse with the United States; in relation to which it has been officially
announced that American flour and wheat will be admitted into England at a small fixed
duty instead o f the sliding scale, as established by the late tariff.

This is a most im­

portant concession to the United States, and most opportune; at a moment when the
greatest desideratum is an extended market for agricultural products.




Miscellaneous Statistics.

372

MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS.
R E C E IP T S A N D E X P E N D IT U R E S OF T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S .
A statement o f the Receipts and Expenditures o f the United States from the 4 th o f
M arch, 1789, to the 31 si o f December, 1840.
Year.
1791,
1792,
1793,
1794,
1795,
1790,
1797,
1798,
1799,
1800,
1801,
1802,
1803,
1804,
1805,
1806,
1807,
1808,
1809,
1810,
1811,
1812,
1813,
1814,
1815,
1816,

Receipts.
$10,210,025 75
8,740,766 77
5,720,624 28
10,041,101 65
9,419,802 79
8,740,329 65
8,758,916 40
8,209,070 07
12,621,459 84
12,451,184 14
12,945,455 95
15,001,391 31
11,064,097 63
11,835,840 02
13,689,508 14
15,608,828 78
16,398,019 26
17,062,544 09
7,773,473 12
12,144,206 53
14,431,838 14
22,639,032 76
40,524,844 95
34,559,536 95
50,961,237 60
57,171,421 82

Expenditures.
$7,207,539 02
9,141,569 67
7,529,575 55
. 9,302,124 77
10,435,069 65
8,367,776 84
8,626,012 78
8,613,517 68
11,077,043 50
11,989,739 92
12,273,376 94
13,276,084 67
11,258,983 67
12,624,646 36
13,727,114 49
15,070,993 97
11,292,292 99
16,764,584 20
13,867,226 30
13,319,986 74
13.601,808 91
22,279,121 15
39,190,520 36
38,028,23 0 32
39,582,493 35
48,244,495 51

Year.
1817,
1818,
1819,
1820,
1821,
1822,
1823,
1824,
1825,
1826,
1827,
1828,
1829,
1830,
1831,
1832,
1833,
1834,
1835,
1836,
1837,
1838,
1839,
1840,

Receipts.
$33,833,592 33
21,593,936 66
24,605,665 37
20,881,493 68
19,573,703 72
20,232,427 94
20,540,666 26
24,381,212 79
26,840,858 02
25,260,434 21
22,966,363 96
24,763,629 23
24,827,627 38
24,844,116 51
28.526,820 82
31,865,561 16
33,948,426 25
21,791,935 55
35,430,087 10
50,826,796 08
27,883,853 84
39,019,382 60
*33,881,242 89
25,032,193 59

Expenditures.
$40,877,646 04
35,104,875 40
24,004,199 73
21,763,024 85
19,090,572 69
17,676,592 67
15,314,171 00
31,898,538 47
23,585,804 72
24,103,398 46
22,656,764 04
25,459,479 52
25,044,358 40
24,585,281 55
30,038,446 12
34,356,698 06
24,257,298 49
24,601,982 44
17,573,141 56
30,868,164 04
37,265,037 15
39,455,438 35
37,614,936 15
28,226,533 81

1

*

1,112,076,583 33 1,082,113,422 87

T he following table exhibits the total amount o f receipts and expenditures, from the
various sources specified, during the period from the 4th o f March, 1789, to the 31st of
December, 1840:—

j 'j
%

RECEIPTS.

Customs,
Internal revenue,.............
Direct taxes......................
Postage,
Public lands,.....................
Loans and Treasury notes, & e.,....................
Dividends, and sales o f bank stock, and loans,......
Miscellaneous, including indemnities and Chickasaw fu n d ,.............

$746,923,302
22,255,242
12,744,737
1,092,227
109,314,223
181,338,212
20,839,977
142,076,586

20
06
56
52
69
30
78
33

EXPENDITURES.

i ,

$54,716,630 75
34,138,620 48
53,160,459 53

Civil list,
Foreign intercourse, including awards,........
Military services, including fortifications, arsenals
nance, internal improvements, & c .,..........
Revolutionary pensions,..
Other pensions,................
Indian department, including Chickasaw fund,........
Naval establishment,......
Public debt,......................

armories, ord263,459,241
34,593,241
12,780,827
37,254,647
155,308,873
436,700,648

56
56
29
93
89
23

* $1,458,782 93 deducted from the aggregate receipts, as per-account o f the treasurer, N o. 76,922.




\

Commercial Regulations.

COMMERCIAL

373

REGULATIONS.

C O M M E R C IA L R E G U L A T IO N S OF BELG IUM .
Tonnage Dues.— T he articles 292, 293, 294, and 295, o f the law o f August 26,1822,
regulating the exaction o f tonnage duties in Belgium, are as follow s:—
A r t . 292. A ll sea vessels which, after the period mentioned in the first article, shall
enter the ports o f this kingdom, or leave it by sea, or by the waters called Wadden, sit.

uated between the islands and the coast o f Friesland and the province o f Groningen,
shall be subject to a tonnage duty calculated according to their capacity in tons— that is
to say, according to the number o f tons which they measure or could hold.
T he ton shall be considered equal to one thousand Netherlands pounds, or an ell and
a half cubed, Netherlands measurement.

T he vessels subject to this duty shall be di­

vided into three classes, and the duty shall be levied at the rate hereinafter fixed for each
class.
A r t . 293. In the first class are placed all sea vessels, belonging to subjects o f the
kingdom o f Belgium, sailing under the national colors. These vessels shall be subject
to a duty o f forty-five cents per ton on their first departure, and also to a duty o f fortyfive cents per ton on their entrance, each year, from the 1st o f January to the 31st of

December, included; by payment o f which duty they shall be exempt, on entering or
departing, on all other voyages during the year, from the 1st o f January to the 31st of
December.

Nevertheless, the duties which, at the time o f putting this law in force, may

have been already paid, conformably with the law o f M ay 12, 1819, for the year then
begun, shall be regarded as for that y e a r; so that no deduction will be made on account
o f them.
A r t . 294. In the second class are included all sea vessels sailing under a foreign flag,

and belonging to inhabitants o f a kingdom, state, or port, in which the vessels o f Bel­
gium are not subject to higher or other duties than those belonging to such inhabitants.
T he tonnage duty shall be levied on these vessels, either on their first arrival or on their
first departure, at the same rate and on the same footing as with regard to vessels o f the
kingdom belonging to the first class.
A r t . 295 . In the third class are embraced all foreign sea vessels which cannot be
ranked under the second class.

These vessels shall be subject to a duty o f one florin

(five cents) per ton, which is to be levied at each time o f their arrival [in a Belgian port.]
Nevertheless, inasmuch as circumstances may render it advantageous or necessary, the
right is reserved to us, agreeably to the 11th article o f the law o f July 12, 1821, (offi­
cial journal, N o. 9 ,) to raise the tonnage duty on these vessels to the same amount that
is exacted on Belgian vessels, under that or any other similar denomination, in the king­
dom, state, or port, to which such vessels severally belong.

Commutations may be made

with the proper authorities, in respect to vessels belonging to the third class, when em­
ployed solely in the transportation o f passengers or mails.
C ustoms R egulations

and

P ort D ues

of

B elgium .

Account o f P ort Charges at Antwerp on a National Ship, or on a Foreign P rivileged
Ship, o f 250 tons, arr iving with a Cargo and goin g away in Ballast.
flB. CtS.

1. Custom-house officers from Flushing, about........................................................
2. Pilotage from sea to Flushing, 15 Dutch feet,.....................................................
Pilotage from Flushing to Antwerp, 15 Dutch feet,............................................
3. Pilot for moving the vessel into the d o c k ,............................................................
4. Charges for clearing in at Flushing,........................................................................
V O L . V III.— NO. IV .




31

24
136
160
2
36

00
00
00
00
00

374

Commercial Regulations.

frs. cts.
5. S e a p ro te st,...............................................................................................................................................
T o th e trib u n al for reg isterin g it,................................................................................................
T rib u n a l ch arg es for ap p o in tin g su rv ey o rs,............................................................................
T o th e su rv ey o rs, for ex am in in g h a tc h e s an d sto w a ge o f the c a r g o ,.........................
6. L ead s p u t to th e h a tch es by th e custom -house, an d sealin g th e ship’s pro­
visions, ab o u t....................................................................................................................
12 00
7. H a rb o r dues an d quay m o n e y ,.............................................................................
6 00
8. T o n n a g e duty on 2 5 0 to n s, a t 1 fran c 80 c en tim es p er ton, an d additional
d u ty 13 centim es, an d stam p s 72 f ra n c s ,.............................................................
521 00
9. C lea ran ce , p assp o rt o f th e to n n a g e d u ty , m ea su rin g an d sta m p s,....................
21 50
C ustom -house c le aran ce, certificate o u tw a rd s,.........................................................
20 00
10. D o ck d u ty on 250 tons, a t 52 c e n tim es, for th ree m o n th s,................................. 130 00
11. F o r the cooking-houses in th e d o ck , four w e e k s ,...................................................
16 00
12. B allast, 100 lasts, a t 2 fran cs p er la s t,............................. „......................................... 2 00 00
13. S u rv ey o r’s visit o f th e vessel o u tw ard s, in b a lla st,........................................... .
13 50
T o th e tribunal, for certificate o f th e sa m e ,.................................................................................
2 00
P ilo t, for m oving th e vessel in to th e r iv e r,...............................................................
14. C onsul’s b ill,.............................................................................................................................................
15. W a te r bailiff’s certificate, in and o u tw a rd s ,.............................................................
2 5 50
16. C h a rter-p a rty a n d stam p s, if r e q u ire d ,.......................................................................
8 00
17. B ro k erag e on 2 5 0 to n s, a t 50 c e n tim e s p er 2 to n s,............................................... 187 50
18. B ro k erag e o n th e o u tw a rd c a rg o ,....................................................................................................
19. T o th e ex cise, for to w n d u es o n sh ip ’s provisions, c le aran ce in an d o u t,...
16 00
P ilo tag e to F lu sh in g , o n 12 f e e t ,..................................................................................
112 00
P ilo tag e from F lu sh in g to se a, a n d cle a rin g ch arg es
th e re ,............................ 110 00
20. C an cellin g custom -house b onds, p o stag es, an d sm all e x p e n se s,.......................
10 00
2 00
21. P ilo tag e office, for h o o k in g th e v e s s e l,.......................................................................
T he above charges are regulated as follows, v iz :—
1. A ll vessels arriving with a cargo at Flushing are accompanied up the river by two
custom-house officers; their fees are 3£ francs each for every day they remain on board
coming up the river, and 9£ francs for their expenses back to Flushing.
2. The pilotage from sea to Flushing, up and down the river, and back again to sea,
is paid according to the draught o f water and the tariff.
3. N o vessel is allowed to go in or out o f the dock, or move in the river, without
having a pilot on board, who receives 2 francs for every tide, whether large or small
vessels.
4. T he charges for clearing in and out o f Flushing are more or less, according to the
size o f the vessel and the quantity o f goods on board; they seldom overrun 40 to 50
francs, but, if liable to quarantine, they are much higher; the doctor’s fees alone are
from 20 to 70 francs, according to circumstances and the number o f men on board, be­
sides other expenses.
5. These four items, not being regular port charges, are only entered in the above
table in case the master thinks it necessary to make a protest.
6. T he expenses for sealing the hatches and ship’s provisions depend upon the time
the vessel is discharging and the quantity o f provision on board ; these charges may
amount to from 8 to 24 francs, but seldom over that sum.
7. This charge is indiscriminately paid by every vessel, whether large or small.
8. The tonnage duty on all vessels not on the footing o f national vessels is 90 cen­
times, with 13 per cent additional duty on every ton measured at Antwerp, and only
paid once within the year, commencing on the 1st o f January and finishing on the 31st
o f D ecem ber; whether they make one or ten voyages during that time to any port or
ports o f Belgium, they only pay the in and outward tonnage duty once, at their first entry.
9. Every vessel must have a clearance passport from the Belgian custom-house; the
charge is from 6 to 30 francs, according to the country from which the vessel comes.
10. The dock duty is paid according to the size o f the vessel and the following tariff:—




375

Commercial Regulations.
50
101
151
201
251

to 100 tons, at 24 centimes per ton,'
to 150
«
32
to 200
“
40
“
“
•for 3 months.
to 250
“
52
and above,
62
“
“

After the expiration o f which time, one-fortieth part o f the whole amount is paid for
every w eek they remain longer.
11.
The cooking-house dues are also calculated according to the size o f the vessel;
they are as follow s:—
Under 36 tons, 94 centimes,...................................
From 36 to 100 tons, 1 franc and 884 centimes,
“ 101 to 200 «
2
“
82
“
■per week.
“ 201 to 300 “
2
“
78
300 tons and upw’ds, 4
“
72
“
These charges must be paid, whether the cooking-house is used or not.
12. Sand ballast brought alongside the vessel costs 2 francs per last, o f about 1J ton
weight.
13. A ll vessels leaving Antwerp must be provided with a surveyor’s certificate that
they are seaworthy; without this document, they cannot obtain a pilot.
certificate costs from 6 francs to 13 francs 50 centimes.

In ballast, the

W hen loaded, from 10 francs

to 30 francs, according to the size o f the vessel, besides 11 francs 40 centimes for the
tribunal certificate.
14. Consuls’ fees are charged according to their respective tariffs.
15. A ll vessels arriving at Antwerp are visited by the water bailiff.

His fees are from

10 francs to 50 francs, according to the size and the number o f sailors on board.
16. For charter-parties and stamps, when required, the charge is 8 francs.
17. T he brokerage for clearing a vessel in and out is fixed, by law, at 75 centimes per
last, Antwerp measure.
18. Brokerage on a general cargo outwards is legally 100 francs; on a charter-party
outwards, 60 francs.
19. These expenses depend on the quantity o f provisions on board, and the petty
charges the captain may be a t ; they never exceed 20 to 30 francs.
20. Pilotage from Antwerp to Flushing being stipulated in palens, three o f which are
a little more than a foot, in order to ascertain the exact draught o f water, all vessels are
hooked by the pilotage officer, at a charge o f from 2 to 3 francs.
T he differences in the port charges between a vessel departing laden or in ballast, are
those in the amount o f the pilotage, brokerage, and some other trifling charges.

A ll

other charges are the same, laden or unladen.
Foreign vessels, non-privileged, or o f the third class, pay tonnage duty each voyage,
even if arriving from one Belgian port into another Belgian port, for the coasting trade
is not limited to national vessels.
French, Spanish, and Neapolitan vessels are those which are not, by treaty or by re­
ciprocal sufferance, included in the category o f privileged ships.
T he tonnage, pilotage, and other charges, per voyage, for a non-privileged vessel o f
200 tons, in the port o f Antwerp, as calculated by the French consul at that port, amount
to 1,496 francs, or £ ‘59 16s. 9 Jd.
T he same for the port o f Ostend, 1,175 francs, or £ 4 7 .
T he tonnage duty levied on a French ship o f 200 tons amounts to 502 francs 22 cen.
times, or £ 2 0 Is. 10Jd.
T he same on a Belgian vessel for the whole year, 434 francs, or £ 1 7 7s. 2 id .




Commercial Regulations.

376

Warehousing Charges.
T he charges for warehousing in the free entrepots o f Antwerp, are regulated by a
tariff.

These charges vary somewhat, according to the bulk o f articles.

Compact and

heavy goods, such as mahogany, wet hides, tin, & c., pay from 4 to 6 centimes per 100
kilogrammes; less compact goods, such as cotton bales, cordage, & c., from 8 to 12 cen­
times per 100 kilogrammes; a few articles liable to damage, as fine dyestuffs, indigo,
& c., from 20 to 40 centimes (the very highest rent) per 100 kilogrammes.

T he general

tariff, however, imposes 8 centimes per 100 kilogrammes upon articles upon which the
duties are levied by weight, and 5 centimes per 100 francs value upon those on which
the importation duties are levied ad valorem.

These charges are paid m onthly; but,

should the goods be warehoused for any shorter period, rent for a whole month must be
paid.

C O M M E R C IA L R E G U L A T IO N S OF T H E S A R D IN IA N S T A T E S .
N ice .

T he port and all the country o f N ice enjoys, by ancient privileges, a full immunity
from all duties o f importation or exportation, except on salt, tobacco, gunpowder, and
small shot, which are prohibited, and corn, which pays an import duty o f six francs per
“ emina."
P ort Charges on Sardinian and United States Vessels at Nice.
Liri. Centim’s.

A nchorage,..................................................................................................................
Light m o n e y , ..............................................................................................................
Bill o f health and physician’s visit on board, for each vessel meas’g from—
31 to 80 tons,..............................................................................................................
81 to 100 tons,.............................................................................................................
101 to 200 tons,..........................................................................................................
201 tons and upwards,...............................................................................................

0
0

30
06

4
5
6
7

50
50
50
50

Clearance, 50 centimes on each Sardinian vessel, and 1 lira on foreign vessels, with­
out distinction.
Duty o f residence in the port for all vessels m easuring from —
Liri. Centim’s.
41 to 80 tons,.............................................................................................................. 2
40
81 to 100 tons,............................................................................................................. 3
60
101 tons and upwards,............................................................................................... 4
80
per month, to begin fifteen days after the arrival o f the vessel in port.
N ote.— The liri and centimes correspond to the francs and centimes o f France.

C O M M E R C IA L R E G U L A T IO N S OF T U S C A N Y .
Anchorage and Health Office Dues at the P ort o f Leghorn.
ichorage on foreign vessels o f the burden o f—
801 sacks to 1,000 sacks, equal to 40 1-20
((
ii
it
1,001
50 1-20
1,200
ii
i(
it
1,201
1,400
60 1-20
it
it
»
1,401
1,600
70 1-20
<(
«{
it
1,601
80
1-20
1,900
Ii
it
it
1,901
2,200
95 1-20
•i
it
it
2,201
2,500
110 1-20
ii
it
ii
2,501
3,000
125 1-20
<(
it
it
3,001
3,500
150 1.20
it
it
ti
3,501
4,000
175 1-20




Liv. sd. dn.

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

50 tons,......... ........
60 it
........
70 ii
........
ii
80
........
it
........
95
110 tt
........
........
125 tt
........
150 it
........
175 it
........
200 t t

12
18
25
30
35
40
45
50
60
70

10
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00

0

0
0

0
0
0
0

0
0
0

377

Commercial Regulations.

A nd an augmentation o f 10 livres more for every 500 sacks, or 25 tons burden, exceed­
ing the above, besides which, “ omaggio” or mooring duty o f livres 13 6 8 on each ves­
sel on her coming inside the mole.
Health Office Dues on the admission o f Vessels not subject to Quarantine.

Liv. sd.
5 15
4 00
00
6

Medical visit,.
Health officer,.
Health guard,.

dn.
0
0
8

On sailing in F ree Pratique.
Bill o f health,...............................................................................
On each article shipped on b o a r d ..........................................
For each shipper,.........................................................................

10
00
00

00
3
6

0
4
8

On sailing in Quarantine.

20 00 0
2 00 0
5 15 0
3 6 8

Bill o f health and declaration,.
Fumigation each d ay,.............
Medical visit,............................
Health guard, eaclfciay,.........
N o te —^The Tuscan livre is a fraction more than sixteen cents.
L eghorn , January 27, 1842.

T A R IF F OF T H E G E R M A N C O M M E R C IA L U N IO N .
W e cheerfully publish the following extract o f a letter, received from the Department
o f State, as the error pointed out is o f great importance to our commercial readers.

It

was received too late for our March number.
T o F reeman H u n t , Editor Merchants' M agazine.
D epartment

of

S ta t e , Washington, Feb. 11, 1843.

** In vol. 8, N o. 1, (January, 1843,) page 96, in stating the changes made by the new
tariff o f the Prussian Commercial Union, the following passage occu rs:—
“ * Cotton wool, and woollen mixed yarns, are classified under N o. 2 B of the for­
mer tariff, and are therefore taxed, per centner, 8 rixdollars.’
“ This statement, so far as it relates to cotton wool, is believed to be entirely incor­
rect.

Cotton w ool or raw cotton, in the former tariff, constituted class (A ) under the

head o f * cotton and cotton goods,’ [Baumwollc und Baumwollenwaarenj\ and was free
from import duty.
“ A n official tariff, [ Z olltarif fu r die Jahre 1843, 1844, und 1845,] as agreed upon at
the Congress o f Stuttgard, and subsequently ratified by the respective states o f the
union, has been received at this department.

By this tariff, cotton wool is not. ‘ classi­

fied under N o. 2 B of the former tariff,’ but constitutes in itself class (A ) as heretofore,
and is free from import duty, thus:—
i l i Baumwolle und Baumwollenwaaren,.................(A ) Rohe Baumwolle— zentr—-frei.1”
“ The disadvantage which must result to the commerce o f the United States with the
states o f the Prussian confederation, from the existence o f an erroneous belief that the
enormous import duty o f five cents per pound has been imposed on a staple o f such
importance, is obvious.”




31 *

378

Bank Statistics.

BANK

STATISTICS.

B A N K S OF T H E S T A T E OF N E W Y O R K .
T

he

annexed tabular statements o f the condition o f the various banks o f the state,

derived from the Annual Report o f the Bank Commissioners o f January 30, 1843, ex­
hibit a greater contraction o f the loans and circulation at the commencement o f the pres­
ent year, than has probably existed at any former period.
On the first o f January, 1840, and after the second suspension o f the banks, south and
west o f N ew Y ork, which occurred during the succeeding fall, the returns exhibited a
diminution o f loans and discounts, on the part o f the ninety chartered banks o f the
state, to the amount o f $15,512,000; and a reduction o f the circulation of $8,743,365,
as compared with the reports o f the same institutions on the first o f January, 1839.
Although a slight increase took place during the year 1840, yet the process o f con­
traction has been steadily going forward to the present period, in c# form ity to the gen­
eral depression o f business, and the prostration o f almost every branch o f industrial
enterprise.
The condition o f the banks in the city o f N ew Y ork, the great centre o f the com­
mercial and moneyed transactions o f the state and Union, appear, from the report o f the
Commissioners, to be uncommonly strong in the possession o f an extraordinary amount
o f specie and other funds, whilst their liabilities, exclusive o f capital stock and deposits,
are but nominal.
During the year ending on the first o f the present month, the loans and discounts o f
all the chartered banks now remaining, and being eighty-five in number, as compared
with the same banks on the first o f January, 1842, have diminished $2,959,602.
The discounted debt o f forty-three banking associations has increased within this pe.
riod $974,263, making an aggregate o f diminution, in all the banks o f the state, o f
$1,985,339.
T he circulation o f the chartered banks has also been reduced $2,027,810, and the
free banks $60,794, showing the whole decrease o f circulation to be $2,088,604.
The specie o f the chartered banks has increased $2,094,602, and the free banks
$974,000, making the whole increase o f specie $3,068,602.
T he table below will exhibit a comparative view o f the resources and liabilities o f all
the chartered and free banks for the last two years, excluding the La Fayette Bank in
the city o f N ew Y ork, the Watervliet Bank, the Clinton County Bank, the Bank o f
Lyons, and the North River Bank, whose charter has expired, and which has since gone
into operation under the general banking law, together with the James Bank, the Far­
mers’ Bank o f Malone, and the Manufacturers’ Bank at Ulster; which last named asso­
ciation did not make any returns last year.
RESOURCES.

Loans and discounts,.................................. ...................
Real estate,..................................................
Stocks and mortgages,................................
S pecie,...........................................................
Notes o f other banks,................................
Cash items,...................................................
Due from banks,......................................... .
Total resources,.......................... ...................




Jan. 1, 1842.
$54,543,073

Jan. 1,1843.
$52,557,734
3,568,725
12,446,087
8,388,559
4,808,754
2,272,658
4,279,981

$88,862,248

$88,322,498

Bank Statistics.

379
Jan. 1, 1842.

LIABILITIES.

Jan. 1,1843.
$11,860,900
188,144
1,495,898
18,723,030
12,051,093

Circulation,...................................................
L oans,...........................................................
Due Canal Fund.......................................... ...................
Deposits,........................................................
Due banks,....................................................

1,411,137

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

$41,937,093
" 46^925^155

$44,319,065
44,003,433

Grand total,................................ ...................

$88,862,248

$88,322,496

T he cash items in the line o f resources in the N ew Y ork banks, embraces a large
amount o f Treasury notes.
T he reports o f the 81 safety fund banks, exhibit nominal profits on hand to the amount
o f $3,359,772. On deducting therefrom the aggregate expenses and contributions to
the fund, amounting to $1,484,718, the balance will be $1,875,054, being a little over
6 per cent.
T o determine the circulation o f all the banks, the amount o f notes o f other banks
contained in the statements should be deducted.
relation to the specie in the banks, as follow s:—

This account would then stand, in

T he 131 banks which have made returns, show the circulation to b e ....
Deduct notes held by banks,..............................................................................

$12,031,871
4,888,987

Actual circulation,................................................................................................
S p e cie ,...................................................................................................................

$7,142,884
8,447,076

Excess o f specie over circulation,....................................................................

$1,334,192

A gg rega te Statement o f 81 Safety Fund Banks, as reported to the Bank Commission­
ers, January 1,1843.
16 New York
City Banks.

65 Country
Banks.

Total 81 Banks.

L o a n s an d d isc o u n ts,.......................................
R e a l e s ta te ,.........................................................
S to c k s ,...................................................................
O v e rd ra fts ,...........................................................
E x p e n se an d p erso n al e s ta te ,.......................
B a n k F u n d ,.........................................................
S p e c ie ,...................................................................
N o te s o f o th er b a n k s ,.....................................
C h e ck s, a n d o th er cash i t e m s ,....................
F u n d s in N e w Y o rk an d A lb a n y ,.............
D u e from o th er b a n k s an d c o rp o ra tio n s,.

$21,339,609
1,228,196
2,665,243
15,509
428,351
325,093
4,958,763
2,318,113
2,025,127
2,274,720

$19,624,503
1,528,442
752,793
62,454
285,995
445,279
967,256
1,099,857
173,110
2,553,229
1,001,813

$40,964,112
2,756,638
3,418,036
77,963
714.346
770,372
5,926,019
3,417,970
2,198,237
2,553,229
3,276,533

T o ta l r e so u rc e s ,.............................

$37,578,724

$28,494,731

$66,073,455

$15,311,020
3,383,090

1,278,590
8,398
134,748
10,859,068
6,603,810

$14,240,260
5,543,043
115,191
835,830
2,081,182
268,838
52,197
2,731,895
2,626,295

$29,551,280
8,926,133
115,191
835,830
3,359,772
277,236
186,945
13,590,963
9,230,105

$37,578,724

$28,494,731

$66,073,455

RESOURCES.

LIABILITIES.

C a p ita l,..................................................................
C irc u la tio n ,.........................................................
L o a n s on tim e ,..................................................
D u e C anal F u n d .................................................
P ro fits ,...................................................................
D eposits on d e b ts,.............................................
D ividends u n p a id ,............................................
D e p o s its,...............................................................
D u e o th er b an k s a n d c o rp o ra tio n s ,...........
T o ta l liab ilities,..............................




380

Bank Statistics.

Table showing the Principal Items o f the Bank Statements o f all the Chartered Banks
o f the State f o r the last six years.
Jan. 1, 1838.

Jan. 1, 1839.

95 B anks.

96 Banks.

95 Banks.

C a p ita l,................................................ ................
C irc u la tio n ,........................................ .................
C an al F u n d ,...................................... ................
D e p o sits,............................................. ................
D u e b a n k s ,..........................................

# 3 6 ,6 1 1 ,4 6 0
12,432,478
4 ,4 6 5 ,8 3 2
15 ,7 7 1 ,7 2 9

$ 3 6 ,8 0 1 ,4 6 0
19,373,149
3,291,713
18,370,044
15,344,098

$ 3 6 ,4 0 1 ,4 6 0
10,360,592
2,992,530
16,038,416
7,008,241

L o a n s a n d d isc o u n ts,.......................................
S to c k s ,..................................................................
S p e c ie ,.................................................. ...............
B a n k n o te s,........................................ ...............
C a sh ite m s,.......................................... ...............
D u e from b a n k s ,............................... ...............

60,999,770
2 ,7 9 5 ,2 0 7
4 ,1 3 9 ,7 3 2
3 ,616,918
618,277
1 8 ,297,899

68,300,486
911,623
6,602,708
3,907,137
2,8 3 8 ,6 9 4
14,122,940

52,085,467
3,647,970
5,8 5 1 ,2 1 8
4,380,648
2,306,462
6,504,468

Jan. 1, 1840.

Table showing the Principal Items o f the Bank Statements, etc.— Continued.
Jan. 1, 1841.
95 Banks.

C a p ita l, .....................................
C ircu latio n ,........................................ .............
C a n al F u n d ,...................................... .............
D e p o sits,............................................. .............
D u e b a n k s ,........................................ .............

15,235,056
2,570,258
16,796,218
10,374,682

L o a n s an d d isc o u n ts, ................ .............
S to c k s, ......................................
S p e c ie ,.................................................
B a n k n o te s , .............................. .............
C ash item s,........................................ .............
D u e from b a n k s ,............................. .............

54,691,163
4,922,764
2,188,565
6,391,771

Jan. 1, 1842.

Jan. 1, 1843.

49,031,760
3,682,387
4,785,524
4,897,893
1,607,280
4,539,489

44,276,545
4,843,320
6,738,389
3,890,677
2,248,202
3,726,370

90 Banks.
$34,551,460
12,372,764
1,609,174
14,378,139
8,537,777

85 Banks.
#32,901,280
9,734,465
1,464,496
15,109,164
10,736,602

A gg rega te Statement o f 46 Banking Associations, as reported to the Bank Commis­
sioners, January 1, 1843.
resources.

Loans and discounts,............
Real estate,.............................
Bonds and mortgages,.........
S to ck s,...................................
Overdrafts,.............................
Expense and personal estate,
S p e c ie ,...................................
Notes o f other banks,.........
Checks and other cash items,
Funds on deposit in N ew
Y ork and Albany,............
Due from other b’ks & corp.,.
Total resources,...........

Amount.
$8,071,921
232,518
2,415,745
5,187,018
9,365
136,664
1,738,687
998,310
24,929

lia b ilitie s .
Amount.
Capital,................................... $11,048,857
Circulation,............................
2,297,406
Loans on tim e,......................
72,953
31,402
Due to Canal Fund,.............
P ro fits ...................................
600,600
Deposits on debts,................
49,471
Dividends unpaid,..................
19,245
Deposits,.................................
3,991,251
Due other banks,..................
1,999,067

535,815
759,280

Total liabilities,............

$20,110,252

$20,110,252

A gg rega te Statement o f 81 Safety Fund Banks, 4 Chartered Banks not subject to the
Safety Fund, and 46 Free Banks, on the 1st January, 1843.
RESOURCES.

81 Safety Fund
Banks.

4 Chartered
Banks.

Loans and discounts,................ $40,964,112 $3,312,434
2,756,638
579,569
Real estate,.................................
Stocks, (in which are included
bonds and mortgages held by
3,418,036
1,425,284
free banks,).............................
77,963
................
Overdrafts,...................................




46 Free
Banks.

Total
131 Banks.

$ 8 071,921
232,518

$52,348,467
3,568,725

7,602,763
9,365

12,446,083
87,328

381

Bank Statistics.
A gg rega te Statement o f 81 Safety Fund Banks, etc.— Continued.

4 Chartered
Banks.
$97,728

46 Free
Banks.
$136,664

812,370
472,707
49,965

1,738,687
998,310
24,929

Total
131 Banks.
$948,738
770,372
8,477,076
4,888,987
2,273,131

2,553,229

125,350

535,815

3,214,394

3,276,533

449,837

759,280

4,485,651-

81 Safety Fund
Banks.
$714,346
770,372
5,926,019
Specie,..........................................
3,417,970
Notes o f other banks,................
Checks and other cash items,...
2,198,237
resources— Continued.
Expenses and personal estate,.

Funds on deposit in N ew Y ork
and Albany,............................
Due from other banks and cor­
porations, .................................
Total resources,.........

$66,073,455 $7,325,244 $20,110,252 $93,508,951

LIABILITIES.

Capital,.........................................
Circulation,..................................
Loans on tim e,..........................
Due to Canal Fund,..................
Profits,..........................................
Deposits on debts,......................
Dividends unpaid,......................
Deposits,......................................
Due other banks and corporations, .......................................

$29,551,280 $3,350,000 $11,048,857 $43,950,137
2,297,406
8,926,133
12,031,871
808,332
72,953
188,144
115,191
628,666
31,402
1,495,898
835,830
4,129,699
3,359,772
600,600
169,327
277,236
49,471
326,707
186,945
19,245
213,411
7,221
13,590,963
3,991,251
19,100,415
1,518,201

Total liabilities,.........

$66,073,455 $7,325,244 $20,110,252 $93,508,951

9,230,105

843,497

1,999,067

12,072,669

A ggrega te Statement o f 24 Banks in the City o f N ew York, and 107 Banks in the
Country, being the whole number that have made returns to the Bank Commissioners,
on the ls£ January, 1843.

2,987,708

$22,769,379
1,686,687
5,521,605
69,179
400,080
445,279
1,197,516
1,340,306
192,122
3,214,394
1,497,942

Total 131 Bks.
$52,348,467
3,568,725
12,446,083
87,328
948,738
770,372
8,477,076
4,888,987
2,273,131
3,214,394
4,485,650

$55,174,462

$38,334,489

$93,508,951

C a p ita l, ............................................... ..
C irc u la tio n , ........................................
L o a n s on tim e ,............................................
D u e C an al F u n d , ................................
P ro fits, ................................................
D eposits on d e b ts ,........................................
D iv id en d s u n p a id , ...............................
D e p o s its , ............................................
D u e to o th er b a n k s , ...........................

$24,360,290
200,212
1,708,775
8,398
145,638
15,452,541
8,667,255

$19,589,847
7,400,518
188,144
1,295,676
2,420,924
318,309
67,773
3,647,874
3,405,424

$43,950,137
12,031,871
188,144
1,495,888
4,129,699
326,707
213,411
19,100,415
12,072,679

T o ta l lia b ilitie s,......................... ..

$55,174,462

$38,334,489

$93,508,951

RESOURCES.

| i

L o a n s a n d d is c o u n ts , ......................... ..
R e a l e s ta te ,....................................................
S to c k s ,.............................................................
O v e rd ra fts ,.....................................................
E x p e n se s an d p erso n al e s ta te ,...............
B a n k F u n d ,....................................................
S p e c ie ,..............................................................
N o te s o f o th er b a n k s ,................................
C h e ck s and cash ite m s,.............................
F u n d s in N e w Y o rk a n d A lb a n y ,.......
D u e from o th e r b a n k s .........................
T o ta l re so u rc e s , ................... ..

24 CityBanks.
$29,579,088

6,924,478
548,658
3,548,681
2,081,009

107 C’ntry Bks.

LIABILITIES.

i




Commercial Statistics.

382

COMMERCIAL

STATISTICS.

B R IT IS H C O T T O N T R A D E .
General Statement o f Cotton Imported into Great Britain during the last Ten Years.
Year.

1 8 4 2 ,....
1 8 4 1 ,....
1 8 4 0 ,....
1 8 3 9 ,....
1 8 3 8 ,....
1 8 3 7 ,....
1 8 3 6 ,....
1 8 3 5 ,....
18 34,....
1 8 3 3 ,....

Atlantic
States.

N. Orleans,
Mobile, &c.

Total
U. States.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

346,057
277,214
434,642
347,111
451,009
327,739
384,183
389,429
342,550
354,876

672,671
624,978
810,365
466,504
673,183
517,449
381,053
373,809
388,785
301,859

1,018,728
902,192
1,245,007
813,125
1,124,192
845,188
765,236
763,238
731,335
656,735

Demarara West
Brazil. & Berbice. lnd.&c.

■Egypt.

Bales.

East
Indies.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

135
295
517
1,494
1,880
2,436
3,167
3,503
3,302
4,169

19,776
34,366
24,789
36,583
30,318
27,652
32,586
21,750
15,830
10,771

18,245
40,054
37,112
31,576
28,461
39,329
32,946
40,719
6,357
2,569

255,129
274,984
216,495
131,731
108,879
145,063
219,157
118,433
88,123
94,683

85,625
90,637
83,991
97,656
137,499
116,605
148,093
143,580
103,528
164,190

Statement o f Stock o f Cotton in Great Britain at the close o f the last Six Years.

1841

1841 .

1840 .

1819 .

1818 .

1817 .

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

Sea Island,..........................
Stained do.,.........................
Upland,................................
Mobile and Alabama,........
N ew Orleans,......................
Pernam buco,......................
Bahia and M acao,.............
Maranham,..........................
Peruvian,................... .........
Egyptian,.............................
Surat,...................................
Other descriptions,.............

3,450
1,080
88,280
53,380
136,250
18,770
10,870
27,850
2,490
21,720
146,470
50,820

5,380
1,240
68,090
56,500
147,880
17,010
8,530
18,940
9,890
30,910
138,280
35,610

6,170
490
98,010
62,830
137,490
9,070
5,670
7,760
5,540
21,810
80,120
29,090

3,760
1,460
48,630
35,160
87,220
6,870
1,940
1,160
1,970
12,640
41,780
22,880

3,790
2,010
76,520
19,640
107,070
12,440
8,730
9,050
340
6,090
54,440
20,970

1,880
1,240
41,610
8,460
34,970
13,480
8,380
6,180
1,230
17,680
83,150
41,080

Total into the kingdom,

561,430

538,260

464,050

265,470

321,090

259,340

Descriptions.

E xport and Consumption o f Cotton in Great Britain fo r the last Four Years.
EXPORT.

A m er.,.
Brazil, .
W .I n d .,

E gypt.,.
E. Ind.,

1842 .

1841 .

1840 .

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

62,000
3,450
2,350
100
70,100

46,350
2,450
2,250
100
66,150

52,350
1,300
1,190
200
61,160

CONSUMPTION.

1842 .

1841 .

1840 .

1819 .

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

Bales.

70,900
3,200
3,900

918,978
68,415
24,491
27,175
156,299

1819 .

35,300

881,742 1,063,897
70,161
66,207
21,791
14,526
27,742
30,854
150,394
116,805

775,225
114,006
37,287
24,726
103,241

Total, 138,000 117,300 116,200 113,300 :1,195,358 1,150,988 1,293,131 1,054,485
Comparative Statement o f Stocks and Imports o f Tobacco in Liverpool the last 10 Years.
Stock
Stock
IMPORTS.
Year.

1833,.........
1834...........
1835,.........
1836,.........
1837,.........
1838,.........
1839,.........
1840,.........
1841..........
1842,.........




January 1.
Hhds.

7,604
7,707
8,287
8,878
9,903
5,690
5,190
7,233
7,524
9,553

Virginia. N. Orleans. Baltimore Other Ports.
Hhds.
Hhds.
Hhds.
Hhds.

6,500
8,410
6,926
6,693
3,830
5,535
6,151
6,665
4,462
5,178

1,081
1,249
1,862
3,430
2,235
2,515
3,379
3,834
5,205
7,580

282

55
13
77

453
226
446
141
35
298
1,153
209
799
371

Total.
Hhds.

Dec. 31.
Hhds.

8,316
9,885
9,234
10,264
6,100
8,348
10,738
10,721
10,543
13,129

7,707
8,287
8,878
9,903
5,690
5,180
7,233
7,524
9,553
12,761

383

Commercial Statistics.
H AVRE COTTON TRAD E.

Statement o f Imports, Deliveries, and Stocks, from January X to December 3 1 ,/o r Teii
Years.
Stock January 1.

Year.
1842,..........
1841............
1840,..........
1839,..........
1838,..........
1837,..........
1836,..........
1835,..........
1834............
1833............

U. States.
Bales.

All Kinds.
Bales.

84,000
75,000
48,400
30,500
28,800
34,300
12,200
19,700

90,000
80,000
57,000
33,700
33,000
45,500
18,800
22,000
34,000
17,000

16,300

IMPORTS.
U. States.
All Kinds.
Bales.
Bales.

DELIVERIES.
All Kinds.
U. States.
Bales.
Bales.

341,516
341,463
362,045
227,778
273,864
221,317
226,370
188,055
184,057
181,611

324,116
332,463
335,445
209,888
272,164
226,817
204,270
195,555
194,157
168,111

369,197
357,383
375,643
264,168
294,520
248,859
260,286
214,509
201,419
210,304

349,197
347,383
352,643
240,868
293,820
261,359
233,586
217,700
213,419
193,304

B A L T IM O R E E X P O R T S D U R IN G T H E Y E A R 1842.
T he exports from the port o f Baltimore to foreign ports for the quarter ending Decem ­
ber 31, 1842, and for the year ending at the same period, as given in Lyford’s Journal,
were as follow :—
Hhds.
3,719
4,901
473
293
65
1
16
12
14
30

Value.
$165,996
193,860
24,752
12,042
5,413
114
1,411
874
854
2,452

Total.......................................................... hhds.

9,524

T o Brazilian ports,.....................................................................
British W est India islands,...............................................
British North American colonies,...................................
Danish W est India islands,..............................................
Spanish W est India islands, (not Cuba,)......................
Dutch W est India islands,................................................
Dutch East Indies,.............................................................
Chilian ports,........................................................................
T e x a s ,..................................................................................
Gibraltar,..............................................................................
Madeira,................................................................................
Cape de Verds,....................................................................
A frica ,...................................................................................
H ayti,....................................................................................

Bbls.
29,581
20,815
1,729
4,209
1,144
650
500
100
50
1,162
3,241
104
77
1,364

$407,768
Value.
$136,015
86,601
6,976
18,170
4,848
2,646
2,250
413

TOBACCO.

T o the Netherlands,.........................................
“
Hanse tow ns,.......................................
“
French ports on the Mediterranean,.
T o England,.......................................................
Brazilian ports,............................................
Venezuelian ports,......................................
Chilian ports,.............................................. .
British W est India islands,......................
Spanish W est India islands, (not Cuba,).
A fr ic a ,.........................................................

FLOUR.

T otal,..
Miscellaneous.
Fish, dried,..................
“ pickled,..............
Candles, sperm,..........
“
tallow,..........
Soap..............................
B eef,..............................
Horned cattle,............




211
4,940
13,016
442
336
5,906

64,726
■quintals
. barrels
.pounds
li
«(
.barrels
■number

3,345
1,385
27,883
32,173
57,839
572
42

$287,618
Value.
$8,070
5,072
7,139
j
(
j
(

7,821
6,397

384

Commercial Statistics.
B altim ore E xports — Continued.

Miscellaneous— Continued.

Value.
■barrels
•pounds
ti

L ard,..

•number
•pounds
(l

.bushels
C o rn ,........
Rye, Oats,
Corn meal,
R ye flour,.

1,030
84,026
149,185
361
168,266
29,932
32,505
25,934

it

.barrels
. “

4,069
355
4,549
1,447
488
20,674
4,273

tt

.kegs
■tierces
pounds
it

Cottons,
“
..........
Other articles, (including over !

0,000 to Dutch East Indies,).,

Total miscellaneous articles,.
A dd value o f T obacco,.......................
“
“
Flour,.............................

$27,428
61,927
12,581
26,259
13,285
3,412
11,501
1,186
14,719
9,151
6,409
4,526
47,634
117,283
$329,873
407,768
287,618

Value o f Domestic Productions,.....................................
“
Foreign Merchandise in American vessels,.
**
m
**
it
Foreign
H

$1,025,259
62,394
6,574

Total exports for quarter ending December 31, 1842,..
Exports previously, in 1842,..............................................

$1,094,227
3,353,229

Total exports for 1842,........................
“
“
Foreign m erchandise,.

$4,447,456
154,655

Domestic Productions,..
in 1841...........

$4,292,801
4,629,963

Falling o ff,........................................................

$337,162

T he export o f Foreign merchandise in 1841, was.,

$331,252

Falling off,..........................................................

$176,597

L E A D A N D C O PPER T R A D E OF T H E W E S T .
T he lead trade o f the west is rapidly on the increase.

The amount smelted in W is­

consin and in the vicinity o f Galena, the present season, exceeds the total number o f
pounds produced in the whole United States two years ago. Lead mines are now work­
ed in eight states, and, at the taking o f the census in 1840, the following particulars
were gathered:—
There was mined in—
Pounds.
1,000
N ew Hampshire,..........................
N ew Y o r k ,................................... 600,000
Virginia,......................................... 878,648
North Carolina,.............................
10,000
Illinois,.............................................8,775,000

There was mined in—
Pounds.
Missouri,..................................... 5,295,455
W isconsin,.................................. 15,129,350
Iow a,...........................................
500,000
Total................................ 31,239,453

T he last Galena paper contains a statistical account o f the amount shipped from that
place for the last eight years, which includes the amount mined in Illinois and W is­
consin :—




385

Commercial Statistics.
Pounds.
Year.
1835,................................. ...... 11,000,600
1836,................................. ...... 13,000,000
1837,. *............................. ...... 15,000,000
1838,................................. ...... 14,0U0,000
From this statement it will be seen, that for
was 30,000,000 pounds. W hat the amount

Year.
Pounds.
1839,............................ .......... 15,000,000
1840,............................ .......... 22,000,000
1841,...........................
1842,............................ .......... 32,388,130
the year 1841, the amount o f lead shipped
o f other exports were, is not given. T he
amount o f imports during the same year, is calculated at $1,300,000. T he returns for
1842, show that this section o f our common country is improving.

Heretofore, it has

been dependent for bread stuffs upon other portions o f the w est; now, it raises more
than enough to meet its own wants. In addition to the lead, the lumber trade has grown
in importance. Three million feet o f lumber, and near two millions o f shingles, have
been delivered at Galena during the past year.

T he arrivals o f steam and keelboats for

1842, or rather up to the 6th o f November, are thus stated:—
Arrivals from St. Louis,......................

195 | Keels towed by steamers,..................

These keels transported 240,000 pigs o f lead, say 1,500 each.

160

T he whole amount o f

the pigs o f lead shipped from different points on the Mississippi, and arriving at Galena,
with those shipped from that place, with the price, up to the 16th November, 1842, are
as follow s:—
Pigs o f le a d ,...............................
Average price per 100 lbs.,__

447,903 1 Value o f the same,.............. $705,609 22
$ 2 37$ | Value o f bar lead shipped,.
2,000 00

In addition to the above, shot, and about 25,000 pigs o f lead, have been sent via the
lakes.

This added, would make the product o f Upper Mississippi—

From Galena,.................................................... pigs
Via lakes,............................................................. “
In small bar lead,............................................... “
T o ta l,................................................ “

447,903
25,000
840

31,360,211 lbs.
1,752,000 “
58,800 “

473,743

33,169,010 “

T he population o f Galena is 3,000 souls.
W ithin the last eighteen months an excellent road has been opened from Milwaukie
to the Mississippi, passing through the mining district, which will be much used hereaf­
ter in sending lead to the east by way o f the lakes.

Already the business has com ­

m enced; and last year (1842) 26,840 pigs o f lead were shipped at Milwaukie for New
Y ork, weighing 1,888,700 pounds, besides 2,614 kegs o f shot.

W hen the canal is fin­

ished through W isconsin, this vast lead freight will be floated through the lakes and
Erie canal to market.

It now gives employment to hundreds o f keel and flat boats from

Galena to St. Louis, where it is reshipped for N ew Orleans, and then again reshipped
for N ew Y ork or Europe.
plished in fifteen days.

By way o f the lakes and Erie canal, it could be accom­

T he copper mining business o f Wisconsin is becoming one o f great importance.
1841, about 25,000 pounds were shipped east.

In

T he past year it has greatly increased,

and we learn that new smelting establishments are being erected at Cassville and Dodgeville.

Northern Michigan will, at some future day, also become a great mining district.

Mr. Featherstonehaugh’s report to the general government, represents it as abounding
with valuable minerals.

In this, Mr. Owen’s Geological Report agrees; and more re­

cently, the State o f Michigan has had the territory explored by the state geologist, Dr.
Houghton. He has made his first report to the legislature, and will soon make his sec­
ond.

O f the abundance o f copper and lead, the doctor has the fullest confidence.

In

opening a vein, with a single blast he threw out nearly two tons o f copper ore, and with
it were numerous masses o f pure copper, from the most minute speck to forty pounds in
w eight!

O f the ores examined, their purity proved to be from 51 per cent down to 21.

T he great mines o f Cornwall, in England, have not produced over 12 per cent since
V O L. V III.— NO. I V .
32




336

Commercial Statistics.

1771; and, since 1822, have not averaged over 8 per cent.
consin averages about 25 per cent.

T he ore worked in W is­

There is a copper rock on the Antonagon river, estimated to weigh between three
and four tons. A piece o f it, chiseled off by the doctor and analyzed, contained 98 per
cent o f pure metal. W hile at Detroit, a friend o f ours showed us a piece which he cut
from the mass, weighing four pounds, and such was its toughness, that he broke twentytwo chisels in obtaining it.

T he lead trade o f W isconsin and Galena is already a busi­

ness o f a million dollars a year.

In a few years, that o f copper will equal it.

business has already become an article o f importance in our foreign trade.

The lead

W e find, by

referring to the English statistics, that, only ten years since, Great Britain exported to
this country 9,792,000 pounds.

T he tables are now turned.

For the past five years,

we have imported none o f the article, and, in 1841, commenced the exportation o f large
quantities o f it to England. The English have heretofore supplied the China market,
where immense quantities o f it are used in lining tea chests, & c. Three years ago, the
Boston merchants made shipments o f the article to Canton, and, being able to undersell
the British, the trade in one year increased to an export o f 1,510,136 pounds.
ports the past year have greatly exceeded the previous one.

T he ex­

In 1830, the product o f all

the lead mines in the country was a little rising 10,000,000 pounds, and we imported
for our own consumption.

In 1841, we not only supplied ourselves, but a regular ex­

port o f it is now made to the following foreign countries, which heretofore have been
mostly supplied by England, viz : Russia, Hanse T ow ns, France, on the Mediterranean,
Cuba, Hayti, Texas, M exico, Central Republic o f America, Venezuela, Brazil, Argen­
tine Republic, N ew Grenada, Asia, and Africa.
TH E COAL TRAD E.
T he following comparative table, derived from the Miners’ Journal, will show the
quantity o f coal imported into this country from 1821 to 1842, both years inclusive ;
also, the quantity o f bituminous coal mined and shipped at Richmond, Virginia, and the
anthracite coal trade o f the United States for the same periods.

The importation o f

foreign coal is official— from the Register o f the Treasury:—

Year.
1821
1822;.....
1823,.....
1824,.....
1825,.....
1826,.....
1827.......
1828,.....
1829,.....
1830,.....
1831.......

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Foreign.
Tons.
22,122
34,523
30,433
27,228
25,645
35,605
40,257
32,302
45,393
58,136
36,509

Virginia. Anthracite.
Tons.
Tons.
1,073
2,240
48,214
39.255
5,823
59,857
9,541
59,571
34,893
79,144 48,047
75,643
63,434
77,516
89,357
83,357 112,083
91,785 174,734
93,143 176,520

Year.
1832,.....
1833,..... .
1834,..... .
1835,..... .
1836,..... .
1837,..... .
1838...... .
1839,..... .
1840,..... .
1841,..... .
1842...... .

Foreign. Virginia. Anthracite.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
72,987 117,878
363,871
92,432 142,587
487,748
91,626 110,714
376,636
49,969
96,428
560,758
108,432 110,714
682,428
152,450 100,000
881,476
129,083
96,428
739,293
181,551
85,714
819,327
865,414
162,867
78,571
155,394
71,071
958,899
103,247 '68,750 1,108,001

“ Our readers will observe by the above table that the quantity o f Virginia bituminous
coal, which comes more in competition with the foreign coal, also bituminous, was grad­
ually increasing until 1834. A s soon, however, as the effects o f the Compromise bill o f
1832 began to be felt, it lingered for several years without much variation, and then
commenced declining annually, and continued to decline up to 1842, while the foreign
trade increased in a corresponding, but much greater ratio, up to 1841. It will also be
observed, that in those years when the importation o f foreign coal was the largest, the
anthracite trade was also affected, and absolutely declined for two or three years.
facts speak much louder than all the fine-spun theories o f free tradists.

These

T he very low

and ruinous rates at which anthracite coal was sold during the last year, forced it into
several markets where foreign coal was formerly consumed, and we find a decline in the
supply o f foreign coal o f 52,147 tons.”




387

Nautical Intelligence.

NAUTICAL

INTELLIGENCE.

N O T IC E S T O M A R IN E R S .
T he following notices to mariners have been officially communicated to the Depart­
ment o f State, at Washington, under date o f March G, 1843:—
L ight -house

on

L undy I sland .

T he following notice is dated Trinity House, London, December 6,1849, and signed,
by order, J. Herbert, Secretary :—
“ The mode by which the light on Lundy island has hitherto been exhibited, having
undergone alteration with the object o f augmenting the power o f the light, notice there­
o f is hereby given, and mariners are to observe, that the revolving light in the upper lan­
tern will show a brilliant light once in every two minutes.

The fixed light in the lower

lantern at this station has also been increased in power, and its range extended, so that
it is now visible, in a westerly direction, from

n.

by w. to s. w. by compass.”

T he notices relative to Neustadt light, which follow, are dated Trinity House, Lon­
don, January 19, 1843, and signed as above, J. Herbert, Secretary:—
N eustadt L ight .

“ N otice has been given by the Board o f Trade and Customs at Copenhagen, that an
intermitting light has been established on Point Pelzerhagen, in the Gulf o f Lubeck,
near the entrance o f Neustadt harbor.

It gives a strong flash every two minutes, but

shows, during that interval, a continuous though much weaker light, and each flash is
preceded and followed by a momentary darkness.

T he height o f the lantern being for­

ty-eight feet above the level o f the sea, the flashes may be seen, in clear weather, eight
or nine miles, and the weaker light about six miles. T he lighthouse, which is white­
washed, stands in lat. 54 deg. 5 min. 17 sec. N., and long. 10 deg. 51 min. 54 sec.
G reenw ich; bearing by compass from Travemiinde

n.

by

e.

\ E.

e.

of

about two leagues, and

s. E. by E. about half a league from the entrance o f Neustadt harbor.”
F alsterbo L ight .

“ T he Swedish government has given notice that the original coal fire has been replaced
in Falsterbo light-house, instead o f the temporary lantern announced on the 6th o f July
last from this office ; but that, next summer, the lantern-light will be again resumed, till
the apparatus for the new lamps is fitted.”
The following notices o f alterations in the lights o f Cape Grinez and Point d’Alpreck,
on the south side o f the Strait o f Dover, received from the French government, are pub­
lished by order o f Trinity House, London, January 16, 1843, under the signature of
their secretary, J. H erbert:—
C ate G rinez L ig h t .

“ T he fixed light established on Cape Grinez, in November, 1837, in lat. 50 deg. 52
min. 10 sec. n ., and long. 1 deg. 35 min. 9 sec. e . o f Greenwich, will, on the 1st o f July
next, be converted into a revolving light, which will re-appear every half minute.

The

additional flashing light established in 1838 near the above fixed light, will then be dis­
continued. T he new revolving light will be visible eight leagues, and will be distin­
guished from that o f Calais by the difference o f their respective intervals, that o f Calais
being 90 sec., and that o f Grinez only 30 sec.




And further: the bright glares o f Calais

Nautical Intelligence.

388

lig h t are se p ara te d by p erfe ct d ark n e ss ; w hile, in th e in terv als b e tw e e n those o f G rin ez,
a faint light w ill be visible to vessels w ith in th e d istan c e o f four leag u es.

T h is light w ill

n o t b e visible m ore th a n four le a g u e s.”
L ight

of

P oint D ’A lpreck .

“ O n the sam e d ay th e fixed light on P o in t D ’A lp re c k , in lat. 50 deg. 41 m in. 37 se c .
n .,

an d long. 1 deg. 33 m in. 54 se c.

e .,

w ill, ev ery tw o m in u tes, c h a n g e in to flashes of

red lig h t, w h ich are to c o n tin u e for th re e seco n d s.”

S T A N F O R D C H A N N E L , L O W E S T O F T R O A D S.
Trinity House, London, January 24, 1843.— T he alterations which have been in
progress for a considerable time past in and about the Newcom be and Holm sands, hav­
ing rendered the old Stanford channel again navigable, notice thereof is hereby given,
that this corporation has accordingly caused the said channel to be buoyed out, and the
buoys within and at the southern entrance thereof to be placed in the following posi­
tions, v iz :—
A red buoy on the East spit o f the N ewcom be, marked “ East N ew com be,” in 3£
fathoms, with the following marks and bearings, v iz :—
T he Channel end 'of Lowestoft church, in line with the large white house next west o f
Lowestoft Preventive Station-house, n . by w. \ w.
Carlton Colville church, midway between Pakefield church and Pakefield windmill, w.
by

n.

|

n.

Stanford light-vessel

n.

by

e.

£ e.

Holm H ook buoy n . e . £ n .
South Newcombe buoy s. w. by w. £ w.
South Holm buoy

e.

by s. £ s.

A black buoy on the South spit o f the Holm sand, marked “ South Holm,” in 3£
fathoms, with—
Lowestoft windmill in line with the W est end o f St. Peter’s church at Lowestoft

n

.

by

w. £ w.
Pakefield church, midway between Carlton Colville church and Pakefield windmill, \v.
by

n.

£

n.

Stanford light-vessel n .
Holm H ook buoy

n.

by

e.

South N ewcom be buoy w. by s. £ s.
Middle Holm buoy n . e . by e . £ e .
T he above buoys mark the southern entrance o f the channel, and lie one-third o f a
nautical mile apart.
A white buoy on the W est H ook o f the Holm , marked “ H olm H ook,” in six fath­
oms, with—
Lowestoft church tower in line with Lowestoft low light-house

n. w

. by

n.

A six-vane windmill west o f Kirkley in line with Kirkley north windmill

n. w

.

by w.

£ w.
Stanford light-vessel

n.

by w. £ w.

Southwest Corton buoy n . by e . £ e .
Mariners are to observe, that the tides in the Stanford channel set

n . e.

and s. w ., and

that the light-vessel must always be passed to the eastward.
N . B.— The above bearings are magnetic, and the depths those o f low water spring
tides.
By order:
J. H e r ber t , Secretary.




Mercantile M iscellanies.

MERCANTILE

389

MISCELLANIES.

C O M M E R C IA L ’ C H A N G E HOURS.
High ’ Change hour is fixed at 1 o’clock by the merchants o f Philadelphia.

N ew Y ork

Exchange assembles at 2£ o’clock P. M ., but is not fully attended till 3£ o’ clock, which
is called “ high ’ change.”

T he Liverpool Exchange is badly regulated.

The hours are

from 2 to 5 P. M .; and, if the visiter wishes to be sure o f seeing the persons who fre­
quent it, he may be obliged to waste three hours before he can accomplish his purpose.
T he London Exchange is admirably conducted. A t 4 o’clock P. M., the crowd begins
to pour in, and by 4£ o’clock it is “ high ’change.”

A t 4£ o’clock it ceases, when bea­

dles go round with large bells, with which they make such a deafening noise that the
assembly is soon dispersed, the gates are locked, and no one allowed to enter until next
day. A ll the principal houses have regular places o f resort on ’change. For exam ple:
Mr. Rothschild is always to be found, on foreign post-days, on the “ Italian W a l k t h e
Messrs. Baring, Brothers & Co., are to be found at the column which they have fre­
quented for years. Those merchants who are in the American trade, frequent the
“ American W a lk ;” those who are in the Russian and Swedish trade, frequent the
“ Baltic W a l k a n d those in the German trade, frequent the “ Hamburg Walk.”
Amsterdam Exchange is also well regulated.

T he

The bell begins to ring at 2£ o’ clock

P. M., and if all persons who wish to enter the gates before the clock strikes 3 do not
succeed in getting in, they are compelled to pay a small fee, amounting to eight or ten
cents, for admission.

I f any one wishes to enter at 3^ o’ clock, he is obliged to pay a

fine o f half a guilder.

So much importance is attached to regular attendance on ’ change,

that if a house is not represented either personally or by one o f the confidential clerks,
it is considered that a death has occurred in the family o f some one o f the partners, or
that bankruptcy or some other misfortune has occurred. The Antwerp Exchange is
equally well regulated as the preceding.

High ’change is at 5 o’clock P. M ., when the

gates are closed, and, to gain admittance, a fee o f half a franc is paid.

The other ex­

changes, say those o f Hamburg, Rotterdam, St. Petersburgh, & c., are somewhat differ­
ently managed ; but, as a general rule, it may be stated that a stranger may be always
sure o f meeting the principal merchants, manufacturers, shipmasters, and large dealers
o f every description, at these convenient places o f resort.

T H E H A B IT S OF A M A N OF BUSINESS.
A sacred regard to the principles o f justice forms the basis o f every transaction, and
regulates the conduct o f the upright man o f business.

He is strict in keeping his en­

gagements ; does nothing carelessly, or in a hurry; employs nobody to do what he can
as easily do himself; keeps everything in its proper place ; leaves nothing undone which
ought to be done, and which circumstances permitted him to d o ; keeps his designs and
business from the view o f others; is prompt and decisive with his customers, and does
not overtrade for his capital; prefers short credits to long ones, and cash to credit trans­
actions, at all times when they can be advantageously made, either in buying or selling,
and small profits with little risk, to the chance o f better gains with more hazard. He is
clear and explicit in all his bargains; leaves nothing to the memory which he can and
ought to commit to writing; keeps copies o f all important letters which he sends a w a y ;
and has every letter, invoice, & c., belonging to his business, titled, classed, and put




32 *

Mercantile Miscellanies.

390

away. He never suffers his desk to be confused by many papers lying upon i t ; is al­
ways at the head o f his business, well knowing that if he leaves it, it will leave him ;
holds it as a maxim, that he whose credit is suspected is not safe to be trusted, and is
constantly examining his books, and sees through all his affairs as far as care and atten­
tion enable h im ; balances regularly at stated times, and then makes out and transmits
all his accounts current to his customers and constituents, both at home and abroad;
avoids, as much as possible, all sorts o f accommodations in money matters and law suits,
where there is the least hazard ; is economical in his expenditures, always living within
his income ; keeps a memorandum-book with a pencil in his pocket, in which he notes
every little particular relative to appointments, addresses, and petty cash matters; is cau­
tious how he becomes security for any person, and is generous only when urged by mo­
tives o f humanity.

BU SIN ESS M E N OF N E W Y O R K .
P reserved F ish commenced life as an apprentice to a blacksmith, and his next situa­

tion was that o f a seaman on board a whaling-ship.

From being a hand before the mast,

he rose to be a mate, and finally commander, and in this hazardous pursuit amassed the
foundation o f his fortune. S aul A l l e y was bound, when a small boy, apprentice to a
coachmaker. During his apprenticeship his father died, and left him totally dependant
on his own exertions. T he very clothes he wore he was obliged to earn by toiling extra
hours, after the regular time o f leaving o ff work had passed. T he foundation o f his
fortune he acquired by the exercise o f frugality and prudence while a journeyman m e­
chanic.

C ornelius W . L aw rence , late mayor o f N ew Y ork, and now president o f the

Bank o f the State o f N ew Y ork, was a farmer’s boy, and worked many a long day in
rain and sunshine on Long Island.

There were few lads within twenty miles o f him

that could mow a wider swath, or turn a neater furrow.

These men have been the ar­

chitects o f their own fortunes; they have earned them by the sweat o f their brows ; and
their very wealth, besides the other means o f doing good to their fellow-men which it
puts in their power, is, in itself, a perpetual stimulus to the mechanic and artisan to earn
a similar reward by similar frugality, industry, and perseverance.

TH E H ONEST M ERCH AN T AN D L A W Y E R .
J acob B a r ke r , now a practising lawyer in N ew Orleans, appeared in his own defence

in a suit on the 10th, and obtained a verdict after a long personal address to the jury,
which appears to have made also a vivid impression upon a numerous auditory.

In re­

citing the chequered history o f his life— his unrivalled commercial enterprise— “ that the
canvass o f his ships had whitened every sea, and that the star-spangled banner o f his
country had floated from the mast-heads o f his ships in every clime” — his aid in procu­
ring a loan o f $500,000 for the government during the last war, & c.— he said he came
to N ew Orleans poor, and in debt; that he had since made a great deal o f money, and
spent it in the support o f his family and the payment o f his debts outstanding in N ew
Y o r k ; that all these debts were now settled, as was proved; and that he owed nothing
in the world at present but one amount (on a note, he believed,) o f about $1,000.

T he

Tropic says, “ His vindication o f his reputation for benevolence and veracity was manly
and exceedingly eloquent, and fully sustained by the evidence.”




391

The Book Trade.

THE

BOOK

TRADE.

1.— The N o d es Ambrosiante o f " Blackwood." Complete in four volumes. 12mo. pp.
1919. Philadelphia: Carey &. Hart.
These papers, now for the first time collected from Blackwood under the auspices o f
the American publishers, (who have issued them in their usual beautiful style,) will open
to not a few a new treasure o f wit, humor, poetry, and amusement. Their author, Pro­
fessor W ilson, has long upheld the supremacy o f Blackwood.

There is, perhaps, no

living writer whose talents are so versatile— so fitted to deal with the varied topics upon
which his judgment or his fancy must be employed.

His learning, says an admirer,

is both profound and extensive ; his criticism, searching and sound ; his descriptions o f
scenery, exquisitely true ; his paintings o f human character, admirable; his wit and hu­
mor, delightful, when it does not degenerate into “ fun,” as is sometimes the case in
“ N o d e s a n d no writer o f modern times has written so many delicious passages, which
produce such gushes o f admiration.

It is well remarked, in the publishers’ advertise­

ment, that the pages o f the “ N o d e s Ambrosianae” occasionally reek with savory steams,
through which the beautiful features o f the ever-presiding genius, and even the burly
figure o f the poetic shepherd, almost cease to be visible.

T he garniture o f hot dishes is

manifestly the merest romancing, which, however questionable as a matter o f taste, is,
in a more serious point o f view, quite harmless, especially in these days, when the spell
which associated all good fellowship with excessive eating and drinking is broken, by a
temperate generation, never to be united. T he volumes abound with personalities, with­
out malignity, shrewd observation and acute criticism, sparkling wit, hearty humor, and
more than all, rich poetic sentiment; and we should consider the library o f the “ gentle­
man and scholar” incomplete without them, especially as they may be read and re-read
with ever increasing delight.
2.— Critical and Miscellaneous Essays o f Sir W alter Scott, Bart. Collected by H im .
self. 3 vols. 12mo. pp. 449, 450, 449. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart.
These beautifully printed volumes are the last o f the writings o f the distinguished
author, published in this country, and render the collection complete. They consist
chiefly, o f the reviews and papers prepared for the leading periodicals o f England and
Scotland, and form a valuable addition to the “ Library o f Miscellanies” in course of
re-publication in this country by the liberal and enterprising house named in the title.
It would, at this late day, be a work o f supererogation, if not o f presumption, on our
part, to attempt anything like a critical notice o f their value or merit as essays or litera­
ry compositions; w e, therefore, content ourselves with merely giving the contents o f the
volumes, as follow s:— Ellis’s Specimens o f Early English P oets; Ellis and Ritson’s
Specimens o f Early English Metrical Rom ances; Evans’s Old Ballads; Chatterton;
Campbell’s Gertrude o f W yom in g ; Southey’s Curse o f Kehama; Amadis o f G aul;
Southey’s Life o f B unyan; Cumberland’s John o f Lancaster; Maturin’s W om en, or
Pour et C ontre; Remarks on Frankenstein; T he Omen ; Tales o f M y Landlord • T w o
Cookery Books ; Miseries o f Human Life ; Lady Suffolk’s Correspondence ; Life and
W orks o f John H om e; T he Culloden Papers; Kelly’s Rem iniscences; Ancient History
o f Scotland; On Landscape Gardening; Pitcairn’s Criminal T rials; Godwin’s Life o f
Chaucer; Todd’ s Edition o f Spenser; Herbert’s P oem s; Molifere ; Reliques o f BurnsT he Battle o f Talavera; Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage; Southey’s Chronicle o f the Cid ;
Review o f Godwin’s F leetw ood ; Maturin’s Fatal R even ge; Miss Austin’s N ovelsNovels o f Hoffman; Hajii Baba in England; Thornton’s Sporting T o u r; Johnes’s
Translation o f Froissart; Carr’s Caledonian Sketches; Kirkton’s Church History; Pe.
pys’s M em oirs; Life o f K em ble; Davy’s Salmonia; On Planting Waste Lands ; Tytler’s History o f Scotland ; Letters o f Malachi Malagrowther on the Currency.




392
3.

The B ook Trade.

— Songs, Odes, and other Poems, on National subjects. Compiled from various
sources. By W illiam M 'C a r t y . 3 vols. 18mo. pp. 468, 467, 468. Philadelphia.

The present collection o f national songs is, without doubt, the most complete that has
yet been made, and must have cost the compiler no inconsiderable degree o f industry
and research amid the dust o f old newspapers, magazines, common song books, and
stall ballads. Indeed, we are told by the compiler that he carefully searched files o f
newspapers from the period o f Braddock’ s defeat to the death o f President Harrison, a
period o f eighty-six years, gathering from them many choice relics o f the times.

Some

o f the songs possess a high degree o f poetical m erit; but the chief interest o f the collec­
tion consists in its very natural illustration o f the spirit o f the age, which called forth
those strains, however homely, which cheered and animated our citizen-soldiers and sea­
men, in “ the times that tried men’s souls,” at the camp-fire or on the forecastle. T he
songs are classified under three heads, and a volume devoted to each subject— 1. Patri­
o t ic ; 2. Military; 3. Naval. T he first song in the volume devoted to the “ Patriotic,”
is from the Pennsylvania Chronicle o f July 4, 1768, several years before the breaking
out o f the revolutionary w a r ; it breathes throughout that love o f liberty which has ever
characterized the Anglo-Saxon race.
prophetic inspiration o f the d a y :—

W e quote a single stanza, as shadowing forth the

“ A ll ages shall speak with amaze and applause,
O f the courage we’ll show in support o f our laws ;
T o die we can bear, but to serve we disdain,
For shame is, to Freemen, more dreadful than pain.
In freedom we’re born, and in freedom we’ll liv e !
Our purses are ready—
Steady, friends, steady—
N ot as slaves, but as freemen, our money we’ll give !”
4

. _The P olio Philosophy. P a r ti. W ater. Part 2. Air. Part 3. Fire.
Sky. 4 vols. 18mo. Philadelphia: Hogan & Thompson. 1842.

Part 4. The

T he Rollo philosophy o f Mr. Abbott, as presented in these neat little volumes, relates
rather to their efiect upon the juvenile reader’s habits o f thinking, reasoning, and obser­
vation, than to the additions they may make to his stock o f knowledge.

The benefit

which the author intends that the reader shall derive from them, is an influence on the
cast o f his intellectual character, which is receiving its permanent form during the years
to which these writings are so eminently adapted.

T he system o f classification adopted

is based upon the more obvious external properties and relations o f matter, and less upon
those which, though more extensive and general in their nature, and therefore more suit­
able, in a scientific point o f view, for the foundation o f a system, are less apparent, and
require higher powers o f generalization and abstraction, and are less in accordance with
the genius and spirit o f the Polio philosophy. T he Rollo books are, we have no hesita­
tion in saying, among the most instructive and attractive books belonging to the juvenile
literature o f our time.
5.

— The E ncyclopedia o f Geography.
additions. By T homas G. B radford .

By H ugh M u r r a y , F. R . S. E. Revised, with
Philadelphia : Lea & Blanchard.

This work is to comprise “ a complete description o f the earth, physical, statistical,
civil, and political; exhibiting its relation to the heavenly bodies, its physical structure,
the natural history o f each country, and the industry, commerce, political institutions,
and civil and social state o f all nations.”

T he work is to consist o f twenty-four parts,

embracing, in all, near nineteen hundred pages, illustrated with eleven hundred engrav­
ings and about eighty maps.

A part is issued every two weeks, and will form, when

complete, three large octavo volumes.

T he publishers have, we learn, expended in its

production— for copyright, stereotyping, and illustrations— not less than $11,000.




393

The Book Trade.
6.

— The Farmer's Encyclopaedia, and Dictionary o f Rural Affairs. By C u t e b e e t
W . J o h n s o n , Esq. Adapted to the United States, by a Practical Farmer. 8vo.
Philadelphia: Carey & Hart.
This new dictionary o f agriculture, the first number o f which is before us, is the

production o f an English gentleman o f great intelligence, assisted by some o f the most
recent and best authorities upon rural subjects in that country.

By collecting and con­

densing the most interesting details relative to farming, chiefly derived from living au­
thors, such as Professor Liebig, L ow , Sir J. E. Smith, Brande, Jouatt, Stephens, Thom p­
son, Lindley, J. F. Johnson, and others, the compiler has been enabled to present the
latest information, and furnish a fund o f matter which cannot fail to attract all who take
an interest in rural affairs, so long studied and so thoroughly understood as they must
needs be in Great Britain.

The value o f the American edition will be greatly enhanced

by its adaptation to our diversified soil, climate, and culture.

Without these additions,

and this adaptation o f the American editor, the work would be o f comparatively little
value, as it would leave out many o f the most important crops which exact the attention
o f our farmer and planter.

T he work is to be published in semi-monthly numbers, six­

teen o f which will complete it, at twenty-five cents e a ch ; thus placing it, with all the
additions, in the hands o f the American reader at less than one-third the price o f the
English edition.

Each number is to be illustrated with a lithographic plate, besides nu­

merous handsomely executed engravings on wood.
7.

— The Poetical W orks o f John Sterling. First American Edition. Philadelphia :
Heman Hooker. 1842.
This is one o f the most delightful volumes o f poetry in our language. Purity o f

thought, delicacy o f fancy, depth and tenderness o f feeling, and elegance o f diction, are
all distinguishing features o f the author’ s poetical writings.

O f the poem which occu­

pies the first seventy-three pages o f the volume, we may exclaim with Wilson, the pre­
siding genius o f Blackwood— “ Sterling’s ‘ Sexton’ s Daughter,’ so pure, so profound, has
sunk and is sinking into how many thoughtful souls 1” T he “ Hymns o f a Hermit,”
eighteen in number, written since 1839, and which were originally published in Black­
w ood’s Magazine, are full o f the inspiration o f a higher life— a soul born into a living
realization o f the Good, the Beautiful, and the T r u e ; teaching—
“ In every human word and deed,
Each flush o f feeling, will, or creed,
T o know a plan ordained above,
Begun and ending all in love.”
W e have been tempted, and we should be glad, for once, to depart from our line o f
trade, and enrich our pages with a few o f the transcendant gems o f these sterling poems ;
but we must content ourselves with commending them to the “ right minded” among
our mercantile friends, with the assurance that, in reading them, they will become wiser
and better.
8.

— M issionary Labors, and Scenes in Southern A frica. By R o b e r t M o f f a t t , T w en­
ty-three years an Agent o f the London Missionary Society in that Continent. 12mo.
pp. 406. N ew Y o r k : Robert Carter. 1843.
This volume, aside from its value as a contribution to our knowledge o f heathen lands

and the missionary enterprise, contains much that will afford amusement to the general
reader, and instruction to the philosophic student o f human nature. It embraces a rec­
ord o f events which occurred within the range o f the author’ s observation and expe­
rience, and supplies materials that will serve to illustrate the peculiar attributes o f Afri­
can society.

W hile, therefore, calculated to promote the study o f the philosophy o f

missions, it affords, altogether, the most interesting description o f African character,
habits, and manners, that w e recollect to have met with in our miscellaneous reading.
T he style o f the writer, though homely, is simple, natural, and attractive.




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394
9.

— Journal and Letters o f the late Samuel Curwen, Judge o f Adm iralty, etc., an
American R efu gee in England from 1775 to 1784, comprising Remarks on the prom­
inent M en and M easures o f that Feriod. T o which are added, Biographical Notices
o f many American Loyalists, and other Eminent Persons. By G e o r g e A t k i n s o n
W a r d , Member o f the N ew Y ork Historical Society.
8vo. pp. 578. New Y o rk :
C. S. Francis. 1842.
W e consider the present volume a valuable contribution to our American revolution­

ary history, presenting, as it does, the view’s and feelings o f a distinguished American,
whose sympathies were at variance with the spirit o f the struggle that resulted in our
national independence.

The original manuscripts, from which the body o f this work

has been compiled, it seems, were sent in detached parts by Judge Curwen to his niece,
a grandparent o f Mr. W ard, the editor, in w’hose family they remained for more than
sixty years.

Mr. W ard justly views the present publication o f these papers as due “ to

the memory o f his venerated relative, to exhibit to his countrymen the purity o f his m o­
tives, and the ardent affection he bore towards his native land, even when constrained,
by a sense o f duty, to turn his back upon i t a n d the inducement offered for the pub­
lication “ is furnished by the incidental light thrown upon the character o f his brethren
in exile, o f w’hom scarcely any now survive, but where numerous descendants feel a
deep sense o f the injustice to which most o f them, in a season o f great popular excite­
ment, were unfortunately subjected, who, under less adverse circumstances, had filled
with honor civil posts o f high trust, and led to victory our arms in the provincial wars.”
In the supplement, Mr. W . has furnished brief notices o f the lives o f almost every prom­
inent loyalist, as well as o f other persons o f note referred to in the work.

T he labors

o f the editor have been well and faithfully performed.
10. — The Philosophy o f R efo rm : A Lecture, delivered before the Berean Institute in
the Broadway Tabernacle, N ew Y ork, January 20, 1843; with four Discourses upon
the same general topic, delivered in N ew Y ork and Brooklyn. By Rev. E . H . C h a ­
p i n , o f Charlestown, Mass.
N ew Y o r k : C. L. Stickney. 1843.
Such is the title o f a thin, but extremely interesting volume, from the pen o f a dis­
tinguished clergyman o f Massachusetts, who, apart from his professional talent, is fa­
vorably regarded in this quarter for his original, vigorous, and eloquent addresses before
several o f our literary and benevolent societies.

O f the lecture, we may say that it is

a truly philosophical performance— as its title implies— pointing out the defects and short­
comings o f the two great political parties o f the day, but indicating a middle ground
where both can meet and work together harmoniously.

It arranges and systematizes

the various arguments urged on the subject o f reform by conservatives and radicals, and
tests their solidity by the law o f progress, as originating in, and resting upon Christian­
ity.

T he lecture is written with marked ability and clearness, and is, withal, quite op­

portune. In the discourses, the general subject o f reform is elaborated, and theologic­
ally, o f course.
11. — Thoughts fo r the Thoughtful. By O l d H u m p h r e y . 1 vol. 18mo. pp. 240. New'
Y o r k : Robert Carter. 1843.
W e noticed, in former numbers o f this Magazine, the two preceding works o f “ Old
Humphrey,” — his “ Observations” and “ Addresses” — which have had a great run in
England, and gained a wide-spread popularity in our owm country with a large class o f
readers.

T he present volume contains one hundred and ten pieces, on as many differ­

ent subjects, all o f a moral and religious cast. T he titles o f many o f them are unique,
and the author’s style is at once sententious and quaint. T he rich vein o f “ religious
w it” that pervades every page, commend his writings to the popular taste.

“ Evangel­

ical” Christians, without distinction o f sect or denomination, read and adm ire; and
even the “ E clectic” may gather up some fragments o f amusement and instruction from
the “ Thoughts” o f this kind-hearted “ old man.”




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12. — Marco Paul's Travels and Adventures in P ursuit o f Knowledge. City o f New
York. By J acob A b b ott , Author o f the “ R ollo,” “ Lucy,” and “ Jonas” Books.
Vol. 1. Part 1. pp. 70. B oston : T . H . Carter &. Co.
This is the first part o f a series o f volumes, which the popular author o f the Rollo bookB
proposes to issue under the above general title.

They are designed not merely to en­

tertain the reader with a narrative o f juvenile adventures, but also to communicate, in
connection with them, as extensive and varied information as possible in respect to the
geography, the scenery, the customs, and the institutions o f this country, as they present
themselves to the observation o f the little traveller, who makes his excursions under the
guidance o f an intelligent and well-informed companion, qualified to assist him in the
acquisition o f knowledge and in the formation o f character. T he present number re­
lates to Paul’s travels and adventures in the city o f N ew Y ork.

T he incidents are,

o f course, imaginary; but the reader may rely upon the strict and exact truth and fidel­
ity o f all the descriptions o f places, institutions, and scenes, which are brought before
his mind in the progress o f Mr. Abbott’s narrative.

Entertainment and instruction (the

latter ever predominating) are happily blended in everything put forth by this excellent
writer.
— Popular View o f Homceopathia. By the Rev.
Wicknar. From the Second London Edition. W ith
o f the Progress and Present State o f Homceopathia in
M . D. 8vo. pp. 243. N ew Y o r k : W illiam Radde.

13.

T homas R . E verest , Rector o f
Annotations, and a brief survey
Europe. By A . G erald H u l l ,
1842.

Ridiculed and anathematized as has been the theory and practice o f the distinguished
Hahnemann, it has steadily gained converts from the ranks o f the Allopathists in Eu­
rope and America, and is beginning to command the attention and respect o f the more
intelligent both o f the profession and the laity. T he eloquent pages o f the present
work, from the pen o f a learned and able clergyman o f the English church, furnish an
explanation o f the characteristics o f the system, adapted to general perusal, and “ a keen
and most just rebuke to those o f the medical profession who daily misrepresent that sys­
tem among their patients and friends.”

Mr. E. answers the charge circulated by a class

o f Allopathists, in all countries and in all times, that there is neither science nor philos­
ophy in the new system.

Appended to the volume are papers from Drs. Grey and Hull,

on the duty o f physicians o f either school to study both systems— the educational re­
quirements o f the Homoeopathic physician, and the progress and state o f the system
throughout the world.
— The Veil Rem oved; or Reflections on David Humphrey's E ssay on the L ife o f
Israel Putnam, etc. By J ohn F e l l o w s . 12mo. pp. 231. N ew Y o r k : James D.
Lockw ood.

14.

T he author o f this volume seems to think that some portions o f the history o f our
glorious revolution has been perverted, by awarding undue honor to some, to the neglect
o f those more deserving; and his object in the present volume is, to show that the state­
ments promulgated to the world by Col. Humphreys, and others, o f the wonderful prow­
ess and achievements o f Israel Putnam, are not true, and that the credit bestowed upon
him is disreputable to an intelligent and free people. H e disclaims any feeling o f ill
will towards Gen. Putnam or any o f his family, none o f whom, he says, he has ever
known.

Whatever may be the conclusion reached by those who peruse these investi­

gations, o f one thing we feel certain— they will find much in the volume, touching the
men and events o f the revolution, that is new and interesting.
15.

— Charles Merton, or the Young Patriot. A Tale o f the American Revolution. By
N ew Y o r k : Dayton & Newman. 1843.
A n interesting tale, designed for the amusement o f children. Many o f the events
M a r y S. B. D a n a .

and scenes o f the revolution are presented in the attractive and agreeable form o f nar­
rative, partly fictitious and partly real.




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16. — Farnhatn’s Travels in the Great W estern Prairies, the Anahuac and R ocky Moun­
tains, and in the Oregon Territory.
This is the first o f a series o f books, coming from the press o f Messrs. Greeley &
McEIrath, expressly designed for the p eop le; and a good beginning is this volume o f
Travels. The track over which the adventurous author travelled, lay over a very large
tract o f those vast plains lying between the states and the great chain o f the R ocky
mountains, and between the Lake o f the W oods and the R io Bravo del Norte, which,
together with their inhabitants, & c., & c., are minutely described. T he author travelled
nine hundred miles in a northerly direction among the R ocky mountains— these, and
their rivers and deserts and people, are particularly described.

Oregon territory was

traversed, and is described with such minuteness and apparent fidelity, that one may gain
from the perusal a very clear and, we presume, correct idea o f that interesting part o f
the public domain.
the work.

Commander W ilkes’ report on the Oregon territory, is appended to

This report must be considered o f high authority; and, as it embraces the

last accounts from the territory, an account based on surveys and explorations by au­
thority o f the nation, it cannot fail to add much value to Mr. Farnham’s otherwise very
excellent work.
17. — The Flower Garden, a Sequel to Floral Biography.
N ew Y o r k : John S. Taylor & Co. 1843.

By

C

h arlotte

E

l iz a b e t h .

Another edition o f this charming work has appeared in a costume befitting its intrin­
sic worth, and will, we are confident, be welcomed cordially by the reading community.
It is a service o f no light value which is rendered to the public by the diffusion o f books
o f this character— at once simple and elegant in expression, noble and elevating in
thought, and pure in principle— its life-like pictures o f G od’s beautiful works, and the
sweet and holy teachings they elicit, breathe through the weary mind something o f that
refreshment and quiet happiness which is found in communion with God amidst His
visible creation.

There is a tone o f sadness running through the narratives, but in what

true lay o f life is that key-note silent ?

Still rising above it and all, is heard the triumph­

ant song o f faith, catching the far-off echo o f the heavenly anthem o f exulting jo y and
praise for sanctified earthly sorrows.

*

18. — Incidents o f Travel in Yucatan. By J o h n L . S t e p h e n s , Author o f “ Incidents o f
Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petrsea, and the Holy Land,” “ Incidents o f Travel in Cen­
tral America, Chiapas, and Yucatan,” etc. Illustrated by 120 Engravings. In 2 vols.
8vo. N ew Y o r k : Harper & Brothers. 1843.
In the author’s “ Incidents o f Travel in Central America,” he intimated his intention
to make a thorough exploration o f the ruins o f Yucatan.

That intention he has since

carried into effect; and the two interesting volumes before us, which came to hand too
late for review this month, shall receive that attention in our next they so richly deserve.
19. — Linear Drawing Book. Designed for the Use o f Schools and Practical Purposes.
By S a m u e l S m i t h , Professor o f Drawing in St. Mary’s College, Baltimore. Phila­
delphia : Edward C. Biddle. 1843.
T he author o f this book offers no new mode o f instruction, intended to work miracles
in a given number o f lessons.

It supplies a large number o f examples, in such order

and arrangement that each page is more or less grounded on the preceding.

Looking

to instruction and not novelty, Mr. Smith has selected those subjects that are known,
and have received general approbation.

T he plan is calculated to lead scholars on pro­

gressively, without the use o f compass or rule, until they becom e practical draughtsmen.
20. — Juvenile Drawing B ook; being the Rudiments o f the A rt in a series o f P rogres­
sive Lessons. Designed by J o h n R . S m i t h . Philadelphia: John W . M oore. 1843.
Similar in its character and design to the book mentioned above, though perhaps adapt­
ed to younger beginners.