Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : December 1842, Vol. VII, No. VI

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H U N T ’S

M E R C H A N T S ’ M A G A Z IN E .
D E C E M B E R , 1 842.

Art.

I.—THE COMMERCIAL DECLINE OF SPAIN.

IN TR O D U C T IO N — T E R R IT O R IA L LOSSES O F SPA IN — S P E C IA L R E SO U R C E S O F S PA IN — M ANU­
F A C T U R IN G R E SO U R C E S — C O M M E R C IA L AND T R A D IN G IN T E R E S T S O F S PA IN — E X P O R T S
AND IM P O R T S — T A R IF F — R E S U L T S O F T H E SPA N ISH T A R IF F ON T H E M A N U FA C T U R E S AND
TR A D E OF T H E K IN G D O M , E T C .

S p a i n is now held together more by the compression of surrounding
interests, than by the attraction of cohesion. Weak and friendless, im­
bued with the infirmities of old age without its wisdom, with the misery
of misfortune without its experience, she stands at the gate of the grave­
yard of nations, without the power, or perhaps the wish to avert the doom
that awaits her. Buried she soon must be ; the principle of vitality which
she possesses is not strong enough to hold her in her orbit for another
cycle: she has fallen into that last lethargy from which but few awake ;
and when once stretched out in full in that venerable mausoleum which
history will place over her remains, the emblems of her sovereignty,
the successive indices of her rise, her decline, her fall, will present a les­
son over which it will be well for her successors to ponder. There were
no indigenous seeds of disease which, in their appointed time, eat away
her strength and destroyed her vitality. With a climate most lovely and
fruitful, with a country most beautiful and diversified, with riches inex­
haustible, with colonies which covered in their nets once a whole hemi­
sphere, she was endowed, when Charles Y. resigned the imperial crown,
with every blessing that could ensure her prosperity and prolong her ex­
istence. Her blessings she has made unto herself curses. Her popula­
tion has weltered away in the halo of the most benignant atmosphere in
the old world; her soldiers have lost their courage, with their ambition ;
her colonies have dropped off, not because as ripe fruit they no longer
needed the parent sap, but because the bough to which they clung refused
them further nourishment; her territory has been pared away by the sur­
rounding powers, till little is left but the inferior core; and from the first
among the leading nations of Europe, she has become the last. Queen
Maria Isabella II. was left in September, 1833, in the third year of her
age, the infant monarch of a country whose scattered elements were losing,
V O L . V I I . — n o . v.
42




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Commercial Decline o f Spain.

by the disasters of civil war, the little that remains from the ruin of
foreign invasion. We have said, that the fall of Spain is to be attributed
not to inherent debility, or internal disease. To what, in fact, it is to be
attributed, it is our object in the succeeding pages to exhibit.
I . ---- TH E T E R R ITO R IA L LOSSES OF S P A IN .

When Charles V., the grandson of the Emperor Maximilian I., and the
heir through him of the vast dominions of the house of Hapsburg, entered
in childhood upon the inheritance which descended from his ancestors on
the mother’s side, his first great duty was to consolidate from the dis­
jointed materials which were scattered around him,— from Castile, which
fell into his hands through his grandmother Isabella, and from Arragon
and Navarre, the possessions of his grandfather Ferdinand,—the united
kingdom of Spain. Under his domains were included, in part through
marriage, in part through conquest, the Netherlands, Naples, Sicily, Sar­
dinia, Malta, and the Balearic islands, containing a surface of 220,740
square miles. During a reign of forty years, Charles V. had so used and
nurtured the great resources committed to his charge, that at the time of
his resignation, the kingdom of Spain, with its dependencies, had arisen to
the first rank among European nations. By the conquest of the dukedom
of Milan, and through the acquisition of those immense tracts of country
which were then included within Mexico, Peru, and Chili, the Spanish
territory in Europe was swollen to 222,000, in America to 3,560,000 square
miles; and with an army the best disciplined in the world, with a navy
the most extensive, the Spanish emperor became possessed of a degree of
political power, which, since Charlemagne, had been unequalled.
Never was there a monarch more fitted than Philip II., both on account
of his sleepless energy, his crafty politics, his personal power, for the in­
ferior management of so great a charge. For forty-two years he con­
tinued on the throne in full possession of his remarkable faculties ; he
was supported by the most distinguished statesmen and generals of his
a g e ; he was enriched by the most inexhaustible mines of wealth; his
domains, by the extinction of the male branch of the royal family of
Portugal, were swollen by the accession of that powerful country with its
American dependencies: and yet, when he left the throne, he left it with
its internal strength dissipated. He had mistaken the spirit of the age;
he had broken where he had meant to bend ; by the daring irritation of his
tyranny he had stimulated one portion of his people to rebellion—he had
degraded the other into imbecility; and when he died, the Netherlands
were independent, and Spain exhausted.
From the date of the death of Philip II., Spain has suffered irreparable
losses, which have not only diminished her population and shrunk her
territory, but have destroyed her internal prosperity and her external
trade. From Philip III. the acknowledgment of the independence of the
Netherlands was finally w rung; and a treaty, which never from the
iron hand of Philip II. could have been drawn, was executed, by which
Spain lost 8,560 square miles. His successor, Philip IV. lost, in 1640, the
kingdom of Portugal, (34,400 square miles,) with its colonial possessions,
(3,660,000 square miles,) together with the island of Jamaica, (5,380
square m iles;) in 1655, and in 1659 by the Pyrenean peace, the coun­
tries of Roussillon and Artois, a part of Charolais, and a number of forts
in Flanders, Nemours, and Hennegan. Under Charles II., the last and




Commercial Decline o f Spain.

495

most feeble of the Spanish line of the house of Hapsburg, (1665— 1700,)
Spain, through the entire inefficiency of her plans, and the utter weakness
of her exertions, sunk without an effort into the second rank of European
powers. Through the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, (1668,) she lost the re­
mainder of her Netherland reservations, together with half of Saint Do­
mingo, and by the peace of Nymwegen, the whole of Franche Comte.
Through the twelve years’ war of the Spanish succession, between the
houses of Bourbon and Hapsburg, a fresh dismemberment took place.
The house of Hapsburg, after being recompensed with the Spanish terri­
tories north of the Pyrenees, and seven years later with the island of Sar­
dinia, was forced to cede to the house of Savoy the kingdom of Sicily ; by
which process Spain lost a territory amounting to 67,100 square miles.
Under the Bourbon Anjou ascendancy, which commenced with the reign
of Philip V., (1713— 1746,) Gibraltar, and the island of Minorca, were
ceded to Great Britain, amounting together to 305 square miles. Under
the new dynasty the Spanish dominions, which at its accession amounted
in Europe to 168,640 square miles, and in America, to 4,720,000 square
miles, remained for fifty years undiminished : because, in the first place,
France from an hereditary rival had become a family ally ; and because,
in the second place, the Netherlands, and the kingdoms of Lombardy and
of Naples, which had become the theatre of war, had long ceased to be
parts of the Spanish king’s heritage. On the establishment of the Bour­
bons on the throne of the two Sicilies, (1735,) and of Parma and Piacen­
za, (1748,) it was established by the contracting powers as an indispen­
sable requisite to their consent, that on no contingency of descent should
the crowns of the two newly established families be allowed to unite with
that of the Spanish Bourbons. On the death without heirs, therefore, of
Ferdinand VI., (1746, d. August 15, 1759,) Charles III., king of Naples,
being called to the Spanish throne, his second son, Charles, following him
to Spain as Prince of the Asturias, on account of the idiocy of his elder
brother, the third son, Ferdinand, then eight years old, was proclaimed
king of the two Sicilies.
During the reign of Charles III., Spain lifted herself to a level, in some
degree, commensurate with her great resources. The acquisition of Lou­
isiana, the conquests among the Portuguese possessions in South America,
the recovery of Florida,* the re-conquest of Minorca, (1782,) valuable as
they were, were far inferior to the advantages which arose from the res­
toration of trade, the establishment of manufactures, and the regulation,
under Aranda, Compomanes, and the Duke of Herida Blanca, the most
eminent statesmen of their day, of the disordered finances of the realm.
But promising as was the revival of Spanish power under auspices so
happy, it was soon over-balanced by a succession of misfortunes which
took their origin in the vacillatory and indolent character of Charles IV.
Stretching over a period of twenty years, (13 Dec. 1788, abdicating 19
March, 1808,) and encountering in its lapse the shock of the French revo­
lution, it is not to be wondered that the reign of that unfortunate monarch
should have been productive of consequences most grave and disastrous.
From the treaty of Basle, (July 22, 1795,) by which a strict alliance
* It is a curious fact, not generally noted by the historians, that Florida had been ceded
to England at the first peace of Paris, (1763,) but was ceded back again to Spain in the
peace of Versailles, (1783.)




496

Commercial Decline o f Spain.

with France was clenched, Spain was exposed to the most lawless incur­
sions, both from the allies whom she acquired, and the enemies she pro­
voked. Fleet after fleet was lost on the high seas ; cargoes of gold and
silver, fresh from South America, were captured within the ports to which
they were bound ; a navy, once the most mighty, and then the most cum­
brous in Europe, was swept from the ocean; the islands of Trinidad
(February 18, 1797) and Minorca, (November 15, 1798,) were succes­
sively conquered by the English ; and the entire foreign and colonial
trade annihilated. By the continental peace, concluded at Amiens on
March 17, 1802, a temporary reprieve was obtained, as a price for which,
Spain ceded Trinidad to England, and to France the state of Louisiana.
On the renewal of hostilities between France and Great Britain, Spain
paid at the commencement, (from October 30,1803, to December 12,1804,)
a monthly subsidy of 4,000,000 francs, as a price of neutrality. It was
not long before the internal dissensions broke out, which led to the over­
throw of the reigning family. The seaboard was rent with open rebellion,
the interior was distracted with secret intrigue, and the court, whose
attention should have been absorbed with the great emergency it was
soon to meet, was occupied in the constant bickerings which were taking
place between the blind and feeble king and Prince Ferdinand of the As­
turias. The three-century bond between Spain and the American colonies was ruptured. The reign of Joseph Napoleon, (from January 6,
1808, to December 8, 1813,) produced nothing more than a temporary
influence on the reigning dynasty, as Ferdinand VII. was recognised by
the treaty of Paris (1814) as occupying the same throne from which he
had been driven by the Emperor of France in 1808. Melancholy, how­
ever, was the change between Spain after the restoration, and Spain before
the invasion. The American colonies were irrevocably lost—in part by
conquest, in part by revolution ; and though Ferdinand VII. attempted
on his return to recover his alienated possessions, he found his arms too
weak to effect so great an enterprise. So exhausted was the strength of
the once giant empire of Spain, that after the formal renunciation of Guatimala, (July 1, 1823,)—after the defeat of the Spanish army at Ayacucho, (December 9, 1824,) and the consequential evacuation of Peru,—
after the surrender of St. Juan de Ulloa, (November 18, 1825,) by which
the last fortress in America was lost,—the mother country gave up all
hopes of retaining her ancient authority over her rich, but apostate chil­
dren. Her territories had lost under the two last mentioned reigns more
than 4,600,000 square miles of land, which had been endowed by nature
with the most diversified and inexhaustible treasures; and all that re­
mained from a dominion once almost universal in the new world, was the
island of Cuba, (46,000 square miles,) called by Ferdinand VII., when
all else had deserted him, the “ faithful and true
and St. Juan de
Puerto Rico, (3,780 square miles,) with a few of the smaller islands that
form part of the great Western Archipelago. The colonies in the other
hemisphere are still more unimportant. In Asia, Spain still possesses the
Manilla, or Philippine islands, with a part of the surrounding clusters,
which are more remarkable for the amount of their territory, (48,400
square miles,) than for the wealth of their trade, or the number of their
inhabitants. In Africa, there still remains the first and most historical
of the Spanish conquests—the cities of Ceuta, Melilla, Pennon de Velez,
and Alhuzemas, with a territory cramped by invasions within 30 square




Commercial Beeline o f Spain.

497

miles, which formed, centuries ago, the battle-ground where Christians
and Moors met in that deadly shock which drove the crescent from the
South of Spain, and the north of Africa. As the European territory
of Spain, as settled by the Versailles treaty, amounts to 168,940 square
miles, 272,080 square miles may be taken as forming the present
measure of her possessions in the hemispheres together. On the acces­
sion of Maria Isabella II., on September 29, 1833, the kingdom was left
to experience, under the imbecile government of an infant queen, those
accumulated disasters which the misgovernment of three centuries had
produced. In the words of Schubert, one of the most frigid of the German
historians, the horrors which have been experienced in the intestine wars
that succeeded, have surpassed in terror the utmost atrocities of the dark
ages.
I I . ---- TH E PHYSICAL RESOURCES OF S PA IN .

1.
Agriculture.—If the reports of travellers and of foreign geographers
can be taken as correct, only, one twelfth part of the Spanish soil is now
subjected to the plough.* Such does not always appear to have been the
case. Miguel Osorio y Redin, who wrote in the last half of the seven­
teenth century, estimates one half of the Pyrenean peninsula as cultivated;
and of that half, two-thirds, at least, of the highest value. The more ac­
curate investigations of the Junta de medios rate the superficial area of
Spain at 104,197,720 fanegados,f of which the following estimate is re­
ported :—
Cultivated la n d ................................
Meadow land....................................
Fallow land......................................
Irredeemable land...........................
Swamp and alluvial land...............

Fanegados.

Acres.

55,000,000
15,000,000
13,000,000
4,000,000
17,194,720

60,000,000
16,000,000
14,000,000
4,200,000
18,500,000

104,194,720
112,700,000
Total
According to the materials laid before the Cortes, the cultivated land
at the time of the French invasion, was thus divided:—
Fanegados.

The nobility more than one half............ 28,306,700
The clergy one sixth................................ 9,093,400
The commune of the cities, and a few
of the citizens, about one third........... 17,599,900

Acres.

30.500.000
10 , 000,000

19.500.000

Total................................................ 55,000,000
60,000,000
In agricultural success, Valencia stands above the remaining provinces,
and is exempted, by the blessings she has thus received, from poverty,
which would otherwise be universal. She produces, far beyond her wants,
rice, corn, oil, and fruits. Granada and Andalusia are more peculiarly
adapted for fruits, wine, and the cultivation of the olive, and the interior
provinces to the raising and grazing of live-stock, producing no more grain
than is necessary for the most meager consumption. In the northern
* A. Borrego, der National reiehtum, die Finanzen und die Staatsschuld des Konigsreich
Spanien. Manheim, 1834. 8vo.
t A fanegado contains 5,500 English square yards.




42*

498

Commercial Decline o f Spain.

provinces, where the climate forbids the growth of the olive and the rich
fruits of the south, the increased ratio of the population requires a far
greater consumption of corn and the coarser grains. By the stimulus
thus atforded, agriculture within their limits has been forced to a much
higher pitch than it would otherwise have attained; and were it not for
the oppressive excise which has been adopted through the whole kingdom,
as well as for the total want of internal improvements, the north of Spain
might have become the granary of the south of Europe. The relations
which might thus have been created, have been reversed. Neglected
even more by the hand of man than blessed by the hand of heaven, the
districts of Galicia, of Asturia, of Biscay, of Leon, of Arragon, and of Cata­
lonia, capable from nature of the production of an illimitable harvest,
have depended on France, on Barbary, and on Sicily, for the ordinary
necessaries of life. In the north of Spain, and in the central provinces,
the chief implements of agriculture, where the soil permits, are oxen and
the plough ; although in Laja, the enterprise of the inhabitants has not
devised any thing more commodious than the naked hand of the farmer
himself.* The harvest takes place usually in the last half of June ; the
corn is left laying on the fields for weeks, until it can be trodden out by
the feet of men or of mules. The straw is suffered to remain on the
fields, and the grain itself is carelessly stowed away in rough outhouses,
or in caves. The principal productions of the upper provinces are wheat,
rice, Indian corn, millet, barley, (both of which are used for fodder,) peas,
and beans. According to the census of 1799, the number of inhabitants
amounted to 10,380,000, and the average yearly consumption of breadstuffs to 51,800,000 fa n eg a sf or 81,880,000 bushels ; while the average
yearly importation of bread-stuffs amounted to 1,000,000 fanegas, or
1,600,000 bushels. Since 1799, the average ratio of the production of
corn has been a little greater, not on account of the increased activity of
the people at large, but on account of the transfer of labor from sheep­
raising to other occupations.
The cultivation of the grape is the branch of industry most suitable to
the climate and soil of Spain; and though in the provinces of Granada,
Andalusia, Valencia, La Mancha, and Catalonia, alone it is entirely suc­
cessful, it is spread to a considerable extent over the whole kingdom. In
consequence of the wonderful uniformity of successive seasons, there is less
fluctuation in the vine crops in the south of Spain, than in any other part
of Europe. The average yearly production of wine in the whole king­
dom amounts to 36,000,000 arrobas, or 145,120,000 gallons; of which
one seventeenth part is exported. In Catalonia and Estremadura, brandy
is manufactured to a large amount, from inferior wine and the husk and
pulp of the grape, and upwards of 240,000 eimers, or 4,353,600 gallons,
are annually exported. Not less considerable is the amount produced of
raisins, which are in part sent in great masses to the interior for home
consumption ; and part, consisting of 200,000 centners,%exported to foreign
countries. The products of the grape-culture constituted, in 1795, one
* Borrego confesses that the agricultural machinery of Spain, is as coarse and clumsy
as imaginable. If English farmers, in states, could be transferred to Spanish farms, the
crops would be multiplied ten-fold.
+ A fanega is equal to one bushel, two pecks, and two quarts.
t A centner is equal to one hundred and three pounds English.




Commercial Beeline o f Spain.

499

i

third of the Spanish exports, exceeding in value 150,000,000 reals, or
$183,740,000.
Malaga stands ahead of her sister provinces, not only in the manufac­
ture of wine, but in the culture of the olive. With seven thousand vine­
yards, she produces annually 250,000 eimers of wine, or over 4,500,000
gallons ; and with seven hundred mills for the pressure of the olive, she
exports 300,000 arrobas, or 1,273,000 gallons ; which is nearly equalled
by Seville, by Valencia, and by the Balearian islands. The Spanish oil
is not equal to the French in quality, or irf value, though it very often
bears its name. The cultivation of fruit is, by the climate, particularly
favored. On the coast of the Mediterranean sea, and on the Balearian
islands, in Valencia, in Malaga, and the surrounding towns, the fig and
orange are capable of production in the greatest profusion; and though
in consequence of the superior facilities of labor and transportation pos­
sessed by the adjacent states, they are undersold in the foreign market,
they might monopolize, were their natural advantages followed out, the
whole exterior demand.
Into the remaining articles of production, it is not necessary for us to
inquire. They none of them leave margin for foreign exportation; and
but few of them are sufficient for domestic demand. The aggregate value
of the agricultural staples of Spain, among which are included cattle and
silk, was reported in 1803 at 5,143,938,848 reals, or $639,242,292.
Canga-Arguilles, minister of the interior, fifteen years later, raised the
average, though without any satisfactory estimates, to 8,572,220,591
reals, or $1,196,527,000. The whole capital employed in agriculture he
rates at 68,671,394,866 reals, or $8,584,100,000 ; and the value of the
implements therein used at 3,754,777,659 reals, or $469,345,900.
2.
Grazing.—The operations of grazing are now regarded by the Span­
iards with indifference, even greater than those of agriculture. Every
year has witnessed the diminution of those great flocks of sheep, whiclj
were spread once over the whole peninsula; and there is every proba­
bility to believe, that in a few years more the species will, in that coun­
try, be extinct. The reports which we possess concerning the whole
grazing interest of Spain are so uncertain, that we shall pass oyer the less
prominent division, and limit our attention to the raising of horses and
sheep.*
In the middle ages, there was no branch of industry more profitable to
Spain than the trade in horses. Since the opening of the last century,
however, so great has been the encroachments by the race of mules upon
their more generous predecessors, and so great the devastation from Napo­
leon’s Spanish campaigns, that the authorities of Andalusia were obliged
to offer a considerable bounty for the culture of a breed which had once
been distinguished for its beauty and numbers. The census of horses, as
last taken, amounted to 100,000 head ; and though it evidently was based
on a miscalculation, there is no reason in rating the present number at
more than 250,000. So great has been the decrease, that it is questionable
whether a respectable army could be equipped without resort to confiscation.
Still greater, however, has been the depreciation of a staple which was
once the richest and most certain in the south of Europe. There was
* Schubert’s Algemeine Staatskunde, III. 59, 60.
Borrego.




Kottenkamp’s Uebersetzung, v.

500

Commercial Beeline o f Spain.

a time when the wool of the merino sheep commanded a price almost in­
estimable, and when to the Spanish graziers and shepherds, the manufac­
tures of the north were placed in a relation of comparative subjection. It
was not long before the inquiries of the surrounding states were awakened
as to the permanency of so great a monopoly; and after several attempts
to ennoble the native breeds of the north of Europe, by grafting them with
their more favored rivals, the invading armies of France, as they recross­
ed the Pyrenees, managed to carry back with them a large portion of the
original race in person. So great had been the increase before the inva­
sion, that at the opening of the eighteenth century, the numbers of sheep
in Spain were estimated at from ten to twelve millions. One half of them
alone were merjnos, which on account of their great tenderness and sus­
ceptibility, were carried twice a year from their summer residence, in the
stony and exposed mountains of old Castile, Leon, and Arragonia, to the
soft and lovely meadows of Granada and Andalusia, where they passed
the winter months. In troops of from 1,000 to 1,500 head, they were
marched from north to south, convoyed by horsemen who could protect
them from incursions, and headed, it is said, by a quarter-master general.*
By a royal edict, fences were to be removed from all sections through
which they were to pass ; and by a species of protection, therefore, which
is more simple, though not more effectual than those now in use, the agri­
cultural interests were prostrated at the feet of the manufacturing. Had
the transfer of capital thus stimulated, not been carried into effect—had
the laborers paid less attention to their sheep, and more to their land—it is
not probable, that their century-collected wealth would have been driven
off in the van of a French foraging guard. The sheep in 1814 made a
longer journey than usual, and found themselves transported in a single
trip, from the rich and sunny meadows of their native land, to the cold
and thin fields of the northern states.
So costly has become the keeping of the remnant of the ancient flock,
so successfully has the merino wool been rivalled in other countries, that
in some seasons, the produce of single herds has been less in amount by
twenty per cent than the sum taken to insure it. The yearly exports to
Great Britain of wool have fallen, in the course of the present century,
one sixth in their value.
3.
Mining.—In times long gone, the mines of Spain were famous beyond
all of the then civilized world.j- The Carthaginians and Phoenicians es­
tablished colonies on the southern coast of the peninsula, on account of
the rich metals it confined; and an active trade was at once started.
Many are the allusions in the Roman historians to the statues and medals
drawn from the Spanish mines ; and Polybius, Livy, and Appianus have
left specific enumerations of the booty of a similar order which was brought
home from each Punic war. In Asturia, Galicia, and Lusitania, gold was
freely found; and the yearly production of the mines was averaged by
Pliny at 20,000 lb s.; at a value which has been estimated at 30,000
* Schubert’s Spanien. Schaafzucht, p. 61. W e do not know whether the officers
of high rank in the Spanish service were usually so employed ; but if so, no small key
would be given to their conduct during the peninsular war.
f Plinius Hist. Nat. III. c. 3. “ Metallis, plumbi, ferri, alris, argente, aure tota forme
Hispania scatet; citerior et specularibus lapidibus, Bcetica et minio : sunt et marmorum
lapidicinae.”




Commercial Decline o f Spain.

501

marks, or about 6,000,000 dollars.* In mines both of silver and gold,
Spain was considered to bear pre-eminence among ancient nations.f Not
less distinguished for their excellence were the mines of quicksilver,:}: of
metallic colors,§ of copper, and of lead.|| Even as late as the middle
ages, the mines continued to be worked with activity and regularity; and
though the success was not as great as formerly, workmen were collected
from all parts of the continent, and the returns were such as to richly
remunerate labor of any kind whatever. But the discovery of America,
and the opening of the rich and unworked veins which threaded the sur­
face of the new continent, dissipated at once the energies of the native
miners. Scarcely in a single province were the old works carried o n ;
and even in those which were still in operation, the profits were found to
be less than the cost. In 1535, Charles I., inspired by that same spirit of
false benevolence which prompted his family to destroy the industry of
Spain under pretence of protecting it, issued an edict, which, after stating
the mines of America to afford a more profitable investment than those of
the old country, forbade peremptorily the working of the latter as unne­
cessary. It was not until the eighteenth century that the damper was
removed ; and then, when at last, at Cazalla, at Constantina, on Sierra
Morena, and at Guadalcal in Estremadura, the old works were opened,
the enterprise failed for want both of impulsive energy and of permanent
support. In a few years the wounds were again filled up, the old station
houses removed, the surrounding villages broken up ; and when, in another
century, the antiquarian explores among the ruins of the Spanish empire
the remains of those once magnificent excavations, he will find that veins
the most fruitful were deserted at the moment when, at last, by the labor
of generations, the secret of their riches had been discovered.
Among the coarser metals, lead has been the most profitably produced.
Till the time of Ferdinand VII. the whole business was a monopoly in the
hands of the crown ; and so great was the ris§ in the produce of tlie
works when, in 1820, the monopoly was lifted off, that the income was
increased in three years fifteen fold.IT The price of lead was depressed
from forty to fifty per cent; but even at the low price to which it had
then fallen, the revenue yielded to the government amounted to 3,000,000
dollars.
The next most important mineral production of Spain is quicksilver.
The richest mine is at Almada, in the province of Mancha, (Ciudad-Real,)
which, since its severance from the government, has been worked with
zeal and success. Under Charles III. and Charles IV. the highest annual
product was 18,000 hundred weights ; and at present, notwithstanding the
separation of the American colonies, where quicksilver was of indispensa­
ble use in the gold and silver mines, the value produced is averaged at
* The terms used by Pliny, (L. xxxiii. c. 4,) are worthy of citation: “ Vicence
trullia pondo ad hunc modum annis singulis Asturiam atque Gallaeciam et Lusitaniam
prastare quidam tradiderunt, ita ut plurimum Asturia gignat: neque in alia parte terrarum tot saeculis haec fertilitas.”
+ “ Argentum reperitur in Hispania pulcherrimum, id quoque in sterili solo atque
etiam montibus ; et ubieunque una inverita vena ist, non procul invenitur aliae.”
t Pliny, xxxiii. c. 6, u. 8.

§ Ibid. c. 2, u. 7 ; iii. c. 3.

H From 31,000 to 500,000 hundred weight.




H Ibid, xxxiv. c. 16.

Commercial Decline o f Spain.

502

22,000 hundred weights. The amount of the quicksilver exported is esti­
mated at 800,000 dollars, of which one fourth is sent to England.
Iron mines are to be found throughout Spain, but more particularly in
the Baskischen provinces, in Arragonia, in Biscay, and in Granada. In
Guipuzcon, in the former provinces, there are 141 forges; and in Sierra
Nevuda the average of iron drawn from the ordinary ore, amounts to
eighty-two per cent. The amount produced by the whole realm is at pre­
sent estimated at 400,000 hundred weight, valued at 700,000 dollars.
The entire mineral productions of Spain are valued at 20,000,000 dol­
lars ;* and great as is the amount, it would be more than doubled if the
mining operations on which it is based, could be supported by one half of
the physical strength and mental energy which were displayed by the
Spanish armies at the revolution of the Netherlands.
I I I .---- TH E M AN UFACTURING RESOURCES OF S P A IN .

In the middle ages the domestic industry of Spain was principally ori­
ental. From along the shores of the Mediterranean sea the Arabs had
drawn the rude and primary manufactures of those days. The chief sta­
ples were produced by Moorish industry alone; the Moors were the most
active workmen ; and great was the discomfiture to the consumers both
of Spain and of the north of Europe, when, through the wars between
Castile and Granada, both manufactures and manufacturers were driven
from the land. From the days of Ferdinand and Isabella the fall of Span­
ish manufactures is to be dated. Even during the flush created in the
reigns of Charles V. and Philip II., but little impetus was given to the
principal branches of Spanish industry; and it is to be questioned whether
the splendid schemes of conquest in which those two great monarchs were
perpetually engaged,—whether the rich and romantic adventures opened
by the discovery of the new world,— whether the spirit of unbending chiv­
alry exhaled by the court and imbibed by the people, did not combine to
instil into the minds of the community a contempt for work, which has
been a chief ingredient in their subsequent prostration. Don Quixotte
would have fought a windmill in the lists, but he never would have sub­
mitted to have worked it in the field; and it was because the Spanish
people, like their great hero and personification, made war against every
species of industry in detail, that industry itself took flight from the
Spanish peninsula.
The inferiority of Spanish manufactures was in a small degree removed
by the alliance with France, brought about by the accession of the Bour­
bon family. It is true, a fresh demand was made for the introduction of
French and English staples, but at the same time efforts were entered into
for the establishment of national manufactures. In the reign of Charles
III., laborers were brought into the country from France, Germany, and
the Netherlands, in order to stimulate the production of wool, linen, and
paper. The attempt was unsuccessful; not because the newly imported
workmen were inefficient, but because they were persecuted and driven
from the land by the inquisition. Under the reign of Charles IV. still
greater obstructions followed from the blockade, by the British fleet, of the
principal Spanish ports; and the state of industry was not much bettered
under the short supremacy of the Napoleon family, as whatever might




* Schubert’s Algemeine Staatskunde, iii. 70.

Commercial Decline o f Spain.

503

have been the intention of Joseph, the country was too much occupied '
with repelling invasion to be able to perform its domestic duties. By the
census of 1803, the yearly value of the manufactures was placed at
1,152,650,707 reals. No sooner were the Bourbons restored than they
set to work at the great work of protecting Spanish industry, with a vigor,
which, if it had been backed by wisdom, might have restored for a time
the rapid decline of their heritage. An embargo was at once laid down
on the egress of gold, and the ingress of manufactures; and so heavy, so
exhausting was the tariff imposed, that if it had not been ridiculously in­
operative through the smuggling facilities of the Spanish coast, it would
have sequestered Spain for the time being from the rest of the commercial
world. Smugglers sentry the whole shore; and over the Pyrenees,
through Gibraltar, through the whole rocky coast both of the Mediterra­
nean and of the Atlantic, goods have been introduced so freely and so
cheaply as to throw out of market at once the native productions. Pa­
triotic associations have been formed, pledging their members to buy
domestic manufactures alone; but whether the manufactures in question
are not to be found, or the people themselves are unwilling to take them,
there has been but little essential change through their exertions. Even
according to the most sanguine calculations of the government, there has
been a falling off rather than an increase since the commencement of the
present century.*
1. Wool.—The wool manufactures are by no means commensurate in
quantity or in quality to the raw article as it is produced in the surround­
ing country. The finest wool is sent abroad; and even of that which
remains, not more than one half is made up by domestic labor. So ineffi­
cient are the Spanish manufacturers, that notwithstanding the cost of im­
portation and the enormous tariff imposed, notwithstanding the fact that
there are laborers in plenty on the very spot where the wool is produced,
the balance against Spain in the article of woollen goods alone, amounts
to 700,000 dollars. The average yearly value of the woollen productions
of Spain was placed in 1803 at 123,091,848 reals, or about 15,373,980
dollars. The proper value amounts now to about $8,000,000, or about one
ninth of the entire produce of Spain.
2. Cotton.—The cotton manufactures are the youngest in Spain, and are
even more inefficient than those of wool, as the balance against them and in
favor of those of France and Great Britain, is as great as 4,000,000 dol­
lars. The average produce of the cotton manufactures is placed at
48,168,098 reals, or 6,021,012 dollars.
3. Linen.—The quantity of linen manufactured in Spain falls as the
demand for it increases. The average produce is now placed at
192,853,413 reals, or about 22,731,600 dollars, though the estimate is
based upon reports so exaggerated as to deprive them of implicit credence.
It is unnecessary to enter at large upon the long though feeble cata­
logue of Spanish manufactures. In that long period of time which has
intervened between the death of Charles V. and the succession of Maria
Isabella, every specific article of production has been in turn patronized,
and while the most exorbitant bounties were offered to the home manufac­
turer, the most exclusive duties were thundered against those of foreign
states. A net was hung over the Spanish ports which caught and inter­
* Borrego, der National reichtum, p. 33.




504

Commercial Beeline o f Spain.

cepted whatever might savor of competition ; and before a century elapsed,
so effectual had been the working of the established policy, that the com­
merce of the realm was dead and the manufactures in premature old age.
So^enervated, so impoverished had the people become from their depriva­
tion of the commonest foreign conveniences, and confinement to branches
of labor to which neither their constitutions nor their climate was suitable,
that they have sunk down into a state of degradation and beggary which
the inhabitants of the most miserable poorhouse would scorn.
I V .---- T H E TRA D ING IN TER E ST S OF S P A IN .

Washed through almost her whole boundary by the two great seas of
the old world, pierced through her whole coast with harbors the most
commodious and accessible, Spain possesses facilities for commerce un­
surpassed by those of any of the surrounding European nations. To the
east and southeast she forms the gate-way to the commerce of those great
regions which are spread beyond the Atlantic ocean; and so vast are the
advantages as a carrying nation that her position gives her, that had she
not stood with her arms folded during the struggle which has gone on
among her neighbors during the last century, she might have swept into
her bosom, by the very passive tendency of gravitation, a large portion of
the trade carried onward through the Mediterranean. Her facilities she
has neglected and abused. When every other nation was struggling ve­
hemently for precedence in the race after the golden apple, she has looked
on from a distance with apathy, and has suffered the prize to pass by her
feet without making an effort to seize it. Not a ship does she send out
from her spacious ports, except on the most urgent domestic necessity;
and so great has been her fall, that from being once the most opulent of
European traders, she now has to resort to her rivals to enable her to pro­
cure, through their bottoms, the most simple articles of home consumption.
The internal trade is in a position still worse. Those deep but narrow
rivers which separate from one another countries the most various and
fertile, have been spanned sometimes only by boards, on which the goat
himself, their principal passenger, is a afraid to tread ; and on spots
where industry, to say nothing of enterprise, would in a few days have
cleared the way, obstructions have have been suffered to remain which
destroyed the channel and corrupted the stream. Madrid exhibits an ap­
pearance of wealth, not from the fertility of its domestic resources, but
from the great quantity of wealth that is brought annually to its treasury
by the noblemen who draw from their distant estates money which they
spend in the capital; and though in Madrid the company of the Gremios
are established,—a company of merchants of great character and credit,
who receive the money of the capitalists at from 3 to 3^ per cent interest
and invest it in the business of trade,—the inherent commercial energies
of the city are extinct. The capital of the St. Ferdinand’s Bank, situated
in Madrid, as established by the decrees of July 9, 1829, was 60,000,000
reals, or about 7,500,000 dollars, divided into 20,000 equal shares.
The external trade of Spain is now limited very much to her few re­
maining American provinces. The following tables exhibit both her
colonial and her foreign trade towards the close of the last century.
Reals

Hollars

1788. Imports to the Am. col. from Spain...500,000,000= 62,000,000.
“ Exports from the Am. col. to Spain...800,000,000=100,000,000.




Commercial Beeline o f Spain.

505

For the same period, the trade with all the European nations together,
is stated to be—
Exports.
1787. . . .178,000,000 reals,. . . .or. . . .22,000,000 dollars.
1788. . . .295,456,178 reals,. . . .or. . . .36,900,000 dollars.
1789. ...289,900,000 reals,. . . .or. . . .36,200,000 dollars.
1792. . . .396,000,000 reals,. . . .or. . . .49,400,000 dollars.
1787.
1788.
1789.
1792.

..
..
..
..

.642,000,000
.666,000,000
.717,379,388
.715,000,000

Imports.
re a ls,.,. . .or.
reals,. ,. . .or.
re a ls,.,. . .or.
re a ls,.,. . .or.

. . .80,200,000 dollars.
. . .82,000,000 dollars.
. . .89,800,000 dollars.
. . .89,400,000 dollars.
The commercial alliance between France and Spain, by the peace of
Basle and the treaty of Ildefonso, (1796,) brought considerable disadvan­
tage to the Spanish shipping. The hostilities which followed, drove the
Spanish ships from the high seas ; the Spanish navy was annihilated ; the
Spanish commerce was destroyed ; and when Spain, on the return of peace,
attempted to recover her old footing, she found the South American trade
wholly occupied by Great Britain and the United States. The whole ex­
ports of Spain, colonial and foreign, had fallen in 1808 to $20,000,000,
a loss of nearly 400 per cen t; while so great was the drain of wealth
caused by the disproportion of the counterbalancing imports, that the
country was impoverished and involved. The Junta de medios, which sat
from 1811 to 1813, estimated the whole mercantile capital of Spain, in­
cluding that employed in coasting, or fishing, at 5,000,000,000 reals, or
about 625,000,000 dollars; and the yearly value of Spanish trade, at
466,363,516 reals, or about 58,200,000 dollars.
The restoration of the Bourbons worked no benefit to Spanish trade.
The American colonies were lost irrevocably—the trade with them, as de­
pendants, was forever gone ; and the mother country, instead of seeking,
as had been the case with both England and France, under similar cir­
cumstances, to establish new and profitable commercial treaties, laid an
embargo between herself and her revolted subjects, which cut off the re­
maining avenue of her wealth. Unable as we are, through the ineffi­
ciency of the government and the confusion of the realm, to collect an
adequate notion of the present state of her trade, we can judge, by taking
the rough, though large estimate of twenty-five million of dollars as its
value, of how great the fall has been since the days which preceded the
French revolution. Both her imports and her exports are now of the
same amount; as that ancient fund of gold which once made up the defi­
ciency, has been long since exhausted. The wholesale business is almost
limited to the hands of English dealers in the more accessible of the*Spa.nish ports, and it is said that through the whole kingdom there is scarcely
a large Spanish importing house of respectability. Cadiz, which as early
as 1801, jutted out on the map as the most prominent of the Spanish har­
bors, and monopolized at that time six sevenths of the foreign commerce,
still receives one third part of the shipping, and bids fair to maintain its
place at the head of the peninsula sea-ports. Barcelona, which is second
in rank, is estimated to command one sixth of the foreign trade, valued at
four million dollars.
V O L . V I I .— N O. V I.




43

506

Commercial Decline o f Spain.

The colonial trade of Spain is the last remnant of her once splendid
maritime sovereignty. The estimate value of the united exports and im­
ports of the island of Cuba, in 1833 and 1834, averaged over 33,750
piasters, or 50,000,000 dollars ; of which one fourth was connected with
the United States, one seventh to Great Britain, one seventh to the Han­
seatic towns, one twentieth to France and Russia, and the remainder to
Spain. The annual income of the island amounted to 9,500,000 piasters,
or about 15,000,000 dollars; of which three fifths was drawn from cus­
toms.* The exports of Porto Rico, for 1834, are rated at 4,500,000 pias­
ters ; and consisted of sugar, coffee, tobacco, cocoa, and cotton. The
income derived by the government was 2,100,000 piasters.
To enter further into the commerce of Spain is not our purpose. A
ruin it is of what was once a vast and splendid edifice ; and the dimen­
sions of the fragments which are strewn around, are of more importance
to the antiquarian than to the merchant. It is on such a spot, however,
that the political economist should stop, and leaning on the shaft of some
broken column, with his eye fixed on the rich and lovely landscape around
him, with a climate most benignant and equal, with a soil most fertile and
various, inquire into the causes which brought about destruction so rapid
and unsparing. The next generation will read of Spanish galleons, and
Spanish three-deckers; and will wonder where was the wealth that re­
quired such huge protection, or the strength that afforded it. The epitaph
of Spain, as a commercial nation, should be written for the use of those
who may wander over the ruins among which she lies; and well will it
be for her rivals and successors if they improve the experience she affords,
before it is brought home to them by their own misfortunes. After a
brief view of the present finances of the Spanish kingdom, we shall con­
clude this article by considering the cause of that commercial decline
which it has been our object to exhibit.
So disordered, so exhausted, are the finances of Spain, that it will re­
quire more than ten years of peace and prosperity to discharge the debts
with which they are loaded, and to redeem the obligations it has incurred.
According to official statement, the debt in July, 1840, consisted of fo­
reign and domestic loans bearing interest of from four to five per cent,
amounting to 5,419,748,553 reals, or 677,331,069 dollars ; and of loans
bearing no interest, amounting to 12,429,833,322 reals, or 1,553,729,165
dollars ; \pf which 9,533,844,347 reals was vested in domestic active
funds, and 461,604,947 reals in domestic passive funds. The whole
amount of the Spanish debt is rated at 17,849,581,905 reals, or about
2,231,190,000 dollars. As the necessities of the government have in­
creased, the meins of satisfying them have diminished ; and it is now a
fact which is, perhaps, without example among debt-incurring nations,
that the deficit of each year is equal to its income. According to the
budget of 1839, the gross income amounted to 837,974,785 reals, while
the expenses of the same year reached 1,556,094,191 reals. In 1840,
the expenses of the state had risen to 1,690,298,172 reals, or 211,274,771
dollars; being more than twice the revenue for the same year. In the
budget of 1840, the civil list was rated at 43,000,000 reals, or 5,362,000
dollars. The national debt requires 306,568,287 reals to keep down its
* For a full and accurate account of the commerce of Cuba, the reader should consult
the Merchants’ Magazine, October, 1842.




Commercial Beeline o f Spain.

507

interest; of which 97,834,631 reals are devoted to the payment of that
due at home ; 200,852,196 reals to that due abroad ; 6,729,383 reals to
the cost of its disbursement; and 1,152,077 reals to various creditor cor­
porations. The expenses of the government, civil, diplomatic, and muni­
cipal, are placed at 328,551,495 reals. The minister of war receives
771,843,560 reals ; of which 280,423,407 reals are the ordinary appro­
priation, and 491,420,153 reals consist of the extraordinary expenses of
the war. How long the present high-pressure system of borrowing to
pay the current expenses of the year, together with half the interest of
the old debt can last, a few more budgets will prove. The crown lands
have been now almost all sold to conceal or destroy deficits, and the time
will soon come, if it has not come already, when the Spanish treasury
will be bankrupt.
It will be seen by a general review of the preceding pages, that the
territory of Spain has been dismembered ; her colonies torn away ; her
credit broken ; her wealth dissipated ; and her prosperity destroyed. We
believe that the cause of so great, so melancholy a fall, is to be traced to
her own commercial legislation. She has from the beginning of her his­
tory, as an independent nation, aimed at the one great object of commer­
cial isolation ; and though her facilities for production have been vast,
and her means of transportation unlimited, she has destroyed her trade;
she has cut off the supplies of her inhabitants, and rendered useless their
industry, by a system of prohibition which has thrown her back three cen­
turies in civilization. It has been asserted lately, on the floor of the
Senate, that the policy of Spain was free trade, and that to that policy her
destruction was to be traced. For the sake of correcting in detail, an
error so vital, we subjoin the Spanish tariff, as it at present exists. It
will be seen, that of the fifteen classes of which it consists, almost the
whole are virtually prohibited : and that by the operation of the aggre­
gate, revenue, commerce, and manufactures must be destroyed :—
1. Grain, provisions, fish of all kinds, wines, oils, and some small arti­
cles, as starch, roots, straw ; of these, seventy-two articles are entirely
prohibited, including corn and seeds, and food, and all kinds of salted and
pickled fish, of whatever kind, (except stock-fish and Newfoundland cod­
fish, at high discriminating duties.)
2. Animals of all kinds—importation prohibited, and exportation sub­
ject to high duties, except on merino sheep, black-cattle, and horses, which
are prohibited.
3. Drugs, herbs, roots, barks, seeds, &c., for dyeing, painting, and
other uses; wax, tallow, pitch, &c., exhibit a list amounting to upwards
of four hundred articles, out pf which number there are nearly one hun­
dred total prohibitions.
4. Includes hides, and skins, of common description, dressed and un­
dressed, tailed , &c. ; fine peltry of all kinds, either in the hair, dressed,
or tanned, atid all articles made of the above. These articles amount
to about eighty in number, out of which there are sixty-four prohibitions.
5. Manufactures of flax, hemp, cotton, and wool, of all kinds, contain­
ing about ninety articles; out of which, there are forty-two prohibitions,
and those admitted are of very little value.
6. Wool and hair manufactured, including goats’ hair, bristles, horse­
hair, feathers, and human hair; consists of about seventy-seven articles,
and contains sixty-three prohibitions.




508

Commercial Beeline o f Spain.

7. Comprises manufactures of silk only, or of silk mixed with wool,
gold, or silver, and is, with but two exceptions, (silk twist, or Turin hair,
and raw or spun silk of all sorts,) entirely prohibited.
8. Includes cabinet-ware, furniture, and other utensils of wood, horn,
shell, ivory, mother-of-pearl, &c., or of ornaments made thereof; and in
this class are also comprised the original raw materials, in all about eighty
articles, with thirty-nine prohibitions.
9. Instruments and machines of all kinds,—nearly all of a prohibitory
character.
10. Toys and jewelry of all kinds, open or in boxes. This is a most
extensive class; it contains nearly three hundred distinct articles, out of
which there are but twenty-three prohibitions; but the duties are enor­
mous.
11. Paper of all kinds and qualities,—entirely prohibited.
12. Includes all manufactures of crystals and glass, of stone and mine­
rals, of porcelain and earthenware; contains about ninety articles, of
which thirteen only are entirely prohibited; the duties are also enor­
mous.
13. Comprises metals, wrought, unwrought, or manufactured; and
contains nearly the same number of articles as the preceding class, out
of which there appears to be about thirty-five prohibitions ; and the duties
on the others all excessive, with the exception of tools, &c.
14. Contains all descriptions of the precious metals, gold and silver, in
bullion, or wrought in jewelry, & c .; amounts to seventy-two articles,
with but three total prohibitions.
15. Includes common timber for naval, house, and other purposes, fine
wood for cabinet-work, and dyeing woods, &c., nearly fifty descriptions,
and no p r o h i b i t i o n s ; although cork in boards, or prepared for bottles,
and tanning barks of all kinds, included under this class, are strictly
prohibited.
Such is the present tariff of Spain ; and though it is far lighter than that
which controlled the commerce and manufactures of the realm till as late
as the eighteenth century, it will be seen that it is essentially prohibitive.
Its object is not revenue, but protection; and it stands forth as the most
tangible instance, in commercial history, of that system of unequal legis­
lation, which for the sake of fostering one tenth of the community, destroys
the remainder. We shall conclude this article by inquiring briefly, what
have been the legitimate results of the Spanish tariff, first on the manufac­
tures, and secondly, on the trade of the kingdom.
1. It was for the manufactures alone that the system was devised.
Rise they should ; and though for many of them the country was highly
unsuitable, though in order to support most of them, laborers were to be
drawn from objects far more congenial and lucrative, they were to be
forced upwards by every stimulant of hot-bed growth which tte ingenuity
of the master gardener could devise. With one hand, Philip II. drove the
Lutheran mechanics from the sea-port towns; with another, forced labor­
ers from the vineyards to supply their place ; and while the portcullis of
a high tariff was let down to prevent foreign competition, every aid which
government could afford, was tendered to the manufacturing interests.
The result has been told. The gist of commerce is reciprocity; and so
long as foreign countries had been allowed to exchange their manufac­
tures for Spanish wine and wool, the people on both sides had been sup-




Commercial Decline o f Spain.

509

plied, not only with enough of their own products, but enough of their
neighbors’, and the whole vast machinery worked with ease. But scarcely
had the protective system gone into operation, before the wine-grow­
ing and the grazing interests dwindled, and the manufacturers started
up to extraordinary splendor. For a while they retained their luxuri­
ance ; but before the time of what would otherwise have been their ma­
turity, had arrived, they wilted away under the hot sun of that same tariff
which had first forced them into life, and are now capable of little else
than of producing the coarsest articles, at a cost so enormous, that nothing
but the greatest duties can carry them to the market. Their fate can
easily be explained. When the first tariff was laid, a change of labor
took place. The laborer found it more profitable to leave the plough, and
enlist himself in the liveried ranks of the manufacturers. Foreign goods
were raised to treble their old cost, and it became cheaper to manufacture
something of the same description at home. Foreign nations were still in
want of Spanish wool and Spanish w ine; but as they could no longer
send manufactures in return, they were obliged to buy up the precious
metals, and send them to Spain in return. There was soon a great influx
of bullion to the Spanish ports. Greatly as the agricultural interests had
suffered, the foreign demand for their staples was still considerable; and
as nothing like a fair exchange was permitted, whenever a tun of wine
or a bale of wool left Spain, it was paid for by the solid specie at which
it was valued. The manufacturers became rapidly rich from the con­
stant current of gold to their coffers; and as they became richer, the
price of labor raised, and the cost of producing the home article increased
in proportion. At first, two hundred per cent was enough to exclude
most foreign manufactures from the market; but as through the glut of
gold in the manufacturing interests, and through the security and indiffer­
ence into which the manufacturers were thrown, domestic manufactures
became both coarser and dearer, a tariff still heavier than the last
was demanded and passed. Generation after generation, fresh duties
were asked. As soon as the manufacturers were in danger of being
undersold, they obtained another layer of duties, and again the same old
process went on,— specie poured in, domestic goods rose in value, labor
went up still higher, and huge as the tariff had already become, in a little
while another still huger was demanded. To such a progression, how­
ever, there must always be an end; and the protected interests found,
that after going up stairs, step after step, for a time, they had come to a
pitch where they could get no higher. They had received the greatest
stimulants which it was in the power of government to give, they had
reached a vast, though an unnatural luxuriance, and when the level of
protection had been reached beyond which it was impossible to go, they
sank back at once into their original imbecility. Their strength, like
that produced by intoxication, had been fictitious, not constitutional; and
when the drug which excited them was removed, they fell back into
a state of nerveless inefficiency, which was aggravated and rendered more
wretched by the dregs of the stimulants which had acted on it.
If the protective system has been injurious to the manufacturing inter­
ests of Spain, it has been still more so to her commercce. Her shipping
it has utterly destroyed. Duties of from 50 to 100 per cent, provocative
of high retaliatory duties from other countries, have been laid for more
than two centuries on foreign ships and cargoes on their arrival at Span4a*




Commercial Beeline o f Spain.

510

ish ports. So entirely have the exporting interests been destroyed, that
there is little to carry out of the country, and still less that is allowed to
come in ; and in consequence, every thing like shipping has ceased to
exist. If we look around in Spain in search of those great natural pro­
ductions which belong to every other nation on the globe, we will find,
that rich as was her soil, benignant as was her climate, the war which
has been waged by her government against her productive interests has
been successful. Vineyards once fruitful have been deserted ; mines
once ponderous with the most precious metals have become clogged and
choked by the rubbish of generations; manufactories where the Moor
and the reformed Christian had once produced fabrics the most beautiful
in Europe, have become silent; and a few casks of wine, with a few bar­
rels of grapes, are the residuary legatees of the commerce of the Spanish
peninsula. That the destruction of the producing interests of Spain was
a necessary result of her protective system, is obvious. The essence of
trade, we have said already, is its reciprocity; and when Spain refused
to take the staples of foreign nations, they were made incapable of taking
hers in return. With the one article of wool in her hands, she was able
to buy from the neighboring countries the productions most suitable to
their respective climates. The hemp and the tallow of Russia, the silks
of France, the cotton goods of England, the neat wood-work of the German
states, she was able to buy, and to buy for nothing, through the super­
abundance of one of her staples alone. The moment she refused to re­
ceive the produce of foreign countries, she stopped the demand for her
own. The wool-raiser gave up raising wool, because it was not paid for;
and betook himself to manufactures, the fate of which we have mentioned.
The result of the protective system of Spain was to drive labor from the
fields to the factories, and to destroy it when it had got there. The blood
of the kingdom was drawn from its heart and thrown into a limb, which
called, before long, for the hand of the surgeon for its amputation.
There is a passage in Schiller’s Don Carlos, which we are tempted to
translate, not only from its beautiful appropriateness to the points we
have been making, but from the wisdom of the doctrines it unfolds. The
Marquis Von Posa, who, though somewhat radical in his opinions in com­
parison with the court of Spain, had been admitted within the council
chamber of Philip II., takes advantage of his temporary vantage ground
to press upon the monarch the danger of the course he was pursuing.
V on P osa.—
Yet you hope
To end what now you have begun ; you hope
To check the ripening course of Christendom;
To blight the universal spring that now
Is playing o’er the world’s broad countenance.
In Europe, you would be supreme; and here,
Into the track in which the rolling world
Pursues appointedly its onward course,
You would stretch out your human arm, and grasp,
With heavy clutch, upon its jutting spokes.
Oh no! It all is fruitless ! Thousands fly
Prom the cold vineyards of your lands ! They fly
Poor, but contented.
With extended arms
Elizabeth receives them; England blooms
In fruitfulness through our transplanted vigor.




Commercial Decline o f Spain.

511

Oh ! could the inarticulate voice of those,
—Those countless multitudes,—whose fate is resting
On your decision, speak from my poor lips!
Look round you, and observe the glorious form
Of the broad universe ! On liberty
Its laws are founded, and in liberty
Its farthest pulse is beating ! Each slight worm
Has its own drop of dew; its little world
In whose enjoyment it may freely riot.
To man himself is spread an open choice
Between the paths which lead to good or evil.
Even the charnel-house of sin, the soul,
In its free will, may enter. Now turn round,
And look at your proud system. At the flutter
Of a dry leaf the lord of Europe trembles.
You shudder e’en at virtue’s footsteps. H e,
—The master artist, who, forever veiled
Behind the majesty of his far throne,
Acts silently,—He, that his great scheme
Of man’s free will should not be lost, or shaken,
Allows the troops of sin to spread abroad
Their flaunting banners to the giddy wind,
And court recruits.
K ing.—
But think you, could I safely
Work out, in Spain, the plans which here you weave 1
V on P osa.—On you, alone, the task depends. Devote
The royal power to the people’s good.
By the encroachments of the crown, their rights
Have been prostrated. Lift them up again !
Restore the fallen grandeur of our race!
And then, when you have raised the name of Spain
To its old dignity, when you have poured
Their long lost liberties upon the people,
When of all others on the earth, your lands
Are the most happy, it will then be time
To conquer others.
Spain has fallen; and the great, the only cause of her fall, is the in­
terference of her government in the domestic affairs of her people. No
scope was allowed to the oscillation of free will. That natural cycloid,
in the arc of which the human mind when unrestrained must swing, was
narrowed down till the pendulum fell into a rest from which it could
never since be startled. It was the policy of Philip II. to destroy the in­
dividuality of the component members of the state, to let every private
feeling sink, to force every private ambition to give way, and to con­
solidate every interest in his wide realm into one great harmonious centre.
Forgetting that the best course for a complex body to pursue, is the re­
sultant struck by the different forces that enter into it, he employed his
long life, his vast power, his sleepless industry, in annihilating every
element which could not be neutralized or submerged. His ambition was
effected. The Moorish laborers were chained in the galleys. The protestant mechanics were immured in the inquisition. Foreign merchants
were warned away from the coasts of Spain by penalties the most severe
and inevitable. F’oreign ships were scared from the coast by gunboats
and explosion-batteries. The half-ruined lighthouses which the older
kings had erected, were torn down ; and the rocky promontories of the




512

Commercial Decline o f Spain.

peninsula were provoked to extend still further their barricadoes against
the invasion of trade. The strong hand of the government spanned itself
over the laborers who were toiling quietly and fruitfully in their familiar
vineyards and pastures, and after tearing them away from their ancient
pursuits, fastened them down at manufactures which they could neither
like nor understand. In the course of a single century, Spain, from be­
ing the most mighty among European powers, lost both her strength and
her name, and became the prey of whomsoever was enterprising or un­
scrupulous enough to attempt her dismemberment.
It will not be out of place for us to consider, in conclusion, the close
connection that exists between unrestricted commerce and popular liberty.
Even were it to be admitted, that a system which chokes up one channel
of industry in order that it may let the tide into another; which transplants
labor from a soil where it has flourished, into a soil where its roots find
no home ; which scourges the seller from a dear market to a cheap mar­
ket, and the buyer from a cheap market to a dear market, in order that it
may follow out some wild theories it has formed in the ignorance of seques­
tration ;—even were it to be admitted, we say, that such a system is recon­
cilable with the personal liberty of the subject, there are considerations
which arise from the result itself of restricted trade, which show how in­
jurious it is to the comfort and competency of the citizen. To the rulers
of this young and vast republic we would commend the inquiry, how far
cheapness and variety in clothing and provisions conduce to the peace,
the content, the happiness, and consequently to the liberty of the com­
munity. Just in proportion as barriers are let down against the free
interchange of the staples of neighboring nations, in that very propor­
tion has misery and want existed. The manufacturers of Manchester,
of Paisley, of Sheffield, of Birmingham,—the very men for whose benefit
the most intricate reticulation of protective duties on record has been
woven,— are starving among the looms, the shuttles, the gay calicoes, and
the fine cloths of their workshops. The sleek and nimble shafts of the
steam-engine, plying away day after day in their ceaseless and foodless
labors, drive each week from employment human workmen, who are dis­
charged because they must eat and drink, and who are forced to betake
themselves to the poorhouse ; where, with their self-respect gone, their
power of self-support gone, their identity blotted out, their names scratch­
ed from the list of independent agents, they fall back into a state of torpor
which is only relieved by the occasional ebullition of despair. Children,
misshapen and nerveless, imbued with the helplessness of childhood,
without its thoughtlessness, with their foreheads wrinkled with anxiety
and premature c a re ; men and women in middle age, so worn down
with the monotonous repetition of one little workhouse motion, so ex­
hausted with the perpetual turning of a single shuttle, or the incessant
working of a lathe, that they drag out years of equal poverty without the
power of change or the capacity of hoping; old men who are old in body
more than in years, and who sink down into the earth without that glo­
rious hope which the gospel holds out to the meanest among men, because
their minds have become so emasculated through oppression and want that
their heart has failed in its office of faith before the fountains within it have
ceased to beat;—these form, and we fear will long continue to form, the
ingredients of a population who are forced from agriculture into manufac­
tories by the exhaustion of a high protective tariff. Most successfully in




Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

513

such a sphere has the hand of man intercepted the bounties of nature.
If the statesman who first effectuated that system of high protection, could
place himself on some high mountain, where, with an eye unclouded by
those moats which cut short too often the wisest lessons, he could see the
countries of the earth with their rich and various climates, their number­
less and fertile soils, their vast and assorted inhabitants—where he could
observe how exquisitely each member of the great system joins into its
neighbor, and with what matchless harmony their various productions
unite till together they afford a full measure of every comfort which could
make man happy and contented—he would give up the hope of cutting off
from the surrounding nations the one country in which he might live, and
rest satisfied with the conviction that the world was made as a whole, and
that as a whole its component fragments should be held together.
We look forward to the period, when by the means of unrestricted trade,
the inhabitants of the remotest countries will be able to obtain their reci­
procal commodities for the mere price of transportation, as the opening of
an era which will bring to the human race the ultimate happiness which
it is possible in its present state of probation to attain. Never till then,
never till each nation feels its dependence upon its neighbors for its chief
individual blessings, will the danger of war be removed. As the mem­
bers of one great harmonious family, who have been taught by the dis­
cords of civil war to feel how efficient is that unity which arises from
mutual want and mutual necessity, the countries of the earth will be
bound together by ties which no transient impulse will be able to break.
Like a river which has been for years choked by the obstacles which the
artifice or the ignorance of man has thrown into its channel, the course
of the human race to those great blessings which are placed before it has
been checked and clogged ; but let the barriers be once removed, and
then the waters which pnce were stagnant and depressed, will gain their
proper level. It is by the free and broad medium of commerce alone,
that we can hope to communicate to nations which rest in darkness the
temporal convenience of those institutions under which our prosperity is
sheltered, and the everlasting sanction of that gospel through which our
happiness exists.

Art. II.—ANALYSIS OF BOOKKEEPING AS A BRANCH OF GENERAL
EDUCATION.
T h e r e is perhaps no department of commercial education that claims so
urgently the serious attention of the mercantile community as that of
bookkeeping. We enter upon the subject with a full knowledge of the
obstinate prejudice that has hitherto withstood all efforts towards promo­
ting a general system of school instruction in the arrangement of accounts.
Wherever the subject has been advanced, we have, until within a short
period, uniformly heard the one reply, “ Bookkeeping can only be ac­
quired by practice; you may teach a little theory, but the practice is so
different, that we have more trouble with a beginner, who has been taught
in school, than with one who has never studied it.” Are we then to adopt
the conclusions to which these premises must inevitably drive us ? Of the
number of clerks employed in business, perhaps about one in ten has
opportunity of practice; are we to conclude that the other nine tenths




514

Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

have no remedy for ignorance with regard to a subject which so deeply
concerns their interests ? Are that portion who are to become merchants
to despair of attaining the necessary knowledge of supervising their own
affairs ? And so long as these opinions prevail, are we to wonder if whole­
sale frauds are practised,—are allowed to pass undetected for years, and
that too in public institutions ? While every other subject, in the whole
range of science, is universally admitted to be beyond comparison most
successfully acquired through having its elements carefully laid down
and settled in language selected with the most scrupulous care, shall we
conclude that bookkeeping is incapable of explanation? Or shall we not
rather adopt the alternative of inquiring what more can be done in the
analysis and arrangement of its elementary principles ?—whether in the
various systems that have been tried, the instruction has been built on a
sure foundation; that is, whether the mind has been directed in the outset
to those features of the subject which are at once seen to be conformable
to some general and self-evident truths ?
It is not our purpose, however, to enter upon any extended or abstract
discussion involving the more general principles of the philosophy of teach­
ing. We propose to give no less than a practical demonstration that the
principles of double-entry can be made as familiar to schoolboys as the
first rules of arithmetic. In order to effect this, and to show beyond dis­
pute what constitutes the true elementary principles of the subject, we
must give a brief example of Day-book, Journal, and Ledger, and then
proceed with our analysis.
DAY BOOK.
N ew Y oke, N ovember 1st, 1842.
Commenced business this day with a capital of..........................
Of which we have in Cash........ ................................................
In notes and accept’ces of various individuals, (Bills Recew.)
James Brown owes us on account............................................

8,000 00
3,000 00
4,000 00
1,000 00

Bought Merchandise amounting per Invoice to...........................
For which we have paid in Cash..............................................

2,000 00

Bought Merchandise amounting per Invoice to..........................
For which we are indebted to John Thompson......................

1,800 00

Bought Merchandise amounting per Invoice to..........................
For which we issued our note in payment..............................

2,500 00

Bought Merchandise amounting per Invoice to..........................
In payment for which we gave our note for............................
And paid the balance in Cash..................................................

1,500 00

2,000 00
1,800 00
2,500

750 00
750 00

Sold Merchandise amounting per Invoice to..............................
For which we received in Cash................................................

3,000 00

Sold Merchandise amounting per Invoice to..............................
For which we received the buyer’s note for...........................
And the balance in Cash...........................................................

1,800 00
700 00

Sold Merchandise amounting to...................................................
For which the buyer, John Thompson, owes us.....................

1,300 00

3,000 00
2,500 00

1,300 00

Bought the schooner Wave for.....................................................
For which we gave in payment our note for...........................

4,000 00

Bought Merchandise amounting to...............................................
In payment for which we gave as follows:—

3,000 00




00

4,000 00

Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

515

DAY BOOK.
N ew Y ork, N ovember 10, 1842- ■Continued.
John King’s note for........................................................ 2,000
William Harris’s for......................................................... 1,000
The discount allowed on the above notes was
Which discount was paid in Cash...................

3,000 00
35 00
35 00

n

The schooner Wave has cost for repairs..
Which we have paid in Cash...................

350 00
350 00

12

We have negotiated (or disposed of) Henry Pell’s note for..
And allowed a discount (which is a loss of)..........................
We received in Cash.................................................................
13

Sundry acc’ts rendered to us for store expenses, viz :—Coal bill
“
“ Carpenter’s bill,.......................................................
“
“ 'Painter’s bill,............................................................
All of which we have paid in Cash,..........................................

1,000 00
15 00
985 00
15 00
25 00
10 00
50 00

14

The schooner Wave has produced for freight..
Which we have received in Cash......................
15

We have redeemed our note of 4th instant for...........................
On which we are allowed a discount for the time it has to run
We paid for said note in Cash,

200 00
200 00
2,500 00
15 00
2,485 00

16

Bought Merchandise amounting to...........................
For which we are indebted to John Thompson..

2,800 00
2,800 00

17

We have given our note to John Thompson for..
For which he is accountable to us....................

2,800 00
2,800 00

- 18 -------------------------

Sold Merchandise for..
For which we received the buyer’s note..

1,500 00
1,500 00

19

An account is rendered us for Blank Books, &c..
Which we have paid in Cash..............................

57 00
57 00

20

We have this day taken an account of Stock, and ) caa
value Merchandise unsold at................................ $
We value the schooner Wave at.................................. 4,300 00
N. B.—Should some of our readers be disposed to object to the language of the above entries as not being
sufficiently mercantile, we beg to observe that they are not given as such. W e think it best that the pupil
should be told in the fullest and plainest way possible w hat nas taken place. W hen he understands the theory
of debit and credit, he will soon acquire the best forms of expression.

JOURNAL.
N ew Y ork, N ovember 1st, 1842.
Debits.

3,01)0
4.000
1 .0 0 0

Credits.

00
00
00
8 ,0 0 0

Reasons fo r the above E ntries.—T h e debit of the Cash account must
contain the Cash on hand beginning, and all receipts.
2. —The debit of Bills Receivable account must contain all such paper on
hand beginning, and all received since.
3.
—Each person’s account mus* be charged with all that he is indebted.
4— Stock account must be credited with the capital, (see Ledger.)
2 ,0 0 0

00

2 ,0 0 0
Reasons.—Merchandise account must be debited with all it costs.
Cash account must be credited with all payments.
The above examples will be sufficient to show that ns the reason for each Journal entry is drawn from the
account in the Ledger to which it relates, it would be useless for the learner to attempt to understand the Journal
until he is made fully acquainted with all the accounts in the Ledger: he will then see the reasons for each
entry, as fully as he could desire, without explanation.

The Journal then, is merely an expedient to convey the proper entries for
every transaction, to the Ledger, each item being assigned to its respective
account, whether debit or credit. W e therefore proceed to the Ledger:—




516

Analysis o f Bookkeeping.
LEDGER.
CASH.

Received.

1842
Nov. i On hand commencing 3,000 00
u
it

tt
ti

6

3,000 00

7

a

700 00

12

u

985 00
200 00

14

Paid.

1842
Nov. 2 Paid.............................. 2,000 00
«

tt

u

«
n

5

it

750 00

10

ti

350 00

11

it

35 00

13

ti

50 00

15

tt

2,485 00

«(

19

Total received $7,885
Received.

B IL L S R EC E IV A B LE .

Nov. i On hand commencing 4,000 00
it
it

7 Received.....................
18

1,800 00

Disposed of.

Nov. i i Disposed of 2 notes.... 3,000 00
tt

u

12

»
1,500 00
Total received $7,300

Redeemed.

it

Issued.

4

2,500 00
it
it
a

Dr.

2,500 00

5

it

750 00

9

ti

4,000 00

2,800 00
17 ii
Total issued $10,050

JO H N THOMPSON.

Nov. 8...... ..............................j 1,300 00
17....... ..............................1 2,800 100
11
Total $4,100|

Dr.__

1,000 00

Tot. dispos’d of $4,000

B IL L S P A Y A B L E .

15

tt

57 00
Total paid $5,727

Cr.

Nov. 3|...... ............................. | 1,800 00
ii

16|...... ..............................1 2,800 00
Total $4,600|

JA M E S BROWN.

Cr.

1,000 00

Nov. 1.

RESO U RCES.

L IA B IL IT IE S .
8,500 00

7 550 00

Schooner W ave......................... 4,300 00 John Thompson, owing to him
2,158 00
Bills Receivable on hand.........

8,050 00

3,300 00

James Brown owes us.............. 1,000 00

$19,258 00
8,050 00

T otal.......................... 19,258 00

P resent W orth $11,208 00




500 00

Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

517

LEDGER.
STOCK.
1842
Nov. i Capital commencing... 8,000 00

Outlay.
1842
2

M ERCH AND ISE.
1842
6
2,000 00

Returns.
3,000

oc

1,800 00

tt

7

2,500

oo

((

3

it

4

2,500 00

ii

8

1,300 O')

ti

5

1,500 00

ii

18

1,500 CO

il

10

3,000 00

“

20 Value of goods unsold 8,500

ii

16

2,800 00

oo

Total returns 16,800 00

Total cost.... 13,600 00
$16,800 00
13,600 00
Profit $3,200 00
Outlay.
1842
9
ii

20 Unsold, and valued at 4,300 00

Total cost.... 4,350 00

Total returns 4,500 00

STO R E E X P E N S E S .
50 00

19

57 00
Total expenses

Losses.
1842
Nov. 10
it

200 00

350 00

11

Outlay.
1842
Nov. 13
tt

Returns.

SCHOONER WAVE.
1842
4,000 00
14

107 00
Gains
P R O F IT AND LO SS.
1842
15 00
35 00 Nov. 15
By merchandise.......... 3,200 00
150 00
15 00

12
To store expenses.......

107 00

Total loss....

157 00

Total gain.... 3,365 00
$3,365
157
3,208
Capital.................8,000:
P res. W orth $11,208'

V OL. V II.---- N O . VI,




44

Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

518

EX PLA N A TIO N O F TH E LEDG ER

The grand business of bookkeeping is to dispose of the matter of the
Day-book in the form of accounts, which accounts collectively constitute
a Ledger.
The ledger is designed to show the financial position of the owner, either
as regards his whole business or its several parts, each part having its
own particular account.
Accounts are of two kinds, having two distinct objects; the one kind we
denominate Primary, the other Secondary accounts.
The primary accounts constitute a single-entry Ledger.
The primary and secondary together constitute a double-entry ledger.
So if we had arranged the preceding day-book by single-entry, you
would have had none of the secondary accounts in the ledger. Each
account in the ledger may occupy a distinct folio; but we have arranged
those of the same kind under each other, in order that you may see their
analogy: and be careful not to confound the two kinds, for you will soon
see that secondary accounts are duplicates of the primary, only the items
are hot placed in the same order of succession; so if you confound the two
together, you may as well make two accounts against one person, and
charge him with both.
The primary accounts are the Cash Account, Bills Receivable, Bills
PayaVe, and the accounts o f individuals.
All other accounts are secondary. This distinction is very easily re­
membered, therefore let it be carefully noticed.
Now before we proceed to describe the operations in the preceding led.
ger, let us consider what it is we desire to accomplish.
We hive in the day-book a correct history of every transaction that
has made the minutest change in the property or financial position of the
concern, and we now wish to find out, after all these changes have taken
place, whit is our present worth.
A very little reflection will enable you to see that this can be accom­
plished in two different w ays:—
1st. If we can find out what are our Resources and what our Liabilities,
our present worth must be the difference between the two.
The primary accounts enable us to find out our Resources and Liabilities.
2d. If we can ascertain what we were worth when we commenced, and
what we gained since, the sum will be our present worth, or if we lost,
their difference.
The secondary accounts enable us to fulfil these latter conditions; and
having our present worth derived from two distinct sources, we have pre­
sumptive evidence that all is right, and our books are said to balance.
We now proceed to show how we obtained the requisite results by the
primary accounts.
In the debit or left hand column of the Cash account, you will find that
we have set down every sum of cash received from the beginning. And
in the right hand or credit column, we have set down every payment
since that time.
We find the whole amount received, to be....................... 7,885
And the whole amount paid................................................ 5,727
Hence we must now have on hand as




R

esou rces

......... $2,158

Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

519

In the debit column of the Bills Receivable account we have entered,
as you will find by referring to the respective dates in the day-book, every
note we received from the beginning, and in the credit column we have
placed every one we disposed of.
The amount of notes we received, is................................. 7,300
And the amount disposed o f............................................... 4,000
Consequently we must have on hand as R e s o u r c e s . . . $3,300
In the credit column of the Bills Payable account we have entered the
amount of every note we issued from the beginning, and in the debit
column we entered the amount of every one we redeemed or took up.
We find the total amount issued, to be........................... 10,050
And the total amount redeemed........................................ 2,500
Consequently we still have to redeem, which is an item
of our L i a b i l i t i e s ......................................................$7,550
In the debit column of John Thompson’s account we have entered every
sum for which he became accountable to us, and in the credit column
every sum for which we became accountable to him.
We find we are now accountable to him......................... 4,600
And he is accountable to us............................................. 4,100
Consequently we owe him, which is another item of our
L i a b i l i t i e s ................................................................. $0,500
James Brown’s account, being arranged on the same prin­
ciple, shows that he is accountable to us, which is an
item of our R e s o u r c e s ...................................................... $1,000
But the primary accounts do not show our whole Resources, unless all
our property be sold; now, in this case, we find we have a ship and mer­
chandise, which we set down as Resources according to present valuation.
Here, then, we have shown how you may under any circumstances get
at your Resources and Liabilities by making these few accounts accord­
ing to the above principles. Is there any difficulty to apprehend ? Look at
each account singly, and see if it is not the plainest way of telling the
story that could be devised. Be assured that when the plan of these four
accounts is familiar to you, there is no difficulty whatever; but if you
attempt to make them before you know how they ought to be made, or
for what purpose you are making them, you deserve to be defeated, and
that you most undoubtedly will be.
TH E LE D G ER.

Secondary Accounts.—Having proceeded so far with our subject, with­
out encountering any difficulty to discourage the student, let us examine
the remaining part.
The secondary accounts, it will be remembered, were to show what we
were worth at the outset, and how much we gained or lost since.
In the credit column of the Stock account you will see that we have
recorded what we were worth at the outset.
The remaining secondary accounts are titles we have fixed upon to de­
scribe the different portions of our business.




Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

520

In the debit columns we have put all we laid out under each head, and
if we expended any sum for which we had provided no particular head,
we entered it under Profit and Loss. Thus we had no head for discount,
and we entered it as loss. Hence the secondary accounts are made to
show on the debit side all we expended or lost in the business or its parts,
and the credit column shows the whole returns of the business or its parts;
and after all the transactions have been recorded, we enter, as returns,
the valuations of each part unsold, (see Merchandise and Ship ;) we then
take the gain or loss on each account, separately, and place all gain on
the credit side of Profit and Loss, and all losses on the debit side.
Here then we find the total gain....................................... 3,365
And the total losses........................................................... 0,157
The net gain is therefore...................................................
Which added to original capital......................................

3,208
8,000

Makes our present worth.................................................. 11,208
We have now shown all the accounts that are necessary to enable us
to elicit from any transactions a statement of Resources and Liabilities,
and also of the Gains, Losses, and Original Capital; hence in assigning
debits and credits to the different accounts, that is, in forming a journal,
we have only to consider what accounts are affected by a transaction : for
example,—“ Bought merchandise amounting to $2,000; for which we
paid in cash.” Required the journal entry.
Now look at the Merchandise account and you will see that the debit
side must contain all it cost you, and therefore you will debit Merchandise.
And if you turn to the Cash account you will be reminded of the ne­
cessity of entering all payments in the credit column of cash account;
hence your entry will be to debit Merchandise and credit Cash.
It would be useless to multiply examples. It is easy to see that you are
to be guided entirely in your journal entries by your knowledge of the
ledger accounts; and therefore, if you would avoid continued reference,
you must, as soon as possible, get the whole plan of the ledger accounts
well impressed on your mind. Its outline may be thus briefly stated.
We have shown that all financial transactions whatever, are to be
separated into Cash receipts—Cash payments—Other men’s notes re­
ceived— Other men’s notes disposed of—Our own notes issued—Our own
notes redeemed— What we are indebted to others—What others are in­
debted to us—Expenditures in the business, or losses—Returns of the
business, or Gains. There is a proper place in the ledger provided for
each of these classes, and you have only to inform yourself of these places
and enter accordingly.
The double entries that you perceive each single transaction requires
is only a necessary consequence of your double set of accounts, the debit
side of one set being the credit side of the other s e t: thus what sums you
enter in the debit side of the secondary accounts, as expenditures or out­
lay, you are also required to enter in the credit columns of some of the
primary accounts, to show how you made your payments or to whom you
are indebted, for you could not make any investment in your business or
its parts, but you must either pay cash, give notes, or become indebted
to some one; and any of these cases require credits in your primary ac­




Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

521

counts. And all you enter as returns of the business or its parts, must
either be received in cash or notes, or be owing by some one, any of
which must be debits of the primary accounts ; consequently every thing
is recorded twice in double-entry, and you cannot make a debit without
being required to enter a corresponding credit.
We now arrive at the most important point in the position we proposed *
to sustain. We have pointed out certain features as characteristic of, and
inseparable from, double-entry, under every form in which it ever has been
or can be practised. We also insist that no matter what plan of teaching
may be pursued, unless it result in giving all the separate ideas of the
several accounts we have adverted to, the subject cannot be understood
with sufficient clearness for any practical purpose ; which is no more than
saying you cannot practise bookkeeping until you understand its princi­
ples : for that the features we have adverted to, are the only principles
that logically explain the subject, we hold to be indisputable; they have
existed in the subject unchanged and unchangeable from its first promul­
gation ; they have constituted the guidance of all who ever mastered dou­
ble-entry,—they afford the exact picture the subject presents to every
experienced practical accountant, with the exception, that he has not been
at the pains to arrange his ideas in the logical order that is necessary
for elementary instruction. Unfortunately for learners, no attempt has
until recently been made to fix their attention on these principles as the
ground-work of the study. If we had no written grammars in which lan­
guage was analyzed, and the several parts of speech defined and care­
fully urged on the attention of the student, could we reasonably expect to
make grammarians by requiring each pupil to take a paragraph and se­
parate the words into different classes for himself? W hy then should
we expect a student to begin for himself the analysis of’ transactions in
business—to distinguish the several collections that will be required in a
ledger, when he is entirely uninformed of any ultimate purpose? We
marvel why bookkeeping has been so imperfectly taught; but the true
marvel is, that we should have continued so long in the attempt to convey
practical knowledge without affording even a glimpse of its elementary
principles.
Having defined what constitutes the governing features or principles
of the subject, we proceed to give an example of the kind of exercise by
which these principles will be most speedily appreciated.
We first lay down the following as the governing rules for the primary
accounts, v iz .: The Cash Account, Bills Receivable, Bills Payable, and
the accounts of persons. (See ledger.)
1st. Debit Cash account with all cash on hand commencing, and subse­
quent receipts of cash.
2d. Credit Cash account with all payments of cash.
3d. Debit Bills Receivable account with all other men’s notes you held
commencing, and all subsequently received.
4th. Credit Bills Receivable account with all other men’s notes you
dispose of.
5th. Credit Bills Payable account with all your own notes outstanding
when you commence, and all you subsequently issue.
6th. Debit Bills Payable account with all your own notes you redeem
or take up.
7th. Debit each person’s account with all he has become indebted to you.
44*




Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

522

8th. Credit each person’s account with all you have become indebted
to him.
E X E R C IS E .

I have extracted from my books of account the following information.
My whole receipts of cash, including what I had commencing, amount
to $32,280, (see rule 1.) Total amount of other men’s Notes received
$16,500, (3.) Total amount of my own Notesissued $7,000, (5.) To­
tal amount of Cash paid $13,575, (2.) John Wilson has become indebted
$3,000, (7.) Total amount of my own Notes redeemed $2,000, (5.)
Total amount of other men’s Notes I disposed of $7,500, (4.) I have
become indebted to John Wilson $3,500, (8.) William Farmer has be­
come indebted to me $1,000, (8.) Merchandise is all sold. Required
my Resources and Liabilities and what I am worth.
The manner of performing the exercise is as follows. Make on a slate
or waste paper the necessary headings, thus :—
CASH.

Receipts..........
B IL L S REC E IV A B LE .

Received..........
B IL L S PA Y A BLE.

Redeemed. . . .
JO H N W IL S O N .

D r.....................
W IL L IA M FA R M E R .

Dr.....................
Enter each item in its proper account on the proper side, according to
the rules referred to ; thus (2) refers to rule 2.
When all are entered, the following will be the resu lt:—
Resources.

Liabilities.

Cash on hand...........$18,705
Bills Receivable........... 9,000
W. Farmer owes........ 1,000
--------$28,705

Bills Payable............. $5,000
John Wilson.................. 500
--------$5,500
28,705
--------5,500

Present worth............. $23,205
RU LES FO R SECONDARY ACCOUNTS.

1st. Credit Stock account with what you are worth beginning.
2d. Debit the various parts of your business under such titles as you
may choose to select, with all you lay out, invest, or lose.
3d. Credit the respective titles with whatever the several departments
produce you.
4th. When you expend or receive any sum, for which you have pro­
vided no particular account, carry it to Profit and Loss.
5th. In all secondary accounts, expenditures or losses are debits; and
receipts or gains, credits.
We have no particular predilection for rhyming rules ; indeed, where
they are not founded on something already known, we consider them
highly objectionable, but as a means of keeping together in the mind the




Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

523

several principles the student has already seen established, the following
inay be considered of some utility :—
CASH ACCOUNT.

Debit your Cash Account for cash received,
And credit Cash for ev’ry item paid.
BILLS R E C E IV A B LE .

When bills, or notes of other men, you take,
To Bills Receivable a debit make ;
When of the notes of others you dispose,
Take care that Bills Receivable a credit shows.
B ILL S P A Y A B LE.

For notes you issue promising to pay,
Bills Payable a credit must display ;
If your own notes you cancel or redeem,
Bills Payable a debit then will claim.
pe r s o n s ’ a cco u n ts.

Debit each person when he takes from you,
And credit items to another due.
«
SECONDARY ACCOUNTS.

Choose such accounts as best describe your trade,
To debit cost of all investments made ;
Expense incurred, or loss, must debit be,
That you your whole expenditure may see.
If at the end, your profits you would know,
Let Merchandise, each sale, a credit show ;
All income claims a credit—try to find
The best account to designate its kind.
It will now be evident, that we can give similar exercises to teach the
secondary accounts ; and thus by about eight or ten exercises, the student
is made completely master of all his subsequent operations.
Here, then, after securing to our pupil a complete knowledge of all ac­
counts that can be required, which can be accomplished in three or four
days, we are prepared to place him to the jo u rn al; and now let us contrast
his position with one who is introduced to the journal as his first task :—
Transaction 1st.
Commenced business with a cash capital o f ....................#10,000 00
Required the journal entries ?
Our pupil will see at once the necessity of debiting the Cash account,
and crediting the Stock account.
But how is it with one who has no knowledge of the subject ? His
teacher, perhaps, has made him commit to memory the following lines :—
“ By journal laws, what you receive
Is debtor made to what you give ;
Stock for your debts must debtor be,
And creditor by property.”
But will these lines enable him to make the entry ? No, the teacher
must tell what the entries are ; and if he can by any effort of his ingenuity
make the rule apply, even after he has told the entries, we confess he is




524

Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

more sharp-witted than ourselves. But of what use is a rule, if it can only
be made to apply when the entry is known ? If you give me some mark,
by which I am to know the thing you send me in search of, your descrip­
tion will be useless, if the mark is concealed ; your discovering it to me
when the difficulty is over, will be of no av ail: but so it is with these
rules. When the teacher has shown what entries are required, he proceeds by some ingenious argument to make it appear that the rule applies.
Transaction 2d.
“ Sold hardware to S. H. Lovell, $250; and for cash to sundry persons, $160.”
To this, we will try another rule, which its author pronounces infalli­
ble :—
“ Whatever owes us is Debtor,
• Whatever we owe is Creditor.”
This rule is an attempt to make good the very first impression expe­
rienced by all who open a book of accounts ; for they naturally conceive,
that what is called Dr. must be owing to us, and vice versa. But who
does not, after a few trials, abandon this idea, from finding his efforts to
make sense of it fruitless ? In fairness however to the author, we give, in
his own words, his application of his rule to the above transaction.
“ Elucidation.—The Sundries are debtor, because they owe us for the
amount of value that the hardware has produced; for the production con­
sists in Lovell and Cash.
“ Hardware is creditor, because we owe that article for the production
it has caused.”
How enlightened the student must be by such elucidation ! Let us now
ask our own student to explain the entries required. His answer will be—
Debit Cash with $160, because we received that amount in cash.
Debit L ovell.. . .$250, because he is indebted for his purchase.
Credit hardware $410, because the whole is returns from hardware.
But how, we would ask, are either of these rules to help the student to
a knowledge of the principles which we have already shown to be indis­
pensable to the practice ? The student goes on experimenting upon trans­
action after transaction, patiently trying to apply the rule, and when he
finds himself puzzled, he is only taught the more admiration of his teach­
er’s sagacity, when he listens to his ingenious “ elucidation ;” and with­
out inquiring whether he has gained any general information, he goodnaturedly sets down all difficulties to the debit of his own capacity. His
very first attempt to penetrate the object of what he is about, causes him
to form a wrong impression, and proceed to the very end under the delu­
sion. He says to himself, all things received are Dr., and all things
given, C r.; therefore, when all is compared, the difference must be what
I have left. Or, all that owes me is Dr., and all that I owe Cr., and
consequently the difference must show how I stand. Great is his per­
plexity when he discovers at last, that Drs. and Crs.—things received
and given—are equal. He is told, that things received are Dr., and yet
if he receives a sum of interest or charges, he must credit them. How
this would be explained by teachers, we know not; but in most books, the
accounts have been prudently omitted.
Now we are not contending, that from instruction such as this, the




Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

525

student acquires no ideas of bookkeeping; but we contend, that he will
be apt in all cases greatly to overrate his acquirements, and that he will
have formed such very inadequate ideas of all that regards the details of
a counting-room, that it may be questioned whether he will have derived
any substantial benefit. It is well known, that attempts to introduce the
details of practical bookkeeping into schools, have failed for want of a
proper exposition of principles, and the books abandoned. Mr. B. F. Fos­
ter published, perhaps, the best exemplification of practical bookkeeping
that had then appeared in this country, but what was the result? He
explained it as other authors had explained it, and then went on from
where they left off to the practice of monthly journalizing; but pupils
could not comprehend this stage: they were in fact taken from the school
to the counting-room by a change in the details, and found totally incapa­
ble of proceeding. Mr. Foster has since altered his whole elementary
part to conform to the views here given, which he is now publishing in
England.
But in journalizing by such rules, the student only acquires knowledge
on the subject in proportion as he happens to remark and form a govern­
ing principle by repetition; and this process is slow and tedious. Thus,
having journalized many receipts of cash, he at last unconsciously be­
comes impressed with the principle of debiting Cash with all receipts, but
not perhaps until he has first determined that he must debit it when he
receives it for merchandise ; and next when he receives it on account, and
then when he receives it for a note, until at last he shakes off all other
circumstances which encumbered the true principle, and he finds he
must debit cash whenever he receives it, no matter for w hat; and so he
accumulates a few principles slowly and imperfectly. But to acquire the
whole subject in this way, would occupy years instead of weeks. It is
so in the counting-room, and must be so in the school, unless the teacher
expedite the process of generalization by disclosing the principles that are
in reality the object of pursuit.
Hence, the student has no leisure to attend to details, he consumes his
whole time in endeavoring to learn the theory of debit and credit by mak­
ing a journal, without accomplishing even that object. But how is it with
the pupil who has learnt the principles ? It is true he spends a few days
in acquiring the knowledge that is considered the necessary substitute for
a rule, but mark the resu lt; he makes his journal entries without any
necessity of help from his teacher, he knows what must be done in order
to get at his result, and he perfectly understands how each step bears
upon it, for in no other case can he proceed. He is supplied with a
month’s business, and required to bring a balance-sheet; and when he finds
he can accomplish this, he gains more confidence for the next; and if the
practice be judiciously selected for him by his teacher, he will always
succeed. In this way he can accomplish at least five times as much
practice, and may be required to adopt every variety of process; for it
makes no difference to him, whether he is to make his journal from a day­
book alone, or from all the variety of subsidiary books that can be used ;
so that more than nine-tenths of his time is occupied in real practice,
where he is thrown entirely on his previously acquired knowledge, instead
of groping along in doubt and difficulty. Instead of balancing once or
twice, he will balance at least twenty or thirty times in a few weeks.
And all these advantages are gained, by spending a few days in learning
the principles, instead of beginning to work by a rule. But what is it we




526

Analysis o f Bookkeeping.

contend for in teaching this subject ? In all books of elementary know­
ledge in other branches, the first object is to search for those general and
self-evident truths or principles that form the basis of the subject, and
then to select any exercise by which those principles will be most clearly
and frequently brought into operation, until the mind not only appre­
ciates their truth, but becomes so saturated with them that their applica­
tion is instantly perceived ; and in attaining this object, it is of very slight
importance whether the operations selected, are such as are commonly
wanted in practice or n o t; it is sufficient if they enable us to insist upon
the value and importance of the principles we design to employ in our
subject.
If we would place a check upon wild speculation—diminish the num­
ber of bankruptcies— afford a timely warning against extravagant expen­
diture—and throw light into the obscure recesses, where fraud and em­
bezzlement are wont to lurk undetected, we know no better way of begin,
ning, than by urging a complete and effectual reform in this department
of commercial education. Nay, not only do we consider the interests of
the mercantile community deeply involved in the issue of this movement,
we contend further that no youth, for whatever occupation he may be
destined, should be considered to have completed even a common or
tolerable education, until he can commence his intercourse with the world,
provided with that knowledge which is so essential—so indispensable to
the protection of his rights; which, in truth, will alone enable him to prove
or maintain the distinction of meurn and tuum. The subject is now
reduced to a simple arithmetical problem, and we have shown, that to
any mass of financial data, how complicated soever it may be, two uni­
form and simple methods of solution apply, so as to determine the owner’s
position; and this being once taught, the principles of double-entry are
mastered. Is a knowledge of this, less necessary than that of any other
part of arithmetic, merely because the sum is longer ? In this form the
subject is placed as completely under the management of the schoolmas­
ter, as any other branch of knowledge. Let it then, we say, be taught
in every common school throughout the Union. The object is not to
make every man a bookkeeper, but to make him competent to understand
whatever accounts may come under his notice, and to detect and expose
erroneous results, however ingeniously they may have been drawn.
It is not disputed, that however well the principles of bookkeeping may
be taught, each student in applying it to practice, will exhibit some pecu­
liarity in the disposition of the details ; some will choose one set of subsi­
diary books and some another: but if two men were to write on the same
subject with the same sentiments, would they not construct their sentences
differently; and should we not consider this very difference as the surest
evidence we could have of originality ? Both may write grammatically,
yet one may greatly excel the other; but because each has a way of his
own, this can surely be no argument that the study of grammar is useless.
What we would insist upon then, as regards accounts, is, that every
one should be competent, at least to state his financial affairs correctly,
and as regards the minor details of practice, those who are ambitious of
attaining perfection, will find ample latitude for the exercise of their inge­
nuity, and much to be gathered from the experience of others.*
* Our readers are referred for a full development of this system of teaching the sub­
ject, to “ Jones’s Principles and Practice of Bookkeeping.”




Preferring Creditors in Assignment— Its Morality.

527

A r t . III.—PREFERRIN G CREDITORS IN ASSIGNMENT—ITS MORALITY.
To the Editor of the Merchants’ Magazine.

S ince the passage of the late Bankrupt Law, this cannot be a subject
of much concern to those who may be made the involuntary subject of it,
as an assignment would be an act of bankruptcy which would authorize
a commission to be issued, and vacate the deed; but there is a large class
of debtors who may avail themselves of its benefits at their own option, or
give preferences to particular creditors, by assignment, in the same man­
ner as before the passage of the act. To this latter class, the moral pro­
priety of giving such preferences, is a question of no inconsiderable im­
portance, and ought to be rightly understood. Upon this subject we cannot
coincide in the views expressed in the tenth article of the September num­
ber of the Magazine; but on the contrary, believe those views, as broadly
as laid down, cannot be supported by sound reasoning, or on strict princi­
ples of morality. The custom of giving preferences to a particular class of
creditors has prevailed so long, and is so generally known, that it must
be presumed that the creditor, no matter what may be the character of
the debt contracted, naturally expects from the uniform usage upon the
subject, that in the event of the debtor’s failure, his claim will share the
same fate that those of a similar character have invariably met under
similar circumstances. If both the parties are merchants, the one who
sells the other goods upon credit, has every reason to believe at the time
the contract is made, that if the debtor from any cause whatever should
become unable to meet all his engagements, and should owe what the
mercantile world knows by the name of “ confidential debts,” those debts
will be preferred to his, and be only placed upon an equality with other
creditors holding claims of a similar nature to his own. This is an im­
plied understanding between the parties, as much as any other custom
regulating the intercourse of merchants, which is not expressed at the
tim e; and any custom or particular state of things in reference to which
parties contract, are obligatory in conscience, and in most cases in law.
If then there is a tacit understanding Detween them, such as ws have
mentioned, it is difficult for the acutest moral perception to discover any
moral impropriety in the debtor’s doing what the law does ncc prohibit,
but on the contrary recognises and enforces; and what it was expected
by the excluded creditor he would do when overtaken by misfortune or
embarrassment. The individual, also, who lends his mo»ey or his name
to facilitate the business and prosperity of another, doe* so in the confi­
dence, predicated upon almost invariable usage, that (he party obtaining
assistance in that manner, when overtaken by peci.'fdary distresses, will
not permit him to suffer; and the breach of this implied confidence by
placing all creditors upon an equality, it seems to us would indicate much
more of moral turpitude in the debtor, than if te were to give the prefer­
ence denounced in the article referred to. Besides this, the individual
who sells property to another on credit, seldom does it from any principle
of benevolence or feeling of kindness towards the purchaser, but generally
almost solely for the profit or other advantage he expects to derive from
the transaction ; but he who lends his money or his name, generally does
it without any prospect of advantage to himself, and with motives entirely
disinterested. Now if a mere security, who has become so without any
consideration, and with no other motive than to do the principal a kind­




528

Preferring Creditors in Assignment— Its Morality.

ness, is required to be placed upon the same footing with the creditor, who
has become one for the profit he gains or expected to gain by the contract,
the disinterested security would be really a greater loser, than the cred­
itor who sold the property, perhaps at a large profit on the amount of
money laid out for it. For instance, a merchant sells another goods to
the amount of a thousand dollars, which cost him in money eight hun­
dred ; a security is liable for the same individual, for a thousand dollars:
the debtor fails, and assigns his effects for the equal benefit of the two credit­
ors, from which each of them realizes fifty cents on the dollar; in such a
case it seems evident that the merchant really loses but three hundred dol­
lars of his debt, while the security loses five hundred. Now it seems to
us that in morals it would be manifestly unjust to place these two creditors
upon an equality under such circumstances, to say nothing of the differ­
ent feelings that actuated them in the manner of becoming creditors. If
the motives which actuate men in their dealings with one another, are to
be taken into consideration, (and nothing is better settled in morals than
that they should be,) it will appear that there is an obligation of a very
high character resting upon the principal debtor, to save harmless those
who have generously lent him the use of their names to promote his pros­
perity without any consideration moving towards themselves. Acts of dis­
interestedness call upon the individual who receives the benefit of them, for
the exercise of proper feelings of gratitude, and proper acts also, whenever
occasions are presented for their manifestation; and he who under any
circumstances permits a friend who has become a security for him, to be
a sufferer by his generosity, as long as he has the means of preventing it,
is certainly esteemed in all enlightened communities as a very ungrateful
being;—and ingratitude, among all nations, has been considered the black­
est of crimes. Indeed, a security is so much favored, even in respect to
his liability to the creditors of his principal, that a court of chancery,
which is peculiarly a court of conscience, will not revive his liability if
he is exonerated at law. The argument that a security, or he who lends
money to the debtor, should be no more favored than other creditors, nor
so mach, because they thus enable the debtor to keep up a fictitious
credit, which, in the end, will prove more injurious to creditors generally
than if those means are withheld, cannot be supported. There is more
of plausibility than of soundness in the position, for it assumes that the
lender and security have greater knowledge of the debtor’s affairs than
other creditors, which is not often the case. Without this assumption it
is difficult to penjeive but what other creditors are in pari-delicto with the
lender and security in respect to that m atter; for if they are all equally
ignorant of the debtor’s real condition, the merchant sustains his credit
(how little soever it »ay be deserved) as much by selling him goods upon
credit, as the lender by the use of his money, or the security by the use
of his name. Indeed the very fact, that the debtor can buy as much pro­
perty as he pleases upon credit, is oftener the inducement for others to
lend their names and money than the reverse. Upon the whole, it seems
to us there is nothing immoral in a debtor’s preferring one creditor over
another under peculiar circurr.stances, but on the contrary to neglect to
do so would be the more unconscientious course : the sufficiency of those
circumstances must be a matter resting in his own conscience, and it is
therefore difficult to lay down a general rule by which he should be
governed. If he considers properly the circumstances under which par­




Progress o f Population and Wealth, &fC.

529

ticular debts have been contracted, the necessitous condition of some of
his creditors, who would be reduced to poverty and want by his neglecting
to provide for them, while others would but slightly be injured, he will
not go very far wrong, though he cannot escape the censure of a ll; for
the unfortunate debtor who is unable to pay all he owes, cannot possibly
give satisfaction to all his creditors, whatever course he may pursue. ’ If
all are placed upon an equality with respect to the division of his estate,
those whose claims stand upon higher grounds than others, will clamor
against his ingratitude. If they are preferred, those who are not so highly
favored, will be equally loud in denouncing his injustice ; so that whatever
disposition of his effects he may make that does not satisfy all, he must
inevitably be subjected to the animadversion of some. Since then he can­
not gratify the wishes of all, but must be reprobated by some, his only
course is to act from the dictates of an enlightened conscience, and the
suggestions of his better feelings, and thereby, at least, secure the approba­
tion of his own heart.
Ganesville, Ala., Oct. 18, 1842.

Art.

IV.—PROGRESS OF POPULATION AND WEALTH IN THE UNITED
STATES, IN FIFTY YEARS.
AS E X H IB IT E D BY T H E D E C E N N IA L C EN SU S T A K E N IN T H A T P E R IO D .

CHAPTER VII.
THE AGGREGATE IN CREA SE OF TH E POPU LA TIO N IN F IF T Y Y EA R S, A N D OF TH E
D IF F E R E N T RACES W H IC H COMPOSE IT .

exhibited in succession the six enumerations which have been
taken of the population of the United States, and noticed the more striking
and important facts to be inferred from each, it will now be our purpose
to examine them in the aggregate, together with such general results as
may be deduced from them.
We therefore propose to take a comparative view of the progress of
population during the half century that has elapsed since the first census
was taken, in the several states and territories, in the larger geographical
divisions, and in the different races and classes ;
To investigate the subject of the proportion between the sexes, and in­
quire into the causes of the diversities among different classes, and of the
variations in the same class ;
To compare the sexes and the different races as to longevity; and the
maladies of deafness and blindness ;
To inquire into the natural increase, in the United States generally, in
the old and the new states, and of the different races ; the past and future
influence ; and the future progress of population ;
To inquire into the future progress of domestic slavery, and some of its
remote effects;
To consider the progress of political power, so far as it depends upon
numbers;
And lastly, we shall estimate the annual income of the several states,
and of the Union, from all sources, and inquire into the past and future
progress of the national wealth.
By the following table we may compare—
V OL. V I I .— n o . vi.
45
H

a v in g




530

Progress o f Population and Wealth in the

The Population o f each State and Territory, as exhibited by six enumerations in fifty
years1 with its Decennial Rate of Increase during the same period.
PO PU LA TIO N .

1800.

1790.

1810.

1820.

D EC EN N IA L IN C R EA SE .

1830.

Maine,--- 96,540 151,719 228,705 298,335 399,455
N. Hamps. 141.899 183,762 214,360 244,161 269,328
Vermont,. 85,416 154,465 217,713 235,764 280,652
Massach’s. 378,717 423.245 472,040 523,287 610,408
Rhode I’d. 69,110 69.122 77,031 83,059 97,199
Connectic. 238,141 251,002 262,042 275,202 297,675

1840.

1800. 1810. 1820. 1830. 1840.

501,793
284,574
291,948
737,699
108,830
309,978

57.1
29.5
80.6
11.6
0.4
5.4

50.7 30.4
16.6 13.8
41.
8.2
11.6 10.9
11.2 8.
4.3 5.1

1,009,823 1,233,315 l,471,89l|l,659,808 1,954,717 2,234,822 21.1
N. York,.. 340,120
N. Jersey,. 184,139
Pennsylv. 434 373
Delaware, 59,096
Maryland, 319,728
Dis.of Col. ........

586,756
211,949
602,365
64,273
341,548
14,093

34. 25.7
10.3 5.7
19.
4.
16.6 20.9
17. 11.9
8.1 3.9

19.3 12.8 17.8 14.3

959,049 1,372,812 1,918,608 2,428,921 72.3 63.6 43.1 39.7 22.8
245,555 277,575 320,823 373.30(5 14.6 16.3 13. 15.5 16.4
810,091 1,049,458 1,348.233 1,724,033 38.6 34.4 29.5 28.5 27.9
72,674 72,749 76,748 78,085 8.7 13.
0.1 5.5 1.7
380,546 407,350 447,04(1 470,019 9.3 8.8 7.
9.7 5.1
24,023 33,039 39,834 43,712
61.1 37.7 20.5 9.7

1,337,456 1,820,9842,491,9383,212,983 4,151,286 5,118,076 36.2 36.8 28.9 29.2 23.3
Virginia,.. 748,308 880,200 974,622 1,065,379 1,211,405 1,239,797 18.5 9.9 9.3
N. Carolin. 393,751 478,103 555,50C (538,829 737,987 753,419 21.3 16.2 15.3
S. Carolin. 249,073 345,591 415,115 502,741 581,185 594,398 38.7 20.1 18.1
Georgia,... 82,548 162,110 252,433 340,987 516,823 691,392 79. 55.1 35.1
34,73C
|1,473,680 1,865,9952,197,6702,547,936 3,082,130 3,333,483 26.6 17.8 15.9

*■

8.2

Tennessee,

136,621
175.
35.6 87.
100.4
14,273 30,388
35,791 105,602 261,727 422,813 681,904 829,210 200. 47.8 61.5 61.3 21.6
35,791 114,452 378,635 810,258 1,374,179 2.245,602 219.8 230.8 114. 69.6 63.4

Kentucky,

20,845 66,586
73,077 220,955 406,511 564,317
230,760 581,434
147,178

8,850

40,352

13.7 2.4
15.5 2.1
15.6 2.3
51.6 33.8

4,762

Wisconsin
Iowa,.

75,448

8,896

140,455 383,702
687,917 779,828 200.
937,903 1,519,467
343^031
31,639

173.2
83.9 38.8 21.9 13.4
62.
408.7
99.9
86.1 255.6 555.6

212,267
43,112

73,077 271,195 699,680 1,423,622 2,298,390 4,131,370 271.1 158. 104.4 61.5 79.7
3,929,827 5,305,925 7,239,814 9,638,13l!l2,866,020 17,069,453 35.02 36.45 33.35 33.26 33.67

As the states and territories naturally arrange themselves into five
divisions, which are separated not only by their geographical position, but
also, with few exceptions in their modes of industry and commercial in­
terests, it is thought proper to compare the progress of population in these
divisions; as may be seen in the following table :—
IN C R E A S E D P O PU LA TIO N F R O M A U G U ST 1, 1790, IN

*
*
10 years. 20 years. 30 years. 40 years. 50 years.

DIVISIONS.

1. The N ew E ngland States,........
2. The Middle States, with D. of Co
3. The S outhern States, with the
Territory of Florida, ...............
4. The Southwestern States,.......
5. The N orthwest’n States, with
the Territories of Wisconsin

.

122.4
136.2
126.6
319.8
371.6

145.8
186.3
149.1
1,058.
857.5

164.4
240.2
172.9

193.6
310.4
209.1

221.3
382.7
226.1

2,264.

3,839.

6,174.

1,948.

3,145.

5,654.

Total of the United States,........
135.
184.2
434.5
245.3
327.4
* It will be recollected that by the change of the day of taking the census from the 1st of August to the
1st of June, the periods referred to in the two last columns want two months of the terms mentioned.




United. States, in F ifty Years.

531

The very great disparity exhibited by the preceding table between the
rate of increase in the three first divisions, which comprise the thirteen
original states, and that of the two western divisions, is to be referred
almost entirely to migration, the Atlantic states losing yet more than
they gain by emigrants, whilst the western states gain largely and steadily
both from foreign and domestic emigration. There is, moreover, probably
a small difference in their natural increase, which will be investigated in
a subsequent part of this memoir.
The distribution of the population into the three classes of whites, free
persons of color, and slaves, at each census; with the decennial increase
of each class, are presented in the following table :—
D E C E N N I A L I N C R E A S E P E R C E N T IN
CLA SSES.

1790.

1800.

1810. 1 1820.

1830.

1840.

1800. 1810. 1820. 1830. 1840.

Whites,... 3,172,464 4,304,489 5,862,004 7,872,711 10,537,373 14,189,555 35.7 36.2 34.3 33.8 34.7
Free Cord, 59,466 108,395 186,446 238,197 319,599 386,348 32.3 72.2 27.7 34.2 20.9
Slaves,.... 697,897 893,041 1,191,364 1,543,688 2,099,043 2,487,355 27.9 83.4 29.6 30.1 23.8
Total Free, 3,231,930 4,412,884 6,048,450 8,110,908 10,866,972 14,575,903 36.4 37.

34.1 33.7 34.1

Total Col’d 757,363 1,001,436 1,377,810 1,781,885 2,328,642 2,873,703 32.2 37.6 29.3 30.6 23.4

The total increase of the three classes in fifty years, has been,
of whites,.. . . as 100 to 447.3
U
«
(( ,
of free colored............... 649.7
iC
(l
((
of slaves......................... 356.4
((
a
«
of the whole colored.. . . 379.4
The relative proportions of the three classes, at each census, is as fol­
lows :—

W hites,..............................
Free Colored,...................
Slaves,................................

1790.

1800.

1810.

1820.

1830.

1840.

80.7
1.5
17.8

81.1
2.6
16.8

81.
2.6
16.4

81.5
2.5
16.

81.9
2.5
15.6

83.1
2.3
14.6

It appears, from the preceding comparison, that in half a century, the
whites have gained, and the colored persons have lost 2.4 per cent of the
whole population ; and that the free persons have gained, and the slaves
have lost 3-2 per cent.
CHAPTER VIII.
TH E PROPO RTIO N B ETW EEN TH E SEX ES.

It seems to be a general law of the human species, that the number
of males born exceeds that of females in a small proportion ; and a dis­
parity continues through the subsequent periods of life, until we reach
that stage when the greater casualties to which males are exposed, have
counterbalanced the original excess. Is this an ultimate fact which we
must refer to a final cause, or is its proximate cause the greater strength
and vigor of the male sex, by reason of which fewer of that sex are still­
born, or perish by abortion, or other casualties before birth ?
The numbers of the two sexes, and the proportion between, as exhibited
by each census, were as follows:—•




532

Progress o f Population and Wealth in the

1790.
1800.
1810.
1820.
1830.
1840.
1 AS
AS
AS
AS
AS
AS
Males,...... 1,615,625| 100. 2,204,421 100. 2.937,571 100. 4,001,064 100. 5,355,133 100. 7,249,266 100.
! TO
TO
TO
TO
TO
TO
Females,... 1,556,8391 96.3 2,100,068 95.3 2,874,433 96.2 3,871,647 96.8 5,171,115 96.6 6,940,161 95.7
W h it e s ,

F r ee Col.

Males,......
Females,... I No discrimination of the sexes in the colored
S laves ,
|
population at these enumerations.
Males,......
Females,...

186,467
112,734
153,453
125,463 111.3 166,146 108.3 199,778 107.1
788.028
1,246,517
1,012,323
755,660 95.9 996,220 98.4 1,240,938 99.5

It appears, by the preceding table, that while both in the white and the
slave population, the males always exceed the females, commonly be­
tween three and four per cent; in the free colored portion, the females
exceed the males from seven to eleven per cent. This diversity is to be
ascribed principally to the roving habits of the men of this class, many
of whom take to a seafaring life, and some travel and even settle abroad.
Perhaps, too, there are in some of the states a greater proportion of females
emancipated. The census furnishes us with no data for verifying this
conjecture, as the excess of females is by far the greatest at that period
of life when either cause would be most operative; that is, between the
ages of ten and thirty-six. By the fifth census, the males of this class
hetwepn ten and twenty-four, were 43,079, and females 47,329; and of
those between twenty-four and thirty-six, the males were 27,650, and the
females 32,541. In like manner, by the sixth census, the males between
ten and twenty-four were 52,805, and the females 56,592; and between
twenty-four and thirty-six, the males were 35,321, and the females
41,682 ; so that of the whole excess of females by the fifth census,
amounting to 12,693, nearly three-fourths (9,141) were between the ages
of ten and thirty-six ; and of the excess by the sixth census, 13,341 more
than three-fourths (10,148) were between the same ages. Nor can any
argument against the supposed greater emancipation of females be drawn
from the fact, that there is no correspondent deficiency of female slaves,
between the ages of ten and thirty-six, since such emancipation may be
counterbalanced, and more than counterbalanced, by the runaway slaves,
who are mostly males.
It will be also perceived, that there was, both in 1830 and 1840, a
greater preponderance of males on the part of the whites than of the
slaves, owing partly to the excess of males, of the white emigrants from
Europe, and partly to the diminution of male slaves by running away.
Of the whites, the excess of males was the greatest in 1800; being to
the females as 100 to 95.3. This was probably owing to the great num­
ber of French emigrants who thronged to the United States about the close
of the last century. A similar flow of emigrants from Europe, between
1830 and 1840, has caused the like excess of white males, that is shown
by the last census.
To find the comparison between the sexes, from the influence of immi­
gration, as far as practicable, let us take the males and females under ten
years of age. Their numbers were first taken in 1800 :—
By the second census the white males were to the females as 100 to 93.6
CC
cc
cc
cc
cc
By the third census
94.8
CC
cc
cc
cc
cc
By the fourth census
95.2
CC
cc
cc
cc
cc
By the fifth census
95.3
cc
cc
cc
cc
cc
By the sixth census
95.4




United States, in F ifty Years.

533

By this it appears, that there has been a steady increase in the propor­
tion of females during the last forty years. But the greater disproportion
between the sexes, which is shown by the two first enumerations, than
that which appears in the three last, seems to require explanation. Per­
haps it is to be found in the interruption given to navigation from 1806 to
1815, by which the number of boys formerly going to sea, or on board
fishing vessels and coasters being diminished, augmented the proportion
of males.
Let us now compare the proportion of males to females in the different
races, which we can do only under the two last enumerations:—
In 1830. In 1840.

The white males under ten, were to the females as 100 to 95.3
95.4
The free colored males
“
“
“
97.2
97.4
The slaves “
“
“
“
“
98.4
99.7
For the greater excess of males at this early age, in the white popula­
tion, than in the colored race, I am able to assign no reason, unless it be
that there is a disproportion of boys, as well as men, among the European
emigrants, or that slave boys, near the age of ten, being put to work out
of doors, are more exposed than girls to accidents and diseases, whereby
their original excess is more diminished than with the whites.
But why is it, that the proportional excess of males in all the classes,
has been progressively diminishing ? If we suppose that the excess of
boys over girls, among the emigrants from Europe, is gradually decreas­
ing in its relative influence, that would apply only to the whites. I leave
the difficulty as to the colored race unsolved. The only solution that
occurs to me, as applicable to both races is, that those occupations by
which the lives and health of boys are more exposed than are those of
girls, have been slightly but gradually increasing; and it may be remark­
ed, that the excess of males under ten is less, in the New England states,
which are most maritime, than in the southern and western states, which
are least so.
It deserves notice, that in the slave population, although the females,
between fourteen and twenty-six, in the fourth census, approach to or ex­
ceed the males, yet after twenty-four, the preponderance of the males is
restored. In the fifth census, too, of the slaves between twenty-four and
thirty-six, the females slightly exceed the males, but both with all those
at both the earlier and later periods of life, the males exceed the females ;
from which it would appear, that the diversity in their respective employ­
ments, which takes place in the vigor of manhood, abridges life with
males more than with females; hut that in subsequent periods, the
chance of life is in favor of the male sex. According to the sixth census,
the two sexes approach to equality in the slaves between ten and twentyfour, but at all other ages the males exceed the females.

“ Honesty i s the best p o l i c y a n d aside from the consideration of a
solemn reckoning hereafter, it is the surest way to worldly thrift and pros­
perity. But to honesty there must be added a great degree of caution and
prudence. Many a young man has been led by the consciousness of his
own integrity to place such confidence in mankind as to render him an
easy prey to knaves and swindlers.
45*




534

Law Reform.
Art.

V.—LAW REFORM.

REFO RM S R EQ U ISIT E IN P LEA D IN G .

P eople of a barbarous and ignorant age, are incapable o f making laws
suitable for an intelligent and civilized community. Unlettered peasants
would legislate but poorly for a community of merchants ; and men
whose chief occupation is war and the chase, can but inadequately com­
prehend the necessities of those pursuing the avocations of peaceful indus­
try. The transactions of people strictly agricultural are few and simple,
requiring for their regulation not many laws, and those of a plain nature
and easy of interpretation ; while on the contrary, the dealings of those
engaged in commerce, are of vast variety and extent, subject to continual
change, and involving every possible form of interest ; demanding for
their control laws capable of comprehending a multitude of exigencies, and
of settling controversies of as great diversity as the form of their business
assumes.
The circumstances of different people inhabiting distant portions of the
earth are, owing to the effects of soil and climate, and the consequent dif­
ference in habits and trade, so dissimilar, that it would be scarcely possi­
ble, even for a highly civilized nation to frame a code of laws suitable in
all respects for the regulation of another and remote people. Laws are
properly the result of necessity, as indicated by experience; and no com­
munity should have more than its own peculiar circumstances require,
and those should be only such as will effect their object in the easiest and
most efficient manner.
A nation poor and of simple pursuits requires, and is certainly capable
of framing, but simple law s ; but as it progresses in affluence and civili­
zation, frequent changes in the laws become necessary in order to adapt
them to the changed habits, diversified pursuits, and more advanced state
of the people. For these reasons, numerous and important modifications
have proved necessary, in order to render the English common law con­
formable to our habits and more just principles. It had its origin in an
unenlightened age, when commerce was scarcely known, the arts uncul­
tivated, and human rights unheeded. It was founded on the theory of the
superiority of the few, and the degradation of the m any ; while we hold
it to be a self-evident truth, that all citizens have an equality of rights.
It was framed subservient to aristocratic and tyrannical political institu­
tions, which regarded labor as dishonorable and man as a slave. It is
true, that it contained some features which experience has proved to be of
utility in our day. These it would be unwise in us to reject. Still, as a
system, it was contracted and oppressive; and though it was transmitted
to us mitigated and improved by the more liberal legislation and judicial
refinements of succeeding generations, yet we received it full of imper­
fections and deficiencies—containing provisions made to meet usages long
since obsolete in that country, and never known in th is ; while it was
altogether silent in relation to many topics, concerning which our pecu­
liar circumstances required that it should speak out.
Our legislatures have made frequent efforts to shake off some of these
errors, and to supply what was deficient; yet, overcome by the great
bugbear, dread of change, they have left our civil code cumbered with
many antiquated provisions entirely unsuited to our principles and ad­
vanced civilization.




Law Reform.

535

It may also be remarked, that in a community possessing a great and
diversified commerce— composed of people who push their enterprise into
every possible sphere, even the laws of their own creating, to meet the
vast variety of cases that will arise, and the changes which time effects
in their trade and habits, must necessarily become voluminous, intricate,
and frequently, from the imperfections of all human tribunals, conflicting.
In short, as long as man is in a progressive state, the laws must be im­
perfect and liable to change. They must meliorate as he advances.
They never can become stationary until he is so. Should man become a
perfect intelligence, human laws for his government will not then be re­
quisite, for he will be a law unto himself.
Considerations such as these, clearly indicate the necessity of frequent
modifications of our laws. And as, under our institutions, it is the duty
of the people themselves to produce the reforms requisite, we intend to
discuss, from time to time, those features in our legal system liable to
objection. It is not, however, our intention at present to investigate the
improvements necessary in the declaratory or directory portions of the
law. Reserving these for subsequent consideration, we shall endeavor
first, to examine in detail some of the imperfections in R emedial L aw , or
P ractice— which relates to the mode in which legal redress must be
sought.
And it may be here premised, that it is not sufficient that laws are just
and adequate in themselves, unless their justice and adequacy are so
speedily available, in all possible cases, as to prevent any detriment by
delay. Indeed, bad laws are scarcely worse than dilatory remedies.
What matter is it to the suitor, whether he is ruined by the iniquity of
the statute, or the procrastination of the court ? The result to him is the
same, and it is but wretched satisfaction that the judgment is ultimately
in his favor, when the amount recovered is exhausted in fees to counsel,
and the other expenses consequent upon protracted litigation.
One of the chief sources of difficulty in our practice, arises from the
present method of pleading , as it is technically termed. It means the
manner in which the grounds of action must be alleged, and the legal
defence stated. Pleadings comprise the declaration of the plaintiff, the
plea of the defendant, and also replications, rejoinders, surrejoinders, rebut­
ters, surrebutters, and demurrers. The object of the pleadings may be
gathered from the remarks of some of our most popular elementary
writers.
“ Pleadings,” says Blackstone, “ are the mutual altercations between
the plaintiff and defendant.”
“ The office of the declaration,” says Graham, “ is to spread upon the
record the nature of the plaintiff’s claim, and to apprise the defendant of
the ground of the action, in such a manner as to enable him fu lly to meet
them, either in pleading, or by evidence on the trial.”
“ Pleading,” says Chitty, “ is the statement in a logical and legal form
of the facts which constitute the plaintiff’s cause of action, or the defend­
ant’s ground of defence; it is the formal mode of alleging that on the
record, which would be the support, or the defence, of the party in evi­
dence. It is, as observed by Mr. Justice Buller, ‘ one of the first princi­
ples of pleading, that there is only occasion to state facts, which must be
done for the purpose of informing the court, whose duty it is to declare the
law arising upon those facts, and of apprising the opposite party o f what is




536

Law Reform.

meant to he proved, in order to give him an opportunity to answer or
traverse it.’ The grand object contemplated by the system, is the produc­
tion of a certain and material issue between the parties, upon some impor­
tant part of the subject matter of dispute between them.”— 1 Chit. Plead­
ings, 244.
These writers have unquestionably a very accurate idea of the object
which should be accomplished by the pleadings, yet their words are a
satire and a mockery, if applied to the system as it now exists. For, in­
stead of intending to inform the parties, and the court, of the nature of the
circumstances, the chief object of the modern pleader seems to be to obscure
and conceal his cause from the knowledge of his adversary. And strange
to say, his efforts have been sanctioned by the tribunals, until pleadings
have degenerated on the one hand into the most vague and unmeaning
generalities, and on the other into obscure and incomprehensible subtle­
ties, prejudicial to the rights of the parties, embarrassing to the practi­
tioner, and tending to draw the attention of the court, from the true legal
merits of the controversy into the consideration of questions of a purely
technical nature, and which should be regarded as of no earthly impor­
tance.
That our readers may realize the truth of these remarks, we will en­
deavor to present for their consideration a few specimens of pleading in
some of the most ordinary actions. It may be proper, however, to pre­
mise, that the first step in pleading is taken by the plaintiff, who files and
serves on his adversary a declaration. Declarations may be composed
of one or several counts,—each of which purports to be a statement in
legal form of a distinct cause of action. It is usual to insert in the de­
claration several counts, so that if the plaintiff fail in a recovery under
one, he may succeed under another. Frequently also, under the same
count several distinct grounds of recovery may be given in evidence. So
also, generally, as to the defendant, he is not only allowed the option of
several defences under one plea, but may interpose several pleas to the
same count.
The embarrassment and bad consequences resulting from this latitude
will be manifest by the consideration of a few instances of the forms of
pleas and of the proof admissible under them. We will take first the
count in assumpsit for money had and received, as being one of the most
frequently used in practice. This recites that the plaintiff complains of
the defendant— “ For that whereas the said defendant, heretofore, to wit,
on th e ------ day o f ------- at the city o f ------- aforesaid, was indebted to
the said plaintiff in the sum o f ------(an amount invariably far greater
than the actual indebtedness—the plaintiff being at liberty to insert any
sum, and thus add to the uncertainty) lawful money of the United States
of America, for so much money before that time had and received by the
said defendant to and for the use of the said plaintiff. And being so in­
debted, the said defendant in consideration thereof, afterwards, to wit, on
the same day and year last aforesaid and at the place aforesaid, under­
took and then and there faithfully promised the said plaintiff well and
truly to pay unto the said plaintiff the said sum of money, when the said
defendant should be thereunto afterwards requested. Nevertheless”—
the defendant, “ although often requested” refuses to pay the money, and
therefore the plaintiff brings suit.
Now, under this general count, the plaintiff is at liberty to prove the




Law Reform.

537

following, and many other, distinct grounds of action, only one of which,
the first, is within the language of the count.
1. That money has been paid to the defendant, on account of the plain­
tiff, which he refuses to pay over.
2. That the defendant has received money from the plaintiff for a con­
sideration which has failed, as for goods which have not been delivered.
3. That money of the plaintiff has been paid to the defendant under a
mistake.
4. That plaintiff had deposited money with defendant on an agreement
which the defendant refuses to perform.
5. That defendant has procured money belonging to plaintiff by fraud
or deceit.
6. That the defendant, as stakeholder, holds money of the plaintiff, de­
posited with him, on an illegal agreement.
7. To try the right to an office.—That the defendant has received and
retains money, as fees, belonging to the plaintiff.
8. That the defendant, a public officer, as sheriff, has collected money
on execution or otherwise, for the plaintiff, which he refuses to pay over.
The declarations containing several counts, under each of which the
plaintiff is at liberty to prove such a diversity of circumstances on the
trial, it is easy to perceive that instead of informing the defendant of the
nature of the demand, they can only involve him in uncertainty and doubt.
But if the privilege of mystifying his adversary is granted to the plaintiff,
the defendant is permitted to roam through a still broader field of obscu­
rity. For example, the plaintiff brings an action in assumpsit against
the defendant for $100, which he alleges the defendant for certain con­
siderations promised to pay him. To the declaration, the defendant
pleads the General Issue, as follows:
“ And the said defendant comes and defends the wrong and injury,
when, &c., and says that he did not undertake and promise in manner
and form as the said plaintiff hath above thereof declared against him,
and of this he puts himself upon the country,” (that is, submits to have
the matter tried by a jury.)
Now under this very indefinite and general denial, the defendant may
upon the trial give in evidence a multiplicity of distinct defences. As,
1. That he never made any such promise.
2. That the consideration of the promise was usurious.
3. That he was an infant in law at the time of making the promise.
4. That he has paid the demand.
5. That the defendant at the time of making the promise was a mar­
ried woman ; or,
6. A lunatic.
7. That it was for a gambling debt.
8. That the plaintiff has released the demand.
9. That the plaintiff had formerly recovered for the same cause in
another action.
In short, he is permitted under this plea to prove almost any peculiarity
of circumstances showing that, at the time of commencing his suit, the
plaintiff had no legal ground for a recovery.
How inconsistent with each other are these several matters of defence,
yet under the present system they are all pleaded in precisely the same
words ! So that, previous to trial, the plaintiff has in reality no legal
notice whatever of the nature of the defence intended to be insisted on by




538

Law Reform.

the defendant. And the consequence is not unfrequently that he is taken
by surprise, and defeated in a just claim, when if he had received pre­
vious intimation of the intended defence, he might have prepared suitably
to meet it, and perhaps have rebutted the positions assumed by his adversary to prevent his recovery.
It is true that if he is able to convince the court that he has been de­
feated through surprise, it will grant him a new tria l; but what a mock­
ery is presented here ! What a confession of the imperfection of the
rules for pleading ! First a system is devised which permits of surprise,
and then a precedent established which relieves against surprise ! Can
any thing be more preposterous in reason, or more vexatious in practice ?
Yet these are not its worst features—for the delay consequent upon an
application to the court not unfrequently renders the judgment valueless
when obtained, as it affords dishonest defendants an opportunity to exhaust
their property, or to dispose of it so as to be beyond the reach of execu­
tion. The system is thus not only useless, expensive, and harassing, but
of a directly immoral tendency.. And how easily these consequences might
be obviated! Abolish the rule, and you destroy all occasion for relief.
Require the parties to tell each other and the court the truth, and nothing
else—let the plaintiff set forth his real ground of action in the declaration
and the defendant plead his actual defence, and confine both, upon the
trial, to the proof of their respective statements, and a host of these need­
less difficulties would at once be lopped off.
But lest we shall be accused of bringing an isolated action in condem­
nation of an entire system, we will instance a few other forms in illustra­
tion ; and first, one of the most simple of them all—trover.
Let us suppose several varied grounds of action; as
1. That the plaintiff had lost his watch, which the defendant has found
and converted to his own use ; or
2. That the defendant has obtained it from the plaintiff under false pre­
tences ; or
3. That it has been deposited with the defendant to be delivered to the
plaintiff; or
4. That the defendant, a sheriff, has taken it wrongfully under process
of law ; or
5. That the plaintiff had loaned it to the defendant.
In each of these cases let us suppose, that the defendant refuses, under
any pretext, to deliver the watch to the plaintiff Now, in pleading, the
plaintiff would set forth his grievance in each variety of these circum­
stances, in precisely the same words, as follows :—
“ That whereas the said plaintiff heretofore, to wit, o n ------day of-----at the city of New York, was lawfully possessed, as of his own property,
of a certain watch, of great value, to wit, of the value of one hundred
dollars. And being so possessed thereof, the said plaintiff, afterwards,
to wit, on the day and year first abovementioned, casually lost the said
watch out of his possession ; and the same, afterwards, to wit, on th e-----day o f------ at the said city, came to the possession of the said defendant
by finding. Yet the said defendant, well-knowing the said watch to be
the property of the said plaintiff, and of right to belong and appertain to
him, but contriving, and fraudulently intending craftily and subtilely to
deceive and defraud the said plaintiff in this behalf, hath not as yet deliv­
ered the said watch to the said plaintiff, although often requested so to dc,




Law Reform,.

539

and hath hitherto wholly refused so to do, and afterwards, to wit, on the
------day o f ------- a t ------- converted and disposed of the said watch, to
his own u se ; to the damage of,” &c.
Mark the fiction—“ the plaintiff lost his watch.” He did no such
thing, except in one of the instances. Then why not conform the state­
ment of the case to the fact ? Why should the truth be stated in one in­
stance and not in the others ? W hat is the benefit of resorting to fiction—
to falsehood—for it is nothing more ? Is it more difficult to state the truth
in one case than in another; or would it be less easily comprehended ?
We deem not.
To this declaration the defendant answers, “ that he is not guilty of the
supposed grievances laid to his charge,” and under this vague and indefi­
nite plea, he may prove almost any thing he chooses to bar a recovery,
and without giving the plaintiff any other notice of his purpose.
But the evil does not stop here—for as several defences may be set up
under one plea, so, as we remarked, several pleas may be put in the same
count. As, for instance, in the action of debt, upon a common money
bond, say for S i,000. To the declaration the defendant may plead these
several and inconsistent defences, leaving the plaintiff to conjecture which
he will endeavor to substantiate by proof, upon the trial :—
1. Non est factum. That he did not execute the bond.
2. Solvit ad diem. That he paid it the day it became due.
3. Solvit post diem. That he paid it after it became due.
4. Accord and satisfaction.
5. That the obligee released the debt.
6. That he has obtained a discharge under the insolvent laws.
As bonds generally have many years to run, and frequently pass into
the hands of executors, assignees, and other remote parties, it is a subject
of great perplexity to them, when bringing suit upon them, to have these
several matters pleaded, or any number of them ; as it is usually ex­
tremely difficult, after the death or removal of the principal, to discover
the nature of the transactions between the original parties. This mode of
pleading, consequently, operates rather harder upon them than upon other
parties, and there is greater necessity for reformation in this particular
than in many other instances.
Such, in some of its features, is our system of pleading. “ Folly” is
graven so legibly on its face, that he who runs may read. We believe,
that it has been the occasion of nearly as much wrong, as has arisen from
errors in the laws themselves; for the latter can be known and guarded
against, but the forms of pleading are written in a tongue unknown,
except to the few initiated, and their existence is scarcely ever imagined
until their penalties are incurred. It may do, perhaps, for that peculiar
class of the profession which believes implicitly in the maxim, “ quod
scriptum est justum”—that a thing is right because it is in the statute, to
extol pleadings for the beauty of their logic, and for their metaphysical
refinements; but in practice, the present system is worse than useless—
for it is often the instrument of direct and palpable wrong. How many
suitors have failed in obtaining their rights, the merits of whose causes
were beyond dispute, from the inadvertence of their attorney, or his want
of skill in special pleading! How often has justice been denied, when
the evidence presented full grounds for a recovery, merely because the
declaration did not contain, perhaps, a few words of form, which could not




have added to, or varied the proof of a single fact in controversy ! “ But,”
exclaim its admirers, “ it is so complete and beautiful a system—so subtle
—so logical!” We demand in answer, “ C u i bon o ?” What litigant is
benefited by it ? Not the party in the right certainly, for his cause needs
no adventitious aid. It can maintain itself. Consequently the subtleties
of pleading can only benefit the wrong-doe'r. And so experience proves it
does. It is his ally—his shield, by which he wards off the just conse­
quences of his wrong. And so well understood is this fact, that we may
witness daily bad men endeavoring to resist valid demands by the tricks
and subtleties of pleading. And further, no man goes to law to learn
logic, or to become versed in double-refined subtleties. People desire
results more substantial than these. Their causes are generally plain,
and should be brought before the court in the clearest and most intelligi­
ble form. As few forms and ceremonies as possible should be allowed to
intervene between them and the attainment of justice.
We did intend to say something more definitely as to s p e c i a l pleadings,
but though we have approached, we dread to pass beyond the threshold
of its obscure and awful mysteries. For, should we once enter within its
precincts, we much fear that it would be our lot so to grope about “ in
wandering mazes lost,” that it would be long ere we should again emerge
to the light of day. And as to our readers, we never could hope to lead
them through the worse than Cretan labyrinth, with the least recollection
of its ever devious passages.
We have thus endeavored to present our subject in familiar language,
(a matter of no little difficulty when treating of a technical subject,) plainly
and honestly. And we submit it to our intelligent readers whether the
system of pleading, as it now exists, is not an absurdity too gross and
palpable to be worthy the longer sanction of a community aspiring to the
distinction of possessing an enlightened jurisprudence. Surely—surely,
it is. That it has been tolerated so long, habituated as we are to scan­
ning the errors of existing institutions, and so practised in the work of re­
formation, can alone be attributed to the mystery which clouds the subject
from the observation of all except professional men, and to the apathy to
existing abuses, and the almost instinctive dread of change among many
of the best informed in every community. But a worthier and more re­
solute spirit is now prevailing, which can bear to look abuses in the face
and lay hold of them with a manly arm, before which must ultimately
fall this and all else that is useless or oppressive to society.
As to a substitute for the present mode of pleading, one may be devised
with far less difficulty than many are willing to admit. “ Conform to the
truth,” is a precept which experience would prove as wise in pleading as
in all other affairs. All that seems requisite to bring a controversy
properly before the court for trial and adjudication is that a precept be
issued in behalf of the plaintiff, summoning the defendant to appear in
court. This should set forth in clear and concise terms the cause of ac­
tion as it r e a l ly exists. If the action is founded on a note, bond, or other
instrument in writing, a notice briefly setting forth its substance should be
served on the defendant at the same time with the summons. Within a
certain number of days after the service, the defendant should give notice
to the plaintiff, or his attorney, of his actual defence, or else be liable to
have judgment taken against him by default. On the issue thus pre­
sented, let the parties go to trial. The cause would then be unencum-




Law Reform.

541

bered with the vexations and subtleties of pleading, and might be deter­
mined exclusively upon its own intrinsic merits, and there would be every
reason to expect a judgment in accordance with the justice of the case.
Nor would this prevent either party from taking proper advantage of
any principle of law in his favor which involved the merits of the cause
in controversy. For should the plaintiff produce but inadequate proof,
and the jury render him a verdict—or should the judge err in deciding
any principle of law applicable to the case, or in his charge—or should
there occur any other reason for the interference of the court, the injured
party would still possess the same remedy— by motion for a new trial—
in arrest of judgment, &c., as at present exists. Or should the plaintiff
state a legally inadequate cause of action, or the defendent set up an
illegal or insufficient defence, either would still have all the advantage
of demurrer—not, it is true, on account of form, but substance—and might
also bring his cause immediately before the court on the admitted facts for
adjudication. In short, should either party suffer wrong in the eye of the
law, in any manner, the means for rectifying the errors would be just as
ample as they are now,—and with this advantage, that the circumstances
would be considered unconnected with matters purely technical, and of
no importance, and determined exclusively on the ground of legal princi­
ples applicable to the facts of the case.
This result is of the gravest importance, and if realized, would not alone
be a triumph of right, but a vindication of our tribunals from those un­
seemly imputations of which they are the almost constant object, and
would render them still more worthy of the confidence and veneration of
an enlightened people.
It is a singular fact, that while we have clung with persevering tenacity
to many of the worst features and grossest absurdities of the ancient com­
mon law, we have failed to adopt its mode of pleadings, which was among
the very best of its provisions. It was good, because extremely simple. The
parties appeared in open court—the plaintiff declared, orally, his cause
of action as it really existed ; and the defendant pleaded his specific de­
fence. Then each party was informed of the intentions of the other, and
had an opportunity of preparing to meet them, and the court was advised
of the precise nature of the cause it was called upon to try. Under such
a system, there was nothing to thwart justice or to arrest the punishment
justly due the wrong-doer. We would have this system restored. Modi,
fy it, if need be, to greater conformity to the requirements of a more traf­
ficking and enlightened age—but restore its simplicity, its adequacy, and
justice.
In every transaction, let the terms and conditions o f the bargain be under­
stood befo reh an d ; and i f important, put in writing; and in cases at all
doubtful, insist on a guarantee.
Be not afraid to ask th is; it is the best test of responsibility; for, if
offence be taken, you have in all probability escaped loss. He who is in
fact responsible, will like you the better for being thus guarded ; for he
knows he is dealing with a man of prudence, who looks to the end of things,
and may therefore expect to be well served. You may always protect
yourself by simply insisting on security. “ Once well begun is twice
done.”
V O L . V I I .— N O . V I.




46

542

Sketch o f the L ife and Character o f Condy Raguel.

A rt. VI.—SKETCH OF TH E LIFE AND CHARACTER OF CONDY RAGUET.
T h e late Mr. Condy Raguet, for the last two years, stood among the
most able and efficient supporters of this Magazine.* For a long time
versed in the affairs of trade, both by his personal connection with its de­
tails as a merchant in our own country, and by his subsequent represen­
tation of it as a consul in a foreign port, he ranked among the most emi­
nent writers on political economy in the generation in which he lived, and
as one of the soundest and most powerful of the advocates of that great
system of commercial ethics, to the establishment of which the energies
of his later days were directed. Mr. Raguet was born in Philadelphia,
in 1784, and was engaged in that city for a number of years in business
as a merchant with great success. Losing his large original fortune, to­
gether with the accessions made to it by his labor and ability in the revul­
sion of 1818-19, he retired from mercantile life at an early period in his
history with little remaining from an estate which had been once so richly
enjoyed and so liberally dispensed, but with a reputation for purity, for
honor, for severe and unaccommodating honesty, which stood forth the
stronger when the robes of wealth fell away. Mr. Raguet represented
the city of Philadelphia for some years in the state senate, where he was
the author of several most able and interesting reports on the subject of
the banking and trading system, both of Pennsylvania and the United
States. On the expiration of his term in 1821, he was appointed consul
at Rio Janeiro, and subsequently charge; d’affaires at the Court of Brazil.
It was in that position that he was called upon to render services to his
country which, in the then entangled state of our commerce in South
America, were of inestimable value. The Brazilian government, at that
time by no means convinced of the dignity and power of its great sister
republic to the north, had searched our vessels; had impressed our sea­
men ; had captured our ships ; and had imprisoned our citizens. The
home-government had, through some unaccountable negligence, omitted
to forward to Mr. Raguet instructions for the regulation of his course in
an emergency so critical ; he was left at Rio Janeiro without a single
ship of war to back his arguments in a court where argument is only of
use as explanatory of force ; and the American minister, finding the more
he argued, the more he was misunderstood, took the bold course of de­
manding his passports, and transferring the negotiations to the seat of gov­
ernment at Washington. The Brazilian authorities were capable of
fright, though not of z’eason ; and a Brazilian envoy, Mr. Rebello, was
sent after Mr. Raguet as quick as a national ship could carry him, to
make the necessary apologies, and to afford the required reparation.
Mr. Raguet’s time, since he returned from Brazil, was devoted for some
years to the editorship of a number of journals, in all of which he dis­
played that clear and fair acquaintance with the principles of trade, both
as standing by themselves and,as connected with the political system of
the country, in which no man was his superior. The Examiner and
Journal of Political Economy, the Free Trade Advocate, the Banner of
the Constitution, and the Financial Register, were occupied with the pro­
* The last effort of his pen prior to his death, formed the leading article in this Magarine for January, 1842.




Sketch o f the Life and Character o f Condy Raguet.

543

mulgation of those great maxims of trade of which he was, at that time,
the chief spokesman ; while in the Philadelphia Gazette, the oldest and
one of the widest circulated papers in Philadelphia, he assumed for some
years a front place among the leaders of the editorial corps. On his ap­
pointment, a few years before his death, as President of the Atlantic Insu­
rance Company, he retired from the political field ; and in that office, and
as President of the Chamber of Commerce, he brought once more into
practical use the abilities and experience which he had shown so emi­
nently in almost every sphere of commercial action. On March 20th,
1842, he died peacefully and quietly, with a name unspotted by the slight­
est suspicion, and with that full and certain confidence in a Saviour’s
promises, which a long and consistent career of Christian faith and use­
fulness had afforded him.
It would be doing injustice to Mr. Raguet’s memory, to finish this short
notice without touching upon a feature in his character, as prominent as
it was lovely. Connected by family ties with the Swedenborg faith, he
took an active part, as early as 1817, in organizing in Philadelphia, a
congregation which should adopt that singular though beautiful creed.
Through the whole of his long and active life, the object nearest to his
heart, was the promulgation throughout the world of those great and pure
truths which speak out from the New Testament, and which, while he
clothed them temporarily with the words which a human interpreter had
thrown round them, he advanced, both by his walk and conversation, in
their original divine truth and integrity. No sectarian, no bigot, never
lingering on the confines of the Christian camp, never straggling among
its deserters, never occupying the strength which belonged to a greater
cause in border war, or in intestine commotion, he exhibited, during a
Christian course of thirty years, that uniform faith, that serene charity,
that calm devotion, which made his life happy and useful, and rendered
his death-bed a scene of triumph rather than of regret. “ He left,” said
one who was with him near the time, “ a particular request, that if any
of his friends should draw up a notice of his life or death, they should
bear witness to the fact, that he then, in that most solemn hour, declared,
that whatever ability he had had to discharge his duties to society, and
that whatever there was worthy of approval in his conduct and character,
he owed to his belief in the Christian religion as set forth in the writings
of Emanuel Swedenborg.” Quiet and happy was his death ; and of his
life it may be said, what can be said of few others, that never in the com­
munity of which he so long was a member, was he known to have swerved,
in word or deed, from that high profession which had been the strength
of his youth, his childhood, and his old age.

Trust to no man’s appearances—they are deceptive,—perhaps assumed
for the purpose of obtaining credit. Beware of a gaudy exterior. The
rich and prudent are plain men. Rogues usually dress well. Never
deal with a man who flies in a passion on being dunned ;—make him pay
quickly, if there be any virtue in the law.




Mercantile Assumptions.

544

A rt.

VII.—MERCANTILE ASSUMPTIONS.

I t is frequently a matter of surprise in the administration of civil juris­
prudence, how many persons there are actively engaged in the pursuits
of a mercantile life, who manifest an unpardonable ignorance of the real
nature of not a few of their every-day transactions. The leading fea­
tures,—the mere outside, of common mercantile transactions, are well
enough understood ; but beyond this, hundreds and thousands of men pass
through life without knowing, or caring to know, any of the numberless
niceties, and fine-drawn distinctions, that attend our admirable system of
contracts and undertakings—technically known as assumpsits. This may
appear the more strange when it is remembered that a majority of those ac­
tively engaged in trade, involve themselves in such undertakings almost
daily—certainly every week of their lives, and often without a conscious­
ness of the extent of the liability assumed. Nay, it is no uncommon oc­
currence in our civil courts, that judgments are had and recovered against
persons who are astounded to find, for the first time, that by an act, the
legal import of which they did not then understand, an obligation was
entered into which the courts will enforce. The surprise, then, need not
be wondered at, that so important a branch of mercantile law—as the
doctrine of promises by implication only, should not be more entensively
understood by merchants and traders generally: and that merchants
should so frequently find themselves thrust into aggravating contentions
and unprofitable lawsuits, which a proper knowledge of the real nature
of their dealings with each other might lead them to avoid.
In view of these familiar facts I could not help imagining that a short
and conspicuous compendium of the general doctrine of promises implied,
embracing leading principles and cases only, as supported by standard
judicial decisions, might be acceptable for the columns of your valuable
Magazine, circulating extensively, as it does, throughout the commercial
circles of the country.
It is unquestionably true, that every agreement ought to be so certain
and complete in itself that each party may be able to set it out with pre­
cision, should occasion require it. Or, to borrow the definition of a legal
writer, two or more minds should combine in the thing to be done, or a
mutual assent should be given to do or not to do a particular act. Agree­
ments, or mutual promises, thus made, must be understood by each of the
parties; but if it should prove not to be so in all cases, the fault would be
clearly their own. The essential and concurrent qualities of a good and
valid contract are thus set out by jurists: A person able to contract—A
person willing to contract— A thing to be contracted for—A good and
sufficient consideration—Clear and explicit words to express the contract
or agreement—The assent of both the parties contracting. Although
some slight deficiencies in the requisites of a good and valid contract may
be aided by the interposition of equity, yet the general rule is that the ab­
sence of any of these essentials invalidates the transaction.
These rules are particularly applicable to positive and express under­
takings, such as are ordinarily spoken of as contracts—one ingredient of
which is, that the terms are equally known to both parties. But in ap­
plying them to the common and daily transactions of business, our law
courts frequently manifest a disposition to depart somewhat from the strict




Mercantile Assumptions.

545

letter, that they may thereby be enabled to enter the more deeply into the
spirit and equity of the laws governing this branch of jurisprudence, and
give to them a more liberal construction. Thus if A desire B, a shop­
man, to send him a piece of linen, without specifying any thing concerning
the price of the commodity, which request B complies with, and books
the linen at eighty cents per yard, the law intends that there is as much
an agreement on the part of A to pay for the linen, as though he had
given such a promise in writing. If I employ a person to transact my
business, or to do some work for me, and that without entering into a spe­
cific agreement with him as to what compensation he shall afterwards
receive for his services, the law determines that I shall pay him what
those services are reasonably worth, and will be satisfied with nothing
less, which it does upon the presumption that I really promised to give
such compensation. Thus our courts, acting upon impulses of natural
reason and justice, which immemorial usage has so incorporated with
legal enactments as to render it part and parcel of the corpus legis, declare
an agreement between parties, when there is, in point of fact, none. The
same principles will declare an individual, into whose hands the money
of a third person should chance to be paid, or a cargo of merchandise
delivered, a trustee for such third person ; and also, that a promise had
been made to pay over the money, or the value of the goods, upon proper
demand by the real owner. So too, in many cases, where one person ex­
pends his money for the use and benefit of another, and in all cases when
it is done at the request of the party benefited, the law presumes an
actual and unconditional promise to refund.
Such are the leading features of the doctrine of promises or agreements
implied, or such as are supposed to be grounded in the dictates of reason
and equity. To enumerate the particular and individual cases to which
this doctrine has been from time to time applied, would be too troublesome
an undertaking for the advantages that might be reasonably anticipated
from it, while the result would be entirely too prolix for the pages of a
periodical devoted to many subjects: a glance at a few of them must
suffice for the present. One who entices away or harbors the apprentice
of another, agrees to pay wages for the service of such apprentice to his
proper master, no matter if he has never seen him. If A inadvertently
pay the debt of B to C, and afterwards, upon discovering the mistake,
demands a return of the amount, C would be compelled to refund—unless
he be able to show that he would suffer loss thereby ; assuming that C
agreed at the time of the money paid, to refund in the event of mistake.
A general promise to or with the whole community may arise from the
nature of a man’s business; as if a parcel of grain be delivered to a mil­
ler, without stating for what purpose, the law intends, from the character
of his occupation, that he has agreed to return either the grain, or flour,
to the person depositing it. The same rule is applied, though somewhat
differently, to merchants whose business it is to receive and sell goods on
commission ; first, as to the degree of care which they shall exercise in
storing the goods safely ; then as to the discretion necessary to be exer­
cised in the selection of good and responsible customers, when sales are
made upon credit; and lastly, in accounting to the principal at the proper
time. So also with individuals or companies who undertake the trans­
portation of merchandise from one place to another; the law concerning
them operates upon the presumption that they have entered into a general
46*




546

Mercantile Assumptions.

agreement with their customers, to exercise such care over the merchan
dise intrusted to them as a man of ordinary carefulness would take of his
own property. It is a matter of no consequence whatever in either of
these cases, that no actual promise was ever made by one party to the
other, nor would it be necessary upon trial to prove any such promise,
and that because it is already legally implied, and the law itself is evi­
dence thereof.
There are few readers, perhaps, who are not already familiar with the
fact, that the purchaser of real estate takes the property subject to all re­
corded liens against it—in the nature of mortgages, ground-rents, me­
chanics’ liens, judgments, and various other claim s; and so taking it, the
law construes the purchase to operate also as an agreement with the
holders of such claims to discharge them at the lime legally designated,
and suits may be entered upon them—suggesting that such a promise was
actually made, though the plaintiff and defendant never saw each other.
This is rarely done, however, because the most safe and speedy method
of proceeding is against the property itself. If I build a house adjoining
that of my neighbor, without once speaking to him upon the subject, by
the act, itself, I promise and agree to pay him for the party wall, and he
may compel me to fulfil such agreement at the distance of any period
within six years afterwards.
When one man becomes the surety of another, in any way, and, in de­
fault of his principal, is compelled to make payment of the amount for
which he was bound; he may recover it again of his principal, upon the
plea that such an agreement was made between them. The endorser of
a promissory note is, in reality, surety for the fulfilment of the maker’s
promise, although the courts look upon each subsequent endorser as a
new drawer, and, in enforcing payment against him, contemplates him as
the original maker. The same rule prevails with respect to bills of ex­
change. Where money is obtained from a tradesman by false pretence,
the obtainer is said to agree, when he makes use of the false pretence, to
repay the money upon demand ; therefore, in addition to the criminal
proceeding, a civil suit may be maintained against him upon such sup­
posed promise.
These judicial decrees may give the reader a general idea of the doc­
trine of promises and agreements implied, more generally known as as­
sumpsits, which is declared to be a part of the original contract, entered
into by all mankind who partake of the benefits of society, and is there­
fore as ancient as the common law. Though applicable to many kinds
of transactions, they are founded upon principles of general application,
applied by positive rules, and seldom discovered to be deficient in wisdom
or utility.

B e w a r e o f th in k in g a l l y o u r o w n th a t y o u p o s s e s s , a n d o f liv in g a c c o r d ­
i n g ly .
This is a mistake that many people who have credit fall into.

To prevent this, keep an exact account for some time, both of your ex­
penses and your income. If you take the pains at first to enumerate par­
ticulars, it will have this good effect: you will discover how wonderfully
small trifling expenses mount up to large sum s; and will discern what
might have been, and may for the future be saved, without occasioning
any great inconvenience.— F r a n k lin .




Warehousing and Dock System.
Art.

547

VIII.—WAREHOUSING AND DOCK SYSTEM.

M uch has heretofore been said of the warehousing system; it has been
several times brought up in Congress, but the discussion it received there,
was only in connection with the policy of the government. The January
number of the Merchants’ Magazine contains some remarks, but they are
principally directed to its history and the point of government duties. We
propose to take a mercantile and pecuniary view of its operation, and the
advantages that would be realized to trade in New York, by its adoption.
The system is exhibited in its greatest perfection in London, where it
has had the fairest trial, and where its advantages have been most fully
tested. It is probable that no inducement, short of a perfectly free trade,
could be offered to the London merchants, that would be an equivalent
for its abandonment. On looking at the system as we find it there, we
are at once struck with the importance of its connection with public docks,
without which one half of its convenience and saving of expense would
be lost, and therefore we propose to speak of the two together. The bene­
fits of the system are very numerous, but we propose to refer only to some
of the most prominent. These are, saving of time in discharging ships ;
interest on duties paid ; loss by thieving and by fire; premiums of insu­
rance; cartage, &e.
When a ship arrives in London, she is immediately taken to the dock
gates, by a steamboat belonging to the dock company ; there she is re­
ceived by men also in the employ of the dock company, hauled into a
quay berth, and made fast. These things are all understood between the
parties beforehand, and no time is lost in looking for men or otherwise.
As soon as the captain has entered his ship at the customhouse, the dis­
charging immediately commences, and goes on without interruption until
finished; the goods are all placed in the warehouses on the quay, and
arranged with such method that any article may be found in a moment
and delivered when wanted ; the ship is detained in discharging only
from one to four days, according to her size, or the nature of her cargo—
average, perhaps, three days—when she is hauled out to another place, to
receive her outward cargo.
When a ship arrives at New York, she is detained from eight to twenty
days waiting for a berth, for permits from consignees, and in discharging;
average time probably twelve days. Here, then, is a clear loss of nine
days’ charter of the ship, wages, provisions, &c., that would be saved by
the public dock and warehousing system. There are over two thousand
foreign arrivals in New York yearly. Now, suppose that there are six
hundred of these, which is a moderate estimate, whose cargoes would go
into public store, and the average size of each to be 320 tons. A fair
charter for such a ship is twelve hundred dollars a month, or forty dollars
a day. The saving then to the business of New York, by the establish­
ment of public docks and warehouses in this item, would he two hundred
and sixteen thousand dollars annually.
The revenue collected by the government in the port of New York,
has sometimes exceeded sixteen millions of dollars, and we assume that
the average amount of goods resting for a time in the public store, would
pay one quarter of this sum ; here, then, we have a saving to the mer­
chants of the yearly interest on four millions of dollars, which at seveit
per cent is two hundred and eighty thousand.




548

Warehousing and Dock System.

Few persons are aware of the extent of petty thieving about the docks
in this city ; but in addition to this it is very often the case, that whole
packages of goods are missing from the docks after having been discharged
from the ships. And it is not long since, that an officer of a ship was
charged with abstracting a box of gold of the value of eight thousand dol­
lars. By the establishment of public docks well guarded, and shut at
night, where no person could carry any thing in or out without being
examined, these things could not transpire. In London no person can go
in or out of dock but those employed in it without a permit, and it requires
the connivance of an officer of the government and the dock company to
enable any one to abstract a package. At night the docks are closed,
and there is no ingress or egress. Mr. McCulloch, who is justly cele­
brated for his accuracy in English statistics, has estimated that the saving
to London merchants from this source alone, by means of docks and ware­
houses, is five hundred thousand pounds annually. But suppose this to
be a large estimate, and that it would amount here to only one twentieth
part of that sum ; still, here is another clear saving of seventy-five thou­
sand dollars annually.
The warehouses in London are all constructed perfectly fire-proof;
no fire or lights are permitted to be used in them, and none on board ves­
sels in the docks after about two o’clock in the day ; consequently there
is no risk from fire, except by spontaneous combustion. Suppose then,
that the whole value of goods that would remain in public store in New
York, if the same system was adopted here, should be ten millions of dol­
lars; a fair price of insurance on which, would be
per cent, or three
dollars to the thousand ; the yearly saving in premiums of insurance
would be thirty thousand dollars.
On every importation of ad valorem goods, by our present system, one
or more packages of each invoice must be sent to the customhouse for
appraisement, and the expense on each package so sent, for cartage back
and forth, and other charges, is not much short of one dollar. The num­
ber of English and French packets arriving here yearly, is one hundred
and fifty-four. Suppose then, that one hundred packages are sent to the
customhouse from each of these packets, and twenty from each of the
other ships, here is an annual expense to the merchants of twenty-one
thousand one hundred dollars. It is fair to suppose, that one half of all
the importations being sold in original packages, would be delivered to
the purchasers from the public warehouses, and thus one cartage be
saved. Fifty thousand dollars would be a moderate estimate for this ex­
pense ; the gross savings, therefore, in these two items, would be seventyone thousand one hundred dollars. Total of saving in the items enume­
rated, v iz :—
Charter of ships........................................................$216,000
Interest on duties.................................................... 280,000
Goods lost and stolen..............................................
75,000
Premiums of insurance..........................................
30,000
Cartages..................................................................
71,100
Total................................... ............................. $872,100
A sum equal to the fair annual business profits of one hundred respec­
table merchants. But there are other considerations of convenience in
which the saving would be great, but in which the calculation cannot be
so readily made. Great inconvenience is constantly experienced here,




Warehousing and Dock System.

549

by owners of goods who are in haste to receive them ; there are others
who are not so situated, and who therefore withhold the necessary permits
to land, making a storehouse of the ship until it suits their convenience to
receive them ; those goods may be on the top of the cargo, and no others
can be got out until they are removed ; the merchant who is anxious to
receive his goods, not being able to get them, loses his sale, and heavy
losses sometimes occur in consequence of this delay. The writer lately
heard of a gentleman in the book trade meeting a heavy loss, by not re­
ceiving his English annuals until after New Year. Goods on the top of
a cargo are often consigned to order, and the captain or consignee of the
ship not knowing who to apply to, the ship and other consignees of the
cargo are detained often a full week doing nothing, and then the owner
of the goods, after having by his delay disobliged everybody else con­
cerned, makes himself known and receives them. All these inconven­
iences and losses would be remedied by the warehousing system and
public docks united : people who wanted them, could be put in possession
of their goods at least a week sooner, on an average, than at present,
and of course a week’s interest on all the capital employed would be
saved, which, considering the immense amount constantly in transitu, would
of itself be an important matter.
Goods for debenture would pass through less forms, and be subject to
less exposure than at present. Freight would be more secure. A freight
is never lost by a merchant failing in London, the laws of the country
always giving a lien while it is in the warehouse, and custom requiring
it to be paid before delivery.
The warehousing system has been objected to by political men on the
ground, that there was danger of loss to the government, by the abstrac­
tion of goods without paying the duties. This fear undoubtedly had its
origin in the case of Mr. Thompson, of Philadelphia, who, it is said,
removed a large quantity of teas from the public store, while the govern­
ment permitted them to remain in entrepot. The danger in that case,
however, and in all others which have yet been in practice in this coun­
try, has arisen from the inadequacy of provision for security, importers
having generally been allowed to put their own store under customhouse
key, and the key often left in their own office; but in a well-regulated
system of public docks and warehouses connected with them, where num­
bers of public officers are always in attendance, there would be no such
danger; and it is fair to presume, that the prevention of smuggling
afforded by this means, would save to the government at least fifty thou­
sand dollars annually in duties. Added to this, a plan of cash duties,
which would probably go along with it, would doubtless save to the gov­
ernment a hundred thousand dollars annually, in this port, which is at
present lost in bad debts. Not exceeding one half the number of officers
would be wanted in the customhouse which are necessary for conducting
its business in the scattered manner in which it is now done. And here
would be another saving to the government of not less than one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.




Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

550

MONTHLY COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE.
A t the date of our last number the leading features of the market were, an abundance
of money accompanied by an indisposition to invest in stocks, growing out of the circum­
stances attending the then approaching election in the state of New York. Those cir­
cumstances we then briefly enumerated, marking the distinction between the contending
parties. The one being in favor of an increase of the state debt, and the repeal of the mill
tax, levied at the last session of the legislature, and pledged for the redemption of a loan
of $3,000,000, seven per cent stock, subsequently procured on the faith of that pledge.
The determination of the other was to persevere in the policy they had hitherto pursued.
The result has been an overwhelming majority in favor of the latter party. It is true
many circumstances combined to produce this result, but the question on which the
election more directly turned was that of the debt and tax. Its immediate influence
upon the stock market has already been beneficial. The friends of credit and of the
restoration of commercial confidence were anxious for the result of this first appeal to
the people on the question of taxation for the payment of debts. The result has not
disappointed them. The people have clearly given their voice for the payment of taxes
pledged for the maintenance of the state faith. Hence the credit of the state of New
York is above reproach, and she ranks foremost in point of financial reputation. The
immediate effect upon the market is evinced in the prices of the stocks issued by the
state—all denominations having risen two to eight per cent under the demand for in­
vestment. Some other stocks have also improved, particularly Ohio and Kentucky.
The government treasury notes have, however, fallen to par with a downward tendency,
and its six per cent stock has been yet utterly neglected. The fall in treasury notes has
been mainly brought about by the decreased demand from the banks for investment.
Some weeks since, the New York banks held upwards of $7,000,000 in specie—a
cumbrous and unprofitable investment ; scarcely any demand existed for it, and it hung
upon their hands a dead weight. Under such circumstances, the treasury notes of the
federal government being available with the interest at any moment, formed a very de­
sirable investment, and were sought after even at a premium. That state of affairs, if
we may use the expression, was the “ slack water” of business. Specie from all quar­
ters had been accumulating in the banks, both here and in Europe, with but little de­
mand for its employment in the channels of business. As the new crops came forward,
the rates of bills gradually fell at all points. The new tariff operating to prevent imports,
of course cut off the demand for bills from importers at the seaports. The low price of
products in the interior, and the absence of credit, checked the purchase of goods on the
Atlantic border, and caused inland bills to fall pari passu with the foreign exchanges.
A t New Orleans, where the largest quantity of produce arrives, bills first reached a point
at which a new demand is created for the import of specie, which commenced as we de­
scribed in our last number, and has been steadily in progress since. The precious metals
flow into that point from Mexico, Cuba, France, England, and New York. The activity
of specie has thus commenced, and will, as the season progresses, extend to all other com­
mercial centres. Already at Cincinnati sight bills on New Yoik have been sold at £ of one
per cent discount, when usually at this season, in consequence of the fall purchases of goods,
they are in favor of that point. This demand for specie at New York has much lessened
the desire of the banks to invest in any thing but the best business paper. When bills
are very low here, the import of specie is more likely to take place direct to the south
from England than through New York. The drafts upon New York will be slowly
supplied by the circuitous movement of the precious metals coming back in the purchase




Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

551

of goods. This must necessarily be after the channels of circulation vacated by the im­
mense reduction in the paper currency have become filled with the precious metals.
The following table gives the progressive equalization of the exchanges :—
Places.
Boston,............
Philadelphia,....
Baltimore,........
Richmond,.......
N. Carolina,.....
Savannah,.......
Charleston,......
Mobile,.............
New Orleans,...
Louisville,........
Nashville,........
St. Louis,.........
Cincinnati,......
Indiana,............
Illinois,.............

R ates of Domestic Bills at N ew Y ork.
February.
M ay 1.
M ay 30.
June 15.
ia
f
par a ^
ia
|
par a 4
7 a 8}
par a di.£
par a §
8a i
2 a 3
par a \
aa i
s a i
9 a 12J
24 a 3
24 a 2f
7 i a 74
5^ a 5£
54 a 5f
34 a 34
3 a 34
2 Ja 3
24 a 24
l} a 2
If a 2
14 a 1}
1 4 a 1J
14 a 1 |
14 a 14
19 a 20
29 a 30
26 a 26£
124 a 13
64 a 7
6f a 7
1 a 2
14 a 14
94 a 10
5 a 6
34 a 4
3 a
14 a 144
17 a 18
124 a 15
10 a 11
13 a 14
6 a
4 a 5
7 a 8
15 a 16
8 a 10
4 a 5
3^ a 4
16 a 17
a 10
8 a 9
8 a 9
17 a 18
7 a 9
7 a 8

Nov. 15.
par a
par a i
ba 4
14 a i i
14 a 2
14 a 14
14 a 14
19 a 2 0
p r.lj a 2
di.2 a 24
rii.4 a 5
di.l^ a 2
d i.li a 2
di.3 a 3 4

The results of the late elections are strongly in favor of the party opposed to banks
and this fact in Ohio will be fraught with important consequences, inasmuch as the char­
ters of a large portion of the banks in that state expire next year. The following is a
table of the affairs of those banks in operation, according to the last report of the Auditor,
with the date of the expiration of their charters:—
Ohio Banks, September, 1842.
Loans.
Specie.
Circula.

Deposits.

Bank of Zanesville................... . 122,400
“ 44 Muskingum.................. . 118,888
Ohio Life and T rust.................. . 147,860
Franklin Bank, Cincinnati....... . 947,271
Columbian Bank, N. Lisbon..... . 90,007
Dayton Bank.............................. .. 50,914
Bank of Mount Pleasant........... . 53,575
Western Reserve B ank............ . 170,544
Commercial Bank of Scioto...... . 341,292
Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Bank
of Steubenville....................... 1 178,897
Franklin Bank, Columbus........ . 152,102
Bank of Geauga......................... . 139,165

5,300
2,784
61,427
122,211
16,750
13,099
4,337
30,332
21,951
63,477

15,735

53,842

68,822
9,997

110,617
17,710

57,681
18,774

Total................................ .2,512,915

367,136

11,623
8,610
7,771
17,163
298,895 194,186
20,890 249,851
19,139
17,882
19,127
1,411
8,966
15,051
20,154
12,240
114,998
20,445

401,487

665,625

174,401
406,522
875,073
247,394
438,856
133,579
313,304
189,129

49,017
62,052
53,424
35,117
58,865
29,434
42,215
44,971

165,760
279,275
32,930
170,786
210,165
62,310
163,027
24,655

T o tal.............................. .2,778,258
To expire........................ .2,512,915

375,095
401,487

1,108,908
665,625

368,900
367,136

Grand Total................... .5,291,173

776,582

1,774,533

736,036

Bank of Sandusky..................... .
44 Wooster....................... ..
Lafayette Bank of Cincinnati... .
Bank of Massillon..................... ..
Clinton Bank, Columbus........... .
Bank of Xenia............................ .
“ Circleville..................... .
“ Norwalk...................... .

Charter
Expires.
Jan. 1843.

1844.

32,926 May 1850.
45,249 June 44
39,242 Jan. 1854.
37,391 June 1855.
43,947 Jan. 1854.
42,262 May 1850.
“ 1855.
37,394
90,489 Jan. 1850,

This gives a reduction of nearly one half of the bank facilities of that state during the
coming year, leaving in operation eight banks, with a paper circulation of about




552

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

$1,100,000 only. According to this return, the banking of Ohio, in 1843, as compared
with the highest point of inflation, January, 1836, will present the following results:—
No. Banks.
1836....... 31
8
1843.......

Loans.
17,079,714
2,778,258

Specie.
2,924,906
375,095

Circulation.
9,675,644
1,108,908

Deposits.
6,125,914
368,900

Decrease.............. $14,301,456

2,549,811

8,566,736

5,757,014

This enormous reduction in the banking movement has prevailed to a greater or less
extent all over the Union, and is now to be supplied with the precious metals. During
this contraction of the paper currency of the country, the products of the soil have im­
mensely increased. In order to observe the movement of produce in connection with
that of the banks, we will take the banking movement of the four states of Ohio, Illinois,
Indiana, and Michigan, for 1836 and 1842, and the arrival of flour and wheat, the pro­
ducts of those states, at the two great outlets, the Erie Canal and New Orleans, for
a corresponding period :—
Flour arr.
Arr. at the
at N. Orl.
E . Canal.
Bank Loans.
Circulation.
Deposits.
bbls.
bbls.
1836.......27,334,118
15,058,132
11,231,879
287,462
377,455
1842....... 7,271,728
4,088,908
650,241
466,665
1,551,705
Increase.
Decrease..20,062,390

179,203
10,969,224

1,174,250

10,581,638

The produce of these states has, it appears, increased in as great a ratio as the paper cur­
rency has decreased. Michigan, from being an importing state in 1836, has become a very
large exporting state. The long suspension of the banks operated to drive out the specie
currency, and now that those institutions have perished in spite of their suspension, the
currency is to be resupplied by the slow progress of exporting and selling produce at
low prices; which low prices are a necessary consequence of the absence of that specie,
and will be remedied by the twofold operation of a decreasing surplus and increasing
currency.
At the approaching session of Congress many questions of the highest importance to
the mercantile world will be discussed. The most important of them undoubtedly is the
modification of the tariff, passed at the last session of Congress. This will probably be
done, at least, in so far as to admit of a system of warehousing in connection with the
cash duties. This is a matter of first necessity. The present tariff requires the payment
of duties averaging 30 per cent ad valorem, cash on the arrival of the goods. This is
equivalent to an imposition of about 5 per cent extra upon the imports, inasmuch as it is
an advance of the duties to the government by the importing merchant, who must, of
course, reimburse himself by charging on the goods the interest upon the duties so ad­
vanced, which enhances their cost to the consumer. This is a great evil; but the gene­
ral operation of paralyzing the capital engaged in commerce is a far greater one. The
imports into the United States for the last five years, average $130,300,000. The duties
on this sum would amount to $39,090,000, which must be advanced to the government
and lay dead out of capital employed in the foreign trade. The whole amount of capi­
tal employed in that trade, according to the census, is $119,295,367. Under the pre­
sent tariff, therefore, that capital would be reduced 33 per cent. In a country like this,
where the great feature is scarcity of capital, this cannot take place without serious injury
to the whole community; neither is it desirable that credit should be given to an extent
which will allow foreign houses to send consignments here and realize and remit the
proceeds long before their bonds for the duties fall due. The warehousing system, like
that in practice in England, holds out the remedy. Under that system the utmost free­




Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

553

dom of commerce exists. Goods are imported, landed, packed, repacked, assorted, and
re-exported, without any outlay of mercantile capital on government account. When
sold for consumption, and the importer realizes the whole value of the goods, then the
duties are exacted and paid. The whole resources of the merchants are employed in
their own enterprises. If this is the case in England, how much more desirable is it
here, where capital is so scarce as to be hired at 6 per cent in England for banking pur­
poses.
The operation of the tariff, passed at the late session, appears hitherto to have pro­
duced but little effect. On the first passage of the tariff the prices of many of the dutia­
ble articles nominally rose, but it subsequently appeared, as the fall business advanced,
that, owing to the very restricted state of the currency in the interior, and the extreme low
prices of produce, that the purchases of goods for consumption would be far from suffi­
cient to sustain even the prices previously existing, and rates have again gone back on
most articles. This state of things will probably continue for many months, until the
flow of specie, now in progress to the interior, shall have filled the channels of circula­
tion, raised prices, and renewed purchases. The present stock of goods will then work
off, and a modification of the tariff give room for the resumption of the import of goods
in return for the increasing exports of agricultural produce. The modification of the
tariff will acquire additional importance at the coming session, from the necessity of
adopting some means of providing a revenue for the government. The protective fea­
tures must give place to the demand for revenue, which can only be obtained by con­
sulting the highest rate which each article will bear without checking its import. For
the welfare of the city and state of New York more particularly, is it requisite that the
restrictions on commerce should be removed. The following table will show the amount
of imports into the leading states for twenty years, with the total import into the United
States :—
T

aele

s h o w in g t h e

I m ports

t h e U n it e d S t a t e s f o r T w
T H E LEADING P O R TS OF E N T R Y .

in t o

in g

enty

Y

e a r s , d is t in g u is h ­

Total all
Muryl.
Mass.
Penn.
S. Car. I^ouisiana. Imports.
N . York.
1821. . . 14,826,732 23,629,246 8,158,922 4.070,'842 3,007,113 3,379,717 62.577,267
1822 . . . 18,337,320 35,445,628 11,874,170 4,792,486 2,2S3,586 3,817,228 83,241,541
1823 . . . 17,607,160 29,421,349 13,696,770 4,946,179 2,419,101 4,283,125 77,579,267
1821. . . 15,378,758 36,113,723 11,865,531 4,551,642 2,166,185 4,5:9.769 80,549,007
1825 . . . 15,845,141 49,639,174 15,041,797 4,751,815 1,892,297 4,290,034 96,340,075
1826 . . . 17,063,482 38,115,630 13,551,779 4,928,569 1,534,483 4,167,521 84,974,477
1827 . . . 13,370,564 38,719,644 11,212,935 4,405,708 1,424,106 4,531,645 79,421,068
1828 . ., . 15,070,444 41,927,792 12,884,408 5,629,694 1,242,048 6,217,881 88,509,824
1829. . . 12,520,744 31,743,307 10,100,152 4,804,125 1,139,618 6,857,209 74,492,527
1830 . . . 10,453,544 35,624,070 8,702,122 4,523,866 1.054,619 7,599,083 70,876,920
1831 . . . 14,269,056 57,077,417 12,124,083 4,826,577 1,238,163 9,766,693 103,191,124
1832 . . . 18,1 IS,900 53,214,402 10,678,258 4,629,303 1,213,725 8,871,653 101,029,266
1833 . . . 19,940,911 55,918,449 10,411,250 5,437,057 1,517,705 9,590,505 108,118,311
1834 . ., . 17,672,129 73,188,594 10,479,268 4,647,483 1,787,267 13,781,809 126,521,332
1&35 . ., . 19,800,373 8S,191,305 12,389,937 5,647,153 1,891,805 17,519,814 149,895,742
1836 . ,. . 25,681,462 118,253,416 15,068,233 7,131,867 2.801,361 15,117,649 189,980,035
1837 . . . 19,984,668 79,301,722 11,680,111 7,857,033 2,510.860 14,020,012 140,989,217
1838 . ., . 13,300,925 68,453,206 9,360,371 5,701,869 2.318,791 9,496,808 113,717,404
1839 . . . 19,385,223 99,882,438 15,050,715 6,995,285 3,086,077 12,064,962 162,092,132
1840 . . . 16,513,858 60,440,750 8,464,882 4,910,746 2,058,870 10,673,190 107,141,519
1841 . . . 20,318,003 75,713,426 10,346,698 6,101,313 1,557,431 10,256,350 127,966,177
This table embraces a period of the complete operation of four general tariffs, viz.:
the tariff of 1824, the high protective tariff of 1828, that of 1832, and the compromise
act of 1833. From 1821 to 1830, the banking movement in the United States was re­
markably steady. The loans of the United States Bank, which was the governing
power, varied in all that time scarcely $3,000,000. The consequence was that every
increase of the duties checked imports in a marked degree. In 1828, the imports were
VOL. V I I .— NO. V I.
47




Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

654

large previous to the operation of the tariff. In the two succeeding years they fell off
immensely. In 1831, they began to feel the impulse of the bank movement. From
1830 to 1833, the national bank extended its loans from $>40,000,000 to $>66,000,000,
or 65 per cent in two years. This movement of the “ regulator” was followed by that
of all the banks in the Union, and by a combination of circumstances the inflation, with
some drawbacks, continued to the great explosion of 1836-7; from which time the
general movement of banks has been that of curtailment. The column of imports into
New York, presents the influence of these events. From 1821 to 1825, the whole im­
ports rose $>34,000,000, of which $26,000,000 was into the port of New York. Under
the tariff which came into operation in that year, the imports fell oft' $17,000,000 in
1827 ; of which $9,000,000 was in the port of New York. Under the tariff of 1828, a
farther fall of $9,000,000 in 1830 took place; of which $6,000,000 was in the port of
New York. From that year up to 1836, under the bank expansion, a total increase in
imports of $119,000,000 took place ; $83,000,000, or nearly 80 per cent of the amount,
was in New York. Down to 1841, under decreasing duties, but a contracting currency,
a decrease of $82,000,000 took place ; $68,000,000, or 83 per cent of this was in New
York,—an immense falling off in business. These facts show, concisely, that two causes
operate powerfully upon the welfare of New York, more than upon the rest of the Union,
viz.: a high tariff and a dear currency. Under the contracting currency with decreasing
duties, the trade of New York fell off from 1839 to 1840, 77 per cent. She has now
to encounter a still farther reduction of the currency, added to duties meant to be pro­
tective. Under such circumstances it is fair to conclude that the imports will be carried
back to the grade, at least, of 1830, viz.: $70,000,000, or about $36,000,000 in New
Y o rk ; and this at a time when the connection of Boston with the western country, by
railroad, has revolutionized the trade in domestic goods, and has withdrawn from New
York a large commission business. This latter circumstance has, during the past year,
operated greatly to the benefit of Boston and to the prejudice of New York ; a result
which is clearly distinguishable in the official returns of the assessed value of property in
the two cities for 1841 and 1842, as follows:—
A ssessed Value

T axation in N ew Y ork and Boston,
1841 and 1842.
B oston.
N ew Y ork.
Personal
Personal
Peal Estate.
Estate.
Total.
Real Estate.
Estate.
Total.
1841,
$62,063,030 $36,043,600
$98,106,600 $186,350,948 $64,843,972 $251,191,920
1842, 65,509,500 41,223,800 106,733,300 176,489,042 61,294,559 237,783,601
of

P roperty

and

for

Incre. $3,546,500 $5,180,200
Deere.

$8,626,700
$9,861,906 $3,549,413 $13,411,319

It is not alone the commerce of New York that is affected by the tariff, but the ship­
ping interest of the whole Union suffers severely. It is obvious that the great employ­
ment for the registered tonnage of the country is the foreign trade of the United States,
or that which it sells to or buys from foreign countries. Whatever tends to increase the
quantities of articles so sold or purchased must increase the business of the shipping, and
that which tends to diminish those quantities inflicts a serious injury upon the commerce
and navigation of the country. The above table shows conclusively that in a steady
specie currency a high tariff is ruinous. This fact is discoverable in the following table,
consisting of the registered tonnage of the United States, at different periods, and
the quantity of American and foreign tonnage entered and cleared from the United
States:—




Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

555

Registered T onnage of the United S tates, with the N umber of T ons E ntered and
Cleared, distinguishing the A merican from the F oreign.
tonnage entered.
tonnage cleared.
registered tonnage. American.
Foreign.
American.
Foreign.
1821 ..
765,089
81,526
804,947
83,073
1822 ..
787,961
100,541
813,748
97,490
1823 ..
119,740
755,271
119,468
810,761
1824 ..
850,033
102,552
102,367
919,278
1825 ..
880,754
92,927
960,366
95,080
1826 ..
942,246
953,012
105,654
99,417
1827 ..
918,361
137,589
980,542
131,250
1828 .. ............. 656,000
868,381
150.223
151,030
897,404
1829 .. ............. 650,142
872,949
133,006
130,743
944,799
1830 ..
967,277
131,900
133,436
971,760
1831 .. ............. 620,451
922,952
281,948
271,994
972,504
1832 .. ............. 686,980
949,622
393,038
974,865
387,505
1833 .. ............. 750,026
1,111,441
496,705
1,142,160
497,039
1834 .. ............. 857,438
1,074,670
568,052
1,134,020
577,700
1835 .. ............. 885,821
1,352,653
641,310
1,400,517
630,824
1836 .. ............. 897,774
1,255,384
680,213
1,315,523
674,721
1837 .. .............810,447
1,299,720
765,703
1,266,622
756,292
1838 .. ............. 822,591
1,302,974
592,110
1,408,761
604,166
1839 .. ............. 834,244
1,491,279
624,814
>,477,928
611,839
1840 .. ............. 899,764
1,576,946
712,363
1,646,009
706,484
1841 .. ............. 945,803
1,634,156
1,631,909
736,144
738,849
In relation to the tonnage owned by the United States, it appears that, under the high
tariff of 1828, corresponding with the period when the imports fell off so largely, the
registered tonnage declined sixteen per c e n t; and subsequently, under the increasing
crops of cotton and the swelling volume of imports, it increased sixty per cent in the
six years ending in 1836. The year 1841 shows an increase of seven per cent in the
registered tonnage over that of 1836. In the same time, the American tonnage entered
the United States increased 372,000 tons, or about thirty per cent, while the foreign
tonnage declined four per cent. The clearances show nearly the same features, and
the table presents the following results for twelve years, from 1830 to 1841 :—
R EGISTERED

tons e n t e r e d

tonnage.

American.
967,227
1,631,909

1830,................ 576,471
1841,............... 945,803
Increase,.......... 369,332
“ per cent,
64

664,682
68.

.

tons

cleared.

Foreign.
131,900
736,144

American.
971,760
1,634,156

Foreign.
133,436
738,849

604,244
457

662,396
68

605,413
452

This gives a remarkable increase in the foreign tons trading to the United States, and
is ascribed to the effect of the proclamation of General Jackson, in October, 1830, pur­
suant to an act of Congress, to the effect that British vessels and their cargoes were ad­
mitted on entry from the islands, provinces, and colonies of Great Britain. This was in
accordance with the terms of previous negotiations with Great Britain, which it is al­
leged have been evaded by that power. The imports and exports of goods, it appears,
kept pace with this increased tonnage in the trade, as the following comparative table
will show :—
I mports and E xports

U nited States with the British Possessions, and A ll
Parts of the W orld.
exports.
imports.
1840.
1821.
1830.
1840.
1830.
24,519,214 33,737,699 20,777,480 26,329,359 59,317,362
2,007,767 2,009,791 3,786,373
6,093,250
650,303
168,579
1,048,165
265,102
1,901
2,965,584
70,876,920 107,141,519 64,974,382 73.849,508 132,085,946

of the

to
1821.
Great Britain 25,087,108
Br. Am. Col’s 490,7114
Br. W. Indies 927,346
Total, World 62,585,724




556

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

This gives the fact that the aggregate trade with the British American colonies in.
creased, in the ten years from 1830, from $4,436,676 to $8,601,017, nearly a hundred
per cent. The tonnage in that trade increased as follows :—
T onnage

engaged in the

T rade between the U nited S tates
A merican Colonies.
EN TER ED .

242,622

383,945

This gives a great increase in the foreign tonnage.
puts a new face on it, as follows:—
Value

N orth

CLEARED.

Amer. Tons. For. Tons.
405
1820,................... 110,821
1830,................... 130,527
4,002
1840,.................... 373,149
387,947
Increase from 1830,...

and the

Amer. Tons.
112,223
117,171
357,073

For. Tons.
3,169
14,267
401,805

239,902

387,538

The following table, however,

of I mports and

E xports of the U nited S tates with the British A merican
Colonies, distinguishing the tonnage.
imports into united states.
exports from united states.
Amer. Vess. For. Vess.
Total.
Amer. Vess. For.Vess.
Total.
1834,......$1,103,956 $444,774 $1,548,733
$2,448,356 $1,126,914 $3,535,276
1840,...... 1,431,264 576,503 2,007,767
4,191,649 1,908,352 6,100,005
Increase,.. $327,308 $131,729

$459,034

$1,743,293

$781,438 $2,564,729

Here we have the fact that the increase of 387,945 foreign tons entered the United
States, from 1830 to 1841, was merely nominal, the increase of business in those tons
being but $131,729. This nominal increase in British colonial tonnage forms sixty per
cent of the aggregate increase of foreign tonnage in the whole United States, and de­
ducted therefrom, gives an actual increase of foreign trading tonnage of 220,299 tons,
against an increase in the same period of 664,682 in American tonnage. Again, it ap­
pears that the aggregate business between the United States, the British West Indies
and American colonies, increased, from 1821 to 1830, $1,936,181, and in the subse­
quent ten years, $3,563,311. Hence it appears that the proclamation issued by Gen­
eral Jackson, by removing restrictions on the trade of the colonies, increased the com­
merce $1,600,000 per annum, sixty-five per cent of which was enjoyed by American
vessels. This does not appear to be an evil so great in its influence upon the whole
country as to warrant the return to the prohibitory system previously in operation. It
has been advanced as a disadvantage to the United States that English vessels, like the
Cunard line of steamers, can proceed from England to the colonies and thence to the
United States, and return by the same route, while American vessels are prohibited
from so doing. Now, if the United States enjoyed that privilege, they would not avail
themselves of it, because it is a losing voyage; and it seems odd to advise the pro­
hibition of the advantages now enjoyed, by the outlay of British capital in that enter­
prise, for the nominal right of engaging in a similar one. The general result goes to
show, that as long as American shipping is relieved from onerous taxation at home, it
can successfully compete with that of all the world, in science of construction, and skill
and enterprise in navigation. The great object is to procure as extended a market as
possible for the agricultural products of the United States, which are far beyond the
consumptive powers of the people. The British colonies bought in 1840 the following
quantities of those articles :—




Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

557

A gricultural Products exported from the U. S. in 1840.
To British Colonies.
Total Exports.
Articles.
Value.
No.
Value.
No.
Rice,........................... . .tierces
6,003
$12U,828 tierces 101,660 $1,942,076
Apples,....................... ..barrels
11,750
23,696 barrels
23,396
55,131
“
Ship Bread,................ .. “
86,274
280,260
147,033
428,988
((
Potatoes,................ ... .. “
23,867
10,364
123,549
54,524
57,597
113,393
Rye,............................
Meal—Rye and Indian,..bbls. 180,406
600,180 barrels 259,281
876,114
Indian Corn,.............. ....bush. 275,567
164,763
338,333
574,279
“ 1,897,501
Flour,.......................... ..barrels 664,685
3,371,402
10,143,615
it 1,720,860
W heat,....................... ....bush. 1,100,347
944,162
1,635,483
“
Butter and Cheese,.... ....... lbs. 725,151
75,862
723,217
210,749
Pork, &c....................
665,876
1,894,894
Beef, &c....................
311,900
623.373
Naval Stores,............. ..barrels
17,342
37,032 barrels 259,776
602,529
Other agricultural articles,...................
2,139,630
810,201
Tola] Value,........................... $8,803,550
Exported in American vessels,........... 6,055,224
“
foreign vessels,................ 2,148,326

$19,729,403

The export to these colonies in 1829 amounted to $2,725,567, being an increase in
the sale of agricultural products to the extent of $6,077,983, of which seventy-five per
cent goes in American vessels. It thus appears that the effect of the proclamation was
to double the market for agricultural produce—a market which is now rapidly increasing.
It must be a very lame policy which would suggest the destruction of this trade, with
which the welfare of the western states is somewhat connected, merely because Great
Britain lays unwholesome restraints upon her colonies.
The fact that the article of gypsum is imported mostly in foreign bottoms is relied
upon chiefly as a reason why the existing regulations are injurious to the United States.
The following table will show the comparative importance of that article in the trade
between the United States and the colonies:—
Import of Gypsum from the Colonies into the United States, with the A ggregate
Import and Export, distinguishing the A mount carried in A merican Vessels.
Imports and
In Amer.
In For.
Gifpsum.
Vessels.
Exports.
Vessels.
1829......... ...... $61,307
$3,589,196
$3,462,850
$136,346
1830......... .... 119,234
4,607,056
4,524,623
82,533
1834 ........ .... 172,837
7,844,057
5,613,403
2,230,634
1835......... .....
8,473,820
6,088,754
87,531
2,384,976
1836......... ...... 120,081
5,463,965
8,210,610
2,746,648
9,218,215
6,468,263
2,748,953
1837......... ..... 141,819
1838......... ...... 130,233
8,115,761
5,734,511
2,381,256
6,735,678
2,488,096
1839......... ..... 127,518
9,243,774
8,879,549
1840......... . ... 129,401
12,121,517
3,361,968
1841...............
Now it appears that, since 1830, the import of gypsum from the colonies has scarcely
increased at a ll; while the trade to and from the colonies, in American vessels, has in­
creased 150 per cent, or $5,300,003 ; while that in foreign vessels has also increased
$3,300,000. Hence it appears that the opening of the imports has been of immense
importance to the United States; and had Great Britain allowed the United States ves­
sels to buy her gypsum, her sales of that article would undoubtedly have increased in
the same proportion as have the sales of American produce. Hence her restrictions
have been a serious injury to her own subjects, while the citizens of the United States
have been immensely benefited by the liberal policy of the government.




47*

f

558

Commercial Statistics.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.
N A V IG A T IO N A N D T O N N A G E O F T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S , I N 1841.
S ta te m e n t e x h i b itin g a C o n d en se d V ie w o f th e T o n n a g e o f th e S e v e r a l D is tr ic ts o f the
U n ite d S ta te s , on th e 30th o f S e p te m b e r , 1841 ; d e r iv e d f r o m th e A n n u a l R e p o r t o f
th e S e c r e ta r y o f th e T r e a s u r y , m a d e a s r e q u ir e d b y A c t o f C o n g ress.

districts.
Passamaquoddy,...,
Machias,............... .................... do...
Frenchman’s Bay,.
Penobscot,.............
Belfast,..................
Waldoborough,.....
Wiscasset,.............
Bath,.....................
Portland,...............
Saco,.....................
Kennebunk,..........
York,....................
Portsmouth,............New Hampshire
Newburyport.........
Ipswich,.................
Gloucester,.............
Salem,....................
Marblehead,.........
Boston,...................
Plymouth,..............
Fall River,.............
New Bedford,.......
Barnstable,............
Edgartown,............
Nantucket,.............
Providence,............
Bristol,...................
Newport,................
Middletown,..........
New London,........
New Haven,.........
Fairfield,...............
Vermont,................
Champlain,.............
Sackett’s Harbor,.. .................do.....
Oswego,.................
Niagara,.................
Genesee,.................
Oswegatchie,..........
Buffalo Creek,........
Sag Harbor,...........
New York,.-..........
Cape Vincent,........
Perth Amboy,.......
Bridgetown,............
Camden,..................
Newark,........ .........
Burlington,..............
Little Egg Harbor,.
Great Egg Harbor,.
V OL. V II.---- N O. V I.




Registered
Tonnage.
Tons and 95ths.
1,920 44
1,395 44
2,331 50
6,100 18
7,927 81
12,343 13
4,514 60
34,813 16
37,515 26
659 93
5,798 75
17,372 11
14,286 44
2,303
22,873
2,538
158,803
13,976
2,633
65,2)3
3,237
5,007
25,658
12,681
8,191
5,291
926
20,718
3,864
912

02
02
16
50
08
77
64
46
63
09
81
53
70
58
81
41
52

12,783 28
225,174 36
249 29
518 38

48

Enrolled and
Licensed Tonn.
Tons and 95ths.
8,667 92
12,752 37
13,096 20
30,025 59
31,686 00
38,913 18
8,900 79
23,237 32
17,494 60
2,242 20
1,910 28
1,042 62
8,335 74
8,931 30
2,514 45
14,393 16
13,706 51
9,024 81
68,804 44
12,984 69
5,688 79
31,539 20
51,832 36
2,300 25
7,649 36
5,320 09
4,737 67
5,862 46
9,775 01
14,717 79
6,344 57
8,019 50
4,343 30
1,633 02
2,059 72
6,872 38
231 89
442 48
855 15
14,993 75
6,237 44
212,840 02
2,529 83
15,194 12
9,822 30
4,358 44
5,776 85
3,936 44
5,021 01
8,652 32

Total Tonn.
of each List.
*Tons & 95ths.
10,588 41
14,147 81
15,427 70
36,125 77
39,613 81
51,257 31
13,415 44
58,050 48
55,009 86
2,902 18
7,709 08
1,042 62
25,707 85
23,217 74
2,514 45
16,696 18
36,579 53
11,563 02
227,607 94
26,960 77
8,322 61
96,752 84
55,069 82
7,307 88
33,307 45
18,000 90
12,929 25
11,154 21
10,701 59
35,436 65
10,209 03
8,932 07
4,343 30
1,633 02
2,059 72
6,872 38
231 89
442 48
855 15
14,993 75
19,020 72
438,014 38
2,529 83
15,194 12
10,116 59
4,358 44
6,325 28
3,936 44
5,021 01
8,652 32

Commercial Statistics.
T onnage

of the

Districts.
Philadelphia,...
Presque Isle,...
Pittsburg,........
Wilmington,....
Newcastle,......
Baltimore,........
Oxford,............
Vienna,............
Snow Ilill,..... .
St. Mary’s,.....
Annapolis,.......
Georgetown,... District of Columbia
Alexandria,.....
Norfolk,...........
Petersburg,......
Richmond,.......
Yorktown,.......
East River,.....
Rappahannock,
Folly Landing,.,
Yeocomico,......
Cherry Stone,...
Wheeling,........
Wilmington,.... ....... North Carolina
Newbern,.........

Washington,—
Edenton,.........
Camden,.........
Beaufort,.........
Plymouth,.......
Ocracoke,.......
Charleston,......
Georgetown,....
Beaufort,.........
Savannah,.......
Sunbury,.........
Brunswick,......
Hardwick,........
St. Mary’s,......
Cuyahoga,........
Sandusky,.......
Cincinnati,......
Miami,............
Nashville,........
Louisville,........
St. Louis,........
Michilimackinac,..............Michigan
Detroit,............
Mobile,............
Pearl River,.....
New Orleans,...
Teche,.............
Pensacola,........
St. Augustine,...
Apalachicola,... ..................‘ .do...
St. Marks,.......
Key West,.......
T otal,,




559

United S tates, E tc.— C o n tin u e d .
Registered
Tonnage.
Tons and 95ths.
47,379 91
906 37
37,752 32
832 31

1,568
6,864
6,558
2,674
3,922

58
70
51
51
64

6,610 93
1,823 86
1,083 80
104 13
647 77
653 86
12,953 74

8,543 76
1,266 05

5,589 67
54,793 05
146 03

Enrolled and
Licensed Tonn.
Tons and 95ths.
58,425 50
2,819 84
10,342 77
4,048 31
5,101 35
45,886 09
7,827 81
10,441 39
5,792 62
1,349 06
3,884 91
4,390 39
3,525 28
11,571 69
1,592 80
3,098 16
2,426 18
1,907 15
2,108 55
3,771 61
2,835 65
1,473 32
1,417 81
2,404 92
1,869 19
1,988
931
7,383
1,070
1,019
954
8,407
2 ,7 8 6
246
5,517

59
93
62
19
55
11
44
42
33
38

820 17

Total Tonn.
o f each Dist.
Tons & 95ths
105,805 46
2,819 84
10,342 77
4,954 68
5,101 35
83,638 41
7,827 81
11,273 70
5,792 62
1,349 06
3,884 91
5,959 02
10,390 03
18,130 25
4,267 42
7,020 80
2,426 18
1,907 15
2,108 55
3,771 61
2,835 65
1,473 32
1,417 81
9,015 90
3,693 10
3,072
1,036
8,031
1,070
1,673
954
21,361
2,786
246
14,061

44
11
44
19
46
11
23
42
33
19

2,086 2 2

149
8,853
3,446
10,188
2,4 7 2
3,521
8,359
11,370

37
88
75
76
55
65
73
00

149
8,853
3,446
10,188
2 ,4 7 2
3,521
8,359
11,370

37
88
75
76
55
65
73
00

11,520
10,124
901
90,321
684
953

16
86
16
58
71
93

11,520
15,714
901
145,114
684
1,100

16
58
16
63
71
01

645 66

1,821 84

2 ,4 6 6 55

1,870 07

557 65

2,427 72

1,284,940 90

2,230,744 37

945,803 42

1s t

d a y o f O c to b er, 1840, a n d e n d in g o n

560

S ta te m e n t o f th e N a v i g a t i o n o f e a c h S t a t e a n d T e r r ito r y o f th e U n ite d S t a t e s , c o m m e n c in g o n th e
th e 30<ft d a y o f S e p te m b e r , 1841.

I . ---- TON NA G E E N T E R E D T H E U N IT ED STA TES.
FO R EIG N .

AM ERICAN. .
STA TES AND T E R R IT O R IE S .

V e s s e ls .

T ons.
M en.

T

otal.




292
27
43
1,334
134
103
3,371

683
115

8 J

54,296
8,800
13,560
283,1 8 7
2 4 ,5 6 4
21,4 2 2
733,552

2 ,1 2 5
293
332
12,447
1,272
1,356
35,787

’ 89,2 8 7
1,689
69,275
6,969
26,6 3 8
2 3 ,8 0 3
29,7 5 7
10,612
23,9 6 5

3,763
92
3,107
298
1,176
1,209
1,396
435
1,031

193,063

sjo42

T O T A L , AM ERICAN AND FOR EIGN.

V e s s e ls . \

Tons.

1 56,164
2,329

M en.

I

3,160
138

20,473
3,177
7,637
2,794
25,863
36,552
36,583

1j34 4
37
145
25,334
6
495
77
1,031
176
408
209
1,088
1,313
1,487
3,543
147

631
3,114
378,128
132
10,098

2,202

| B oys.

V e s se ls .

C re w s.

T ons.
M e n .

36

110,460
11,129
13,560
354,402
25,195
24,5 3 6
1,111,680
132
99,385
3,891
89,748
10,146
34,275
26,5 9 7
55,620
47,1 6 4
60,548

5,285
431
332
16,791
1,309
1,501
61,121
6
4,258
169
4,138
474
1,584
1,418
2 ,4 8 4
1,748
2,518

942
151

264,637
11,088

11,585
548

78
70

8,1 1 4

401

259
36

7 i ,634
2 ,9 7 4

875

43

39

3,285

47

4,160

226

840

36

1,459

205

10,000

1,194

4 ,5 3 8

I 736,444

169 1.........8,541
7,735 ! 1,631,909

75,445

2,830

43,675

453

12,273

2 ,3 6 8 ,3 5 3 ! 119,120

B u y s

C o m m e r c ia l S t a tis tic s .

Maine,........................ .
New Hampshire,.......
Vermont,....................
Massachusetts.............
Rhode Island,............
Connecticut,................
New York,..................
New Jersey,...............
Pennsylvania,............
Demware,....................
M aryland,.................. .
District of Columbia,..
Virginia,......................
North Carolina,.........
South Carolina,..........
Georgia.......................
Alabam a,....................
Mississippi,..................
Louisiana,...................
Ohio,............................
Kentucky.....................
Tennessee,..................
Michigan....................
Missouri,.....................
Florida,.......................

B oys.

|

C re w s.

C re w s.

3,283

S ta te m e n t o f th e N a v i g a t i o n o f ea ch S ta te a n d T e r r ito r y o f th e U n ite d S ta te s , c o m m e n c in g o n th e 1 s t d a y o f O c to b e r ,
th e HHth d a y o f S e p te m b e r , 1841.—Continued.
I I . ---- TON NA G E C LEA R ED FROM




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

741
134

7,790

T ons.

M en.

90,764
1,475
13,560
236,376
20,911
27,886
600,307
2,739
74,201
1,632
63,656
11,472
53,910
39,829
63,469
20,196
47,481

3,603
61
332
12,235
1,225
1,784
32,253
115
3,310
87
3,027
501
2,252
1,961
2,649
831
1,872

"244,988
9,600

9 ,7 i3

875

Boys

V e s se ls .

T ons.

M en.

56,679
2,330

3,196
136

73,628
787
3,027
365,241

4^724
41
141
24,989

9,322
2,202
23,598
3,361
9,333
3,184
28,716
36,980
35,795

......479
80
1,162
180
500
225
1,154
1,345
1,365

72,577
2,624

3,541

130

43

829

'883

1,634,156

79,216

821
35

479

3,043

4,554

736,849

C re w s.

B oys.

V e s s e ls .

Tons.
M en.

30

147,443
3,805
13,560
310,004
21,698
30,913
965,548
2,739
83,523
3,834
87,254
14,833
63,243
43,013
92,185
57,176
83,276

6,799
197
332
16,959
1,266
1,925
57,242
115
3,789
167
4,189
681
2,752
2,186
3,803
2,176
3,237

1,000
165

317,565
12,224

13,254
609

255

79

5,609

298

4 18

213

11,560

1,301

12,344

2,371,005

44,061

59
52

348

B oys.

123,277 13,381

C o m m e r c ia l S t a tis tic s .

Maine,.......................
New Hampshire,........
Vermont,....................
Massachusetts,...........
Rhode Island,............
Connecticut,..............
New York,................
New Jersey,..............
Pennsylvania,............
Delaware,.................
Maryland,..................
District of Columbia,..
Virginia,....................
North Carolina,.........
South Carolina,.........
Georgia,....................
Alabama,..................
Mississippi,................
Louisiana,.................
Ohio,.........................
Kentucky,.................
Tennessee,................
Michigan,.................
Missouri,...................
Florida,.....................

T O T A L , AM ERICAN AND FO R EIG N .

C re w s.

C re w s.
T e a sels.

a n d e n d in g on

T H E U N IT ED STA TES.

A M ERICAN.
STA TES A N S T E R R IT O R IE S .

1840,

562

Commercial Statistics.
U. S. IMFORTS AND EXPORTS OF SUGAR, FROM 1821 TO 1842.

Statement exhibiting the Import, Export, and Consumption o f Foreign Brown and
White Sugar in the United States annually, from 1821 to 1841, divided into three
periods of seven years each ; and also the quantity of Domestic Refined Sugar ex.
ported annually during the same tim e; derived from a Report o f the Secretary of the
Treasury, July 9, 1842.
W H IT E SUGAR.

B R O W N SUGAR.

DOMESTIC
R EFIN ED

Vears.

SUGAR.

Imported.
Pounds.

1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
Total, 7 yrs
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
Total, 7 yrs,
1835
1836
1837
1833
1839
1840
1841

Exported. Consumed. Imported Exported) Consumed.
Pounds.

Pounds.

Pounds.

Pounds,

j

Pounds.

Pounds.

1,939,764
6,265,810
1,357,570
8.477.299
890,757
4.748.299
3,274,547

126,527
177,065
55,187
57,903
50.017
168,991
236,744

475,146,01390,629,125 384,517,433 61,216,632 34,262,586 26,954,046

872,439

3,563,916
3,012,396
4,857,131
5,163,147
3,075,696
7,523,219
4,977,412

269,291
479,218
1,634,610
1,273,773
856,313
692.876
3,241,721

540,728,467 70,878,723 169,819,744 54,542,783 22,364,866 32,177,917

8,493,302

53,145,65415,301,935
77,470,313' 7,732,228
53,783,724114,833,353
80,133,429 8,315,855
64,430,041 15,420,284
76,019,01546,979,823
70,108,937i 12,010,592

51,686,955! 8,997,954
53 597,594 10,639,247
78,576,3831 6,676,265
98,576,928'17,297,83?
60,117,71744,230,070
85,639,044, 2,001,424
107,483,84141,035,926

37,843,669 6,367,181
69,733,535 10,834,857
33,950,371 7,000,486
71,7 37,574 14,216,033
49,059,757| 7,291,433
53,039,137 8.333,940
53,098,345 6,592,602

42,689,001 5,249,006
47,953,347 4,709,720
71.900,123 7,906,653
81,279,091 10,437,726
45,837,647 6,334,571
83,637,620 11,999,088
96,447,915 7,906,014

4,427,417
4,569,017
5,642,916
5,768,739
6,400,631
4,135,611
3,318,145

1,630,090
1,697,324
3,049,527
5,274,579
3,253,875
4,475,869
2,928,602

856,590
111,806,830 3,786,017 108,020,863 14,229,359 3,447,772 10,781,537
181,243,537 30,429,836 150,813,701 10,182,573 3,762,237 6,400,291 1,675,372
120,416,071 27,875,456 92,540,615 15,723,748 13,176,577 2,547,171 2,012,854
139,200,905 4,503,074 134,607,331 14,678,238 7,121,250 7,555,933 2,909,8)6
182,540,327 6,111,953 176,398,360 12,690,946 6,825,742 5,865,204 4,732,723
107,955,033 9,705,020 98,250,013 12,984,552 9,076,534 3,907,968 10,741,648
165,963,083 2,055,587 163,907,516 13,233,579 9,755,666 8,477,913 13,435,034

Total, 7 yrs 1,009,125,836,84,496,923 924,623,903 98,723,000 53,185,878 45,537,122 36,414,157
R ECA PITU LA TIO N .

Pounds.

Tot. brown and white sugar, from 1821 to 1827, on which duty was retained 411,471,534
Less 872,439 lbs. domestic refined sugar exported, equivalent to........... 1,744,878
Thus, in the 7 years, from 1821 to 1827, a nett revenue was realized on 409,726,656
Tot. brown and while sugar, from 1828 to 1834, on which duty was retained 502,027,661
Less 8,498,302 lbs. domestic refined sugar exported, equivalent to........ 16,996,604
Thus, in the 7 years, from 1828 to 1834, a nett revenue was realized on 485,031,057
Tot. brown and white sugar, fiom 1835 to 1841, on which duty was retained 970,166,030
Less 36,414,157 lbs. domestic refined sugar exported, equivalent to..... 72,828,314
Thus, in the 7 years, from 1835 to 1841, a nett revenue was realized on 897,337,716
Increase in 7 years, from 1828 to 1834, over preceding 7 years, of............ 75,304,401
Increase in 7 years, from 1835 to 1841, over preceding 7 years, of............ 412,306,659




A STATEMENT EXHIBITING THE VALUE OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. ANNUALLY. FROM 18-31 TO 1841. INCLUSIVE ; THE RECEIPTS INTO THE
TREASURY, ANNUALLY, FROM CUSTOMS, DURING THE SAME PElilOD : AND, ALSO,
A1
n’,,T' VALUE ™
----- ------------------THE
OF ------------BULLION AND ~SPECIE
IMPORTED
AND EXPORTED.
VALUE OF E X PO R TS.

VALUE OF IM PO R TS.

Y ear.

....... $10,082,313
7,298,708
.......
9,048,288
.......
12,563,773
.......
10,947,510
.......
12,567,769
.......
11,855,104
.......
12,379,176
.......
11,805,501
.......
....... 12,746,245
13,456,625
.......
14,247,453
.......
.......
32,447,950
68,393,180
.......
....... 77.940,493
....... 92,056,481
....... ,69,250,031
....... 60,860,005
....... 76,401,792
....... 57,196,204
...... 66,019,731

$52,503,411
75,942,833
68,530,979
67,985,234
85,392,565
72,406,708
67,628,964
76,130,648
62,687,026
58,130,675
89,734,499
86,779,813
75,670,361
58,128,152
71,955,249
97,923,554
71,739,186
52,857,399
85,690,340
49,945,315
61,925,757

T o ta l.

$62,585,724
83,241,541
77,579,267
80,549,007
96,340,075
84,974,477
79,484,068
88,509,824
74,492,527
70,876,920
103,191,124
101,029,266
108,118,311
126,521,332
149,895,742
189,980,035
140,989,217
113,717,404
162,092,132
107,141,519
127,945,488

$21,302,488
22,286,202
27,543,622
25,337,157
32,590,643
24,539,612
23,403,136
21,595,017
16,658,478
14,387,479
20,033,526
24,039,473
19,822,735
23,312,811
20,504,495
21,746,360
21,854,962
12,452,795
17,494,525
18,190,312
15,469,081

$43,671,894
49,874,079
47,155,408
53,649,500
66,944,745
53,055,710
58,921,691
50,669,669
55,700,193
59,462,029
61,277,057
63,137,470
70,317,698
81,024,162
101,189,082
106,916,680
95,564,.414
96,033,821
103,533,891
113,895,634
106,382,722

BULLIO N AND SPECIE.

T o ta l.

R EC E IPT S IN TO
T H E T R EA S U R Y .

$64,974,382
72,160,281
74,699,030
75,986,657
99,535,388
77,595,322
82,324,827
72,264,686
72,358,671
73,849,508
81,310,583
87,176,943
90,140,433
104,336,973
121,693,577
128,663,040
117,419,376
108,486,616
121,028,416
131,571,950
121,851,803

$13,004,447
17,589,762
19,088,433
17,878,326
20,098,713
23,341,332
19,712,283
23,205,524
22,681,966
21,922,391
24,224,442
28,465,237
29,032,509
16,214,957
19,391,311
23,409,941
11,169,290
16,158,800
23,137,925
13,499,502
14,487,216

I m p o r te d .

E x p o r te d .

$8,064,890
3,369,846
5,097,896
8,379,835
6,150,765
6,880,956
8,151,130
7,489,741
7,403,612
8,155,964
7,305,945
5,907.504
7,070,368
17,911,632
13,131,447
13,400.881
10,516.414
17,747,116
5,595,176
8,882.813
4,975,883

$10,478,059
10,810,180
6,372,987
7,014,552
8,470,534
4,704,236
8,014,880
8,243,476
4,924,020
2,178,773
9,014,931
5,656,340
2,611,701
2,076,758
6,477,775
4,324 336
5,976,249
3,508,046
8,776,743
8,417,014
10,034,332

It has been estimated by some that there was of specie and bullion in the country on the 30th September, 1820, $18,000,000 ; but say
Imported from 1821 to 1841, in 20 years,..................................................................................................................................................................
Deduct amount exported from 1821 to 1841

$ 20,000,000
181,5e9,814
201,589,814
138,085,922
63,503,892

568




Balance,

C o m m e r c ia l S ta t i s t i c s .

1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841

F r e e o f D u ty . P a y i n g D u t y .

F o r e ig n M e r ­
D o m e s tic
c h a n d is e .
P r o d u c e , e tc .

564

Commercial Statistics.
COTTON CROP OF TH E U N ITED STATES.

S ta te m e n t a n d T o ta l A m o u n t o f th e G r o w th , E x p o r t , C o n s u m p tio n ,
e n d in g 31st A u g u s t , 1842.
N E W ORLEANS.

E x p o r t—

B a le s .

f o r th e y ea r

T o ta l in

T o ta l in

1842.

1841.

727,658

813,595

To foreign ports,................................................ 649,435
Coastwise,.......................................................... 99,832
Burnt and damaged,..........................................
950
Stock on hand, 1st September, 1842,.............
4,428
------------ 754,645
D e d u c t—

Stock on
Received
Received
Received

hand, 1st September, 1841,.............
from Mobile,.....................................
from Florida,....................................
from Texas,.......................................

14,490
4,565
2,831
5,101
------------

26,987

M ISSISSIPPI.

E x p o r t fr o m N

atchez,

&

c.

:—

1,085

Included in New Orleans,............
ALABAM A.

E x p o r t f r o m Mobile—
To foreign ports,............................................... 241,877
Coastwise,..........................................................
77,161
Stock in Mobile, 1st September, 1842,..........
422
------------ 319,460
D e d u c t—

Stock in Mobile, 1st September, 1841,..........
Received from Florida,....................................
Received from Texas,.......................................

360
632
153
------------

1,145
318,315

320,701

114,416

93,552

232,271

148,947

FLORIDA.

E x p o r t—

To foreign ports,................................................
Coastwise,..........................................................
Stock on hand, 1st September, 1842,...........

46,518
68,048
250
114,816

D e d u c t—

400

Stock on hand, September 1st, 1841,,
GEORGIA.

E x p o r t f r o m S avannah—
To foreign ports—Uplands,......
Sea Islands,.
Coastwise—U p]an ds,..................
Sea Islands,............

135,410
6,976
79,194
674
222,254

D arien—
T o New York,..................................................
E x p o r t fr o m

Burnt,.........................................................

Stock in Savannah, 1st September, 1842,....
Stock in Augusta and Hambro’, 1st Sept. ’42,

8,724
450
2,651
2,459
236,538

D e d u c t—

Stock in Savannah and Augusta, 1st Sept. *41,
SOUTH CAROLINA.

E x p o r t f r o m Charleston—
T o foreign ports—Uplands,............................. 184,705
Sea Islands,....................... 14,119




4,267

565

C o m m e r c ia l S ta t i s t i c s .

SOUTH CAROLINA.
Export from Charleston—Continued.
Coastwise—Uplands,....................................... .
Sea Islands,...............................

Bales.
70,442
341

269,607
Export from Georgetown—
To New York,................................................ . 12,617
Burnt and lost,.................................................
140
Stock in Charleston, 1st September, 1842,..
2,747
------------ 285,111
Deduct—
Stock in Charleston, 1st September, 1841,..
4,552
Received from Savannah,.............................. . 16,258
Received from Florida and Key W est........ ..
4,137
24,947
-----------NORTH CAROLINA.
Export—
All coastwise,........................................
9,787
Stock on hand, 1st September, 1842,.
250
------- 10,037
Deduct—
Stock on hand, 1st September, 1841,.
300

Total in
1842.

Total in
1841.

260,164

227,400

9,737

7,865

19,013
2,000

20,800
1,000

1,683,574

1,634,945

VIRGINIA.
E x p o r t—

To foreign ports,................................................
Coastwise,...........................................................
Manufactured,....................................................
Stock on hand, 1st September, 1842,.............

6,341
4,500
9,000
100
19,941

Deduct—
Stock on hand, 1st September, 1841,.

928

Received at Philadelphia and Baltimore, overland,.
T otal Crop of the U nited S tates,....................

Total crop of 1842, as above,....... bales 1,683,574
Crop of last year,..... ".............................. 1,634,945
Increase,..........................bales
E xport

to F oreign

P orts,

from

To Great
Britain.

To
France.

FROM
New Orleans,.............................. bales 421,450 183,272
*Mississippi, (Natchez).......................
Alabam a,.............................................. 185,414 49,544
Florida,.................................................. 29,412 14,097
Georgia, (Savannah and Darien)....... 124,296 15,590
98,305 75,504
South Carolina,....................................
North Carolina,....................................
650
5,031
Virginia,.................................................
724
Baltimore,..............................................
79
1,217
Philadelphia,..........................................
69,548 59,393
New York,...........................................
234
Boston,...................................................

to 31st A ugust,
Other
To N orth
o f Europe. For. Ports.

1842.
Total.

21,207

23,506

649,435

1,351

5,568
3,009
1,308
3,598

241,877
46,518
142,386
198,824

477

1,192
21,417
183
594
329
30,578
3,105

50
13,519
498

6,341
1,318
1,675
173,038
3,837

79,956
56,279

51,533
49,480

1,465,249
1,313,277

Increase,....................... 76,889 49,353 23,677
2,053
The shipments from Mississippi are included in the export from New Orleans.

151,972

Grand Total,............................ 935,631 398,129
Total last year,........................ 858,742 348,776

*

48,629

1st September, 1841,

VOL. VII.— NO. VI.




560

Commercial Statistics.
Growth.
[ crop of 1824-5,....
Total crop of 1833-4......... bales 1,205,394
18256,.......... ............. 710,000
1834-5,................. .............. 1,254,328
18267,.......... ............. 937,000
1835-6..................
1827-8,................... ............ 712,000
1836-7,.................
1828-9,................... ............. 857,744
1837-8,................. .............. 1,801,497
1829 30,................. ............ 976,845
1838-9,................. .............. 1,360,532
1830 1,................... ............ 1,038,848
1839-40................ .............. 2,177,835
1831-2,................... ............. 987,477
1840-1,................. .............. 1,634,945
1832-3,................... ........... 1,070,438
1841-2,................. .............. 1,683,574

Consumption.
Total crop of the United States, as before stated,.................bales
Add—
Stocks on hand at the commencement of the year, 1st Sept. 1841,
In the southern ports,.................................................................
In the northern ports,................................................................

1,683,574

27,479
45,000
---------

Makes a supply of.

72,479
1,756,053

Deduct therefrom—
The export to foreign ports,............................................ 1,465,249
Less Texas and other foreign,......................................... 10,393
1,454,856
Stocks on hand at the close of the year, 1st Sept., 1842,
In the southern ports,................................................
In the northern ports,................................................

13,307
18,500

Burnt and lost at New Orleans,.......................................
Burnt and lost at Savannah,.............................................
Burnt and lost at Charleston,............................................

950
450
140

31,807

1,540
1,488,203
Leaving,............................................................. bales 267,850
Quantity consumed by and in the hands of manufacturers :—

1841-2,............
1840-1 ’............
1839-40,..........
1838 9,............
1827-8,............
1836-7,............
1835-6,............ .............
1834-5,..........

...bales 267,850 1833-4,..............
.......... 297^288 1832-3;.............. .....................
.......... 295,193 1831 2,.............. .....................
1830-1............... .....................
.......... 246,063 1829-30,............ .....................
.......... 222,540 1828-9,.............. .....................
.......... 236,733 1827 8,.............. .....................
.......... 216,888 1826 7,.............. .....................

194,412
173,800
182,142
126,512
118,853
120,593
103,483

It will be seen that we have deducted from the New Orleans statement the quantity
received at that port from Texas—Texas being a foreign country.
Our estimate of the quantity taken for consumption does not include any cotton
manufactured in the states south and west of Virginia, nor any in that state, except in
the vicinity of Petersburg and Richmond.
Of the new crop now gathering, about 3,000 bales were received previous to the 1st
September; of which 1,734 were received at New Orleans.
The general tenor of the accounts from the cotton.growing states leads to the con.
elusion that the crop now coming in will excee^that of last year by several hundred
thousand bales; but the article is subject to so many vicissitudes that no certain calcu­
lation can be made as to the quantity that may reach the market.—[Shipping List.




Mercantile Miscellanies.

567

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.
PROBLEMS IN ACCOUNTANTSHIP.
The question for bookkeepers proposed by T. J. in our September number has elicited
numerous answers, from which we select those of R., J. D. L., and N. D., as correct.
In the answer of R. there is a slight variation from the rest in form, but the following
sufficiently exemplifies the answers of all three :—
C a sh .

D r.

C r.

A........................... .............$286 36 By A............................. .......... $78 56
5 99 “ B.............................
“ B............................ .............
.......... 120 00
.......... 159 30
“ Balance,..................

To

$112 35

$412 35
C r.

A .

D r.

Cash,...................... ............. $78 56 By Cash,....................... .......... $286 36
“ B............................ ............. 436 00 “ Balance,.................. .......... 247 85
...........
19 65

To

$534 21

$534 21
B.

D r.

Cash,......................
“ Loss,...................... ...........
“ Balance,.................

To

C r.

By Cash,.......................
19 65 “ A............................. ..........
$441 99

To

$441 99

M e r c h a n d is e .

D r.

436 00

C r.

Cash,...................... ........... $159 30 By Cash,....................... ..........$120 00
“ A ............................ ..........
19 65
“ B............................. ..........
19 65
$159 30

D r.

A...........................
44 Cash,...................... ...........

To

$159 30

B a la n c e .

C r.

By B.............................. ..........$302 34
54 49
$302 34

$302 34

The effects of the concern are therefore $302 34, which is all due to B., and of
which A. pays $247 85.
Now for a different view of the transaction. Substitute the words “ paid /o r” instead
of “ paid to” the firm, and the sense is materially altered. Let it be admitted that what
A. & B. paid away was not first put into a cash drawer for joint use, but absolutely
paid away for the business; thus, when they made purchases, each paid what he hap­
pened to have in his pocket, and that although it was understood they were partners,
there was no other bookkeeping than that each kept a memorandum of all he paid away
or received for the business. Of the goods sold we will suppose part were sold by one
and part by the other, but the statement furnished by each (as given in the question) of
what he had received and paid is admitted to be correct. Now in this case there can
be no such thing as Cash on Hand, belonging to the firm. All funds of the firm are
evidently in the pockets of one or the other of the parties. What, then, must one pay
the other ?




568

Mercantile Miscellanies.
S o lu tio n b y N . D ., N e w O rle a n s , o f P r o p o s itio n b y C. C. C.

Six Per Cent Stock.
$16,150 in the six per cent stock produces................................... $19,000 00
Twenty-one years’ interest on ditto at six per cent is... 23,940 00
------------ $42,940 00
Our object being a comparison of the present value of each fund in prospective, we
must now find what sum at seven per cent interest would, in twenty-one years, amount
to $42,940. Without giving the work of this problem, we will state that we have as­
certained it to be................................................................................ $17,384 62
Seven per cent interest on this sum being.......................... .......... 25,555 38
---------------$42,940 00
This proves that we have found the true present value of the six per cent stock, as
we have shown that $17,384 62 at interest, at seven per cent, produces $42,940 00,
which is the prospective value of this investment.
Seven Per Cent Stock.
$16,150 in the seven per cent stock produces...................................................$17,000 00
Fourteen years’ interest at seven per cent gives................................ 16,660 00
Prospective value,..................................... $33,660 00
Now, without calculation, it is obvious that the present value of $33,660 is $17,000.
Hence the following result:—
Present value of six per cent investment,........................................................... $17,384 62
“
“
seven per cent “
.......................................................... 17,000 00
Difference in favor of six per cent,..................................

$384 62

W e trust N. D. will not object to the manner in which we have used his solution;
we have merely introduced such remarks as appeared to us necessary to render the
statement intelligible to that portion of our readers who are less experienced in these
matters than himself.
His question we willingly insert, viz :—
Q u e s tio n f o r B o o k k e e p e r s , b y N . D .

I would propose, if approved by you, the following question :—
Three partners commence business on the 1st of January, 1843, with a capital of
$15,000. Of the capital, A. puts in the concern $7,000 ; B., 6,000 ; and C., 2,000.
A. draws from the concern, for his private expenses, $300 per month. B., the first two
years, $300 per month ; and the last year, $150 per month. C. draws $50 per month.
In every case, the money is drawn on the first day of’the month, commencing with the
first month. C. is allowed one quarter of the profits, and the balance is divided equally
between A. and B. Interest allowed at the rate of six per cent per annum on the
money received and taken out of the concern by the partners. At the expiration of the
partnership, the nett profits of the concern are $8,000, not including the interest ac­
count between the partners. W hat amount is to be paid or received by each to settle
the whole at the expiration of the partnership ?
W e regret that any remarks having the appearance of partiality or unfairness should
have crept into our pages. W e therefore cheerfully insert the following correction:—
New York, September 15th, 1842.
M r . E ditor,—Permit me to recall your attention to the comments appearing in your

September number, in reference to the several answers to “ a mathematical problem.”
Of the various answers it is stated that “ those from R. B. S. and *Charleston’ are the




Mercantile Miscellanies.

569

readiest and most satisfactory. T. J., C. C. C., and J. L. have each given correct an.
swers, but the processes they have adopted are not so brief.”
Surely the writer of the above could not have examined the several answers, or he
must have seen, as all your readers may do, that in all these answers alluded to, the
difference in quantity of figures arises from a suppression of the proof extensions on the
part of the two first, and which the other three have given in full. The difference in
work is this, R. B. S. and Charleston have obtained a minimum price to grade the rest
from, while J. L. has obtained a maximum, but the work is precisely the sam e; and if
either answer of the three deserves a preference it is certainly that of J. L., for giving
several different cases of the kind. But T. J. and C. C. C. have deducted the gross dif­
ferences from the gross sales, and divided by the yards for a minimum; while R. B. S.
and Charleston have divided the gross differences by the yards, and deducted the ave.
rage differences from the average price per yard for a minimum. Now the Gross Sales
is always a given sum in such questions ; therefore the only difference in the work of the
two methods is the following :—
R. B. S. and Charleston’s method,

14|

14
134
T . J. and C. C. C.’s method,

740 45
75 30
665 15

In this case it is true that the former has a leelle the smaller sum in substraction, but
for this he is indebted to the question for an easy fraction. The latter is, however, far
easier understood, as it is not readily determined that to deduct the average differences
will produce the same result as to deduct the totals; consequently, T . J. and C. C. C.
have at least given the most “ satisfactory” answers, and if not the “ readiest,” at least
as ready as the others.
F air Play.
The question proposed
profitable discussion. It
mined when something
stated which of the three

by R. from an eastern paper would only lead, as before, to un­
contains no definite proposition. Profits can only be deter­
has been fixed upon as a first cost; and moreover, it is not
parties to the transaction the question of profits refers to.

COMMERCIAL PRO SPERITY OF JAMAICA.
The Kingston Morning Journal says :—“ We have been favored with a view of the
statements of exports from this island during the present year, and have been delighted
at perceiving the increase which has taken place over those of 1841. The statement
i3 incomplete, not including the exports from Port Maria, Luca, and Savanna-la-Mar.
Notwithstanding these omissions, it appears that 13,321 hogsheads of sugar, 3,850 pun­
cheons of rum, and 1,233 tierces of coffee have been shipped in 1842, over and above
the shipments of the previous year. Our British as well as Jamaica readers will be
gratified at the increased production of our staples which this statement shows, and will
join us in the anxious hope that they will continue to increase in the like ratio every
year, until our island ha3 reached that pitch beyond which increased production becomes
an ev il:—
lid s. Sugar.
1841 ............................. 22,691
1842 ............................. 36,012
E xcess............................ 13,321




PhsaRum .
8,298
12,148
3,850

Trs. Coffee.
7,570
8,803
1,233

Mercantile Miscellanies.

570

TH E VAULTS OF T H E BANK OF FRANCE.
The silver coin is heaped up in barrels, placed in spacious cellars, resembling the sub­
terranean storehouses of a brewery. Each tub-holding fifty thousand francs in five-franc
pieces, and weighing about six hundred pounds. There were, I w'as told, eight hundred
barrels, piled up to the very crown of the arches, and rising much higher than my head.
W e walked through a long alley of these barrels for some time, until we came to a large
stone-roofed and iron-floored apartment, wherein are to be seen large square leaden cases,
resembling those used at vitriol and sulphuric acid wrorks. Each of these holds twenty
thousand bags of one thousand francs each, and the whole are soldered up hermetically
within the cases; several of which, it appears, have not been opened for nearly forty
years ; and, a regent told me, would probably remain untouched a hundred years longer,
and would be the last of their stock dipped into. In these leaden reservoirs the treasure
of the Bank of France is kept perfectly dry, and free also from any variation of tempera­
ture. The stairs leading to these regions of Plutus are narrow, and admit of only one
person at a time, ascending or descending with a candle. This has been expressly con­
trived for protection, and defence from insurgent mobs. In one of the treasure vaults
are the precious deposits of the Rothschilds, and other wealthy capitalists, left for safety
with the bank. W ant of confidence obliges the Bank of France to keep in its vaults a
sum which might be reduced to a fourth, or even an eighth part, with safety to itself,
and of incalculable advantage to the wealth and prosperity of the country.—[Letters
from Paris.
“ SIX HO STILE T A R IFF S.”
The Leeds (England) Mercury, enumerates the “ hostile tariffs” that have been passed,
with their respective dates, with the briefest possible explanation of their bearing on
English commerce, as follows :—
1. The Russian Tariff, issued in November, 1841 ; by which the duty on worsted or
woollen goods, and mixed worsted and cotton, was raised from 200 to 300 per cent ad
valorem; printed goods are prohibited. The King of Prussia, during his late visit to St.
Petersburgh, induced the Emperor to issue a more favorable ukase for the products of
Prussia.
2. The Portuguese Tariff, bearing date the 12th of December, 1841; by which the
duties on English woollens were raised to an ad valorem duty of 45 per cent. A favor­
able tariff is now in course of negotiation.
3. The French Tariff, bearing date the 26th of June, 1842 ; by which the duties on
English linen yarns and linens were doubled, and made almost entirely prohibitory, this
being by far our largest branch of export to France.
4. The Belgian Tariff, issued in July, 1842 ; by which the duty on English linens and
linen yarns was raised to the same prohibitory rate as the French duty, in obedience to
the dictation of France, and with a view of preventing the smuggling of English linens
and yarns into that country through Belgium.
5. The United States Tariff, bearing date Aug., 1842 ; by which the duty on woollens
was raised from 20 to 40 per cent ad valorem, on worsted goods from 20 to 30 per cent,
and on cotton goods the duty was made nominally 30 per c e n t; but on some kinds of
goods it is in reality from 100 to 200 percent ad valorem, and on many kinds of cottons,
woollens, and other goods the duty will be prohibitory.
6. The German League Tariff, passed September, 1842; by which the duty on one
of the largest branches of our ^exports, namely, worsted goods, figured or printed, is
raised from twenty dollars per cwt., so as to be in many cases prohibitory ; and by which
the duty on quincaillerie or hardware is increased probably to fifty dollars per cwt.




The Book Trade.

571

THE BOOK TRADE.
1.

— T he P h y sic ia n f o r S h ip s ; exhibiting the S y m p to m s, C auses, anil T r e a tm e n t o f Diseases
incident to Seam en a n d Passenger's in M e r ch a n t Vessels, w ith D irectio n s f o r P r e se r v in g
th e ir H ealth in S ic k ly C lim ates. By U sher P arsons, M.D., formerly Surgeon in the Navy,

and President of the Rhode Island Medical Society. Third edition, pp. 216. Boston:
Little & Brown.
It is no small recommendation to this work, that the second edition of two thousand co­
pies is all sold. In the present edition important improvements and additions are made in
every part of the book ; and the whole of it has been written with an eye to the understand­
ing and capacities of those for whom it was intended. An extract or two, from a Review
of the former edition, contained in the New England Medical Journal, will give the reader
a correct idea of its merits:—
“ We trust that this work will meet with an extensive circulation. W e think it would
be an object well worthy the attention of our principal merchants, to introduce it among
the masters of vessels in their employ. They would, no doubt, find themselves amply re­
paid for the trifling expense to which it would subject them, in the greater safety and health
of their crews, and the security of their own property. W ith a due observance of the pre­
cautions and preventives insisted on by Dr. Parsons, we should not so often hear of the
extensive and dreadful fatality which sometimes befalls merchant vessels, and sweeps off
one after another their whole crews. If the commanders of vessels make it their study, as
it is their duty, to understand, so far as they are capable, its contents, there can be no doubt
they might arrive at tolerably correct ideas of the nature and treatment of those diseases to
which seamen are more particularly subject.” “ The descriptions of diseases, are brief
and perspicuous; giving not a medical history of their phenomena and progress, but a
view of such of their principal symptoms, as would convey a vivid impression to the mind
of an unprofessional observer. The method of treatment recommended is, also, of that
kind which can be best understood and practised by those for whom the work is intended
as a guide.”
2. —T h e P henom ena a n d O rd er o f the S o la r S y ste m . By J. P. N ichol, LL. D., F. R. S.,
Professor of Practical Astronomy in the University of Glasgow ; author of “ Views of the
Architecture of the Heavens,” etc. 12mo. pp. 166. Dayton & Newman.
This work was first published in Glasgow, in 1838, and the present is the first American
reprint of the last Edinburgh edition. It is divided into three parts. The first part, in treat­
ing of the motions of the planetary orbs, gives an account of astronomy in early times, its
reform, the advance of observation, and the perfection of the theory. The second part is
devoted to the physical constitution of the solar system, and of the bodies that compose
it, embracing the leading and general characteristics of the bodies of our system; charac­
ter and constitution of the individual planetary bodies, and the constitution of the sun.
The third part treats of gravitation, and remoter consequences of gravity. In marking the
rise of astronomy, and while unfolding its truths, the author very naturally dwells with fond­
ness on the actions, characters, and fates of the heroes of its history,—those men who
created it by successive conquests over the unknown—those stars, by the memory of
whose greatness we are drawn nearer the E ternal. The work is illustrated with numer­
ous appropriate drawings.
3. —The

C laim s o f the E p isc o p a l B ish o p s, E x a m in e d in a Series o f L e tte r s, addressed to the
R e v . S . A . M c C r o s k y , D .D ., B ish o p o f the P r o te sta n t E p isc o p a l C hurch o f M ic h ig a n .
By George Duffield, of the Presbyterian Church of Detroit. 12mo. pp. 316. New

York: Dayton <&Newman.
These letters were called forth by the publication of a sermon of Bishop McCrosky, sup­
porting the doctrine, “ that it is only through the episcopal ministry that pardon and accep­
tance with God can be made known.” Mr. Duffield reviews the arguments in particular
and general of the claims of episcopacy, and defends the common ground occupied by the
non-episcopal portions of the Christian church.




572

The Book Trade.

4. —First Principles o f Natural Philosophy ; being a Familiar Introduction to the Study
o f that Science, for the Use of Schools and Academies. By J ames R en wick, LL. D.,
Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, and Chemistry, in Columbia College.
New York: Harper & Brothers.
The many years’ experience which the learned author of this treatise has had in the
business of teaching, in addition to his profound scientific attainments, would lead us to
expect from him a first-rate elementary work on this subject; and such he has given us.
It may be considered, we presume, as embodying the course of instruction he has pursued
in this department, with such illustrations, and modes of demonstration, as were found best
adapted to render the study pleasing and profitable to his pupils. It is, therefore, what all
elementary books for schools should be, the result of tried and well-considered methods;
whereas, many of our school books are mere compilations, made by inexperienced hands.
The manner of teaching is all-important; and we have never seen a scientific work more
clear and intelligible. By the aid of the diagrams and drawings, of which there are an
unusual number, the young student is enabled to comprehend, with great facility, the most
abstruse parts.
5. —Self-Devotion ; or the History o f Katharine Randolph. By the author of “ The Only
Daughter,” etc., edited by the author of “ The Subaltern,” “ The Hussar,” etc. New
York: Harper & Brothere.
W e know not what changes the publishing business is destined to experience, but it is
certainly assuming a new phasis, and cheap editions, in a condensed form, are, as the say­
ing is, “ all the go.” Here is another two-volume book, price nine shillings, under the old
regime, got up in the latest style, and sold for twenty-five cents. The previous works of this
amiable and gifted author have been deservedly commended for their purity, truthfulness,
and elegant simplicity of style, nor is the present work inferior to them in these respects.
There are passages of great power, evincing uncommon depth of thought in one so young,
and it is painful to be informed, as we are by the editor in his preface, that all this early
promise of matured excellence has been blasted in death. The work is posthumous.
6. —The Nabob at Home ; or the Return to England. By the author of “ Life in India.”
New York: Harper & Brothers.
A very clever fiction, intended to depict life in India, and the character acquired by
Europeans from a long residence in that country. The hero of the story is probably a
pretty fair representative of the numerous adventurers after wealth in that distant region,
who usually come back with broken constitutions, and habits and modes of thinking so at
variance with those they find prevailing around them, as to have but little real enjoyment
of their money. This is also in the publishers’ series of cheap “ select novels.”
7. —Miscellanies. By Stephen Collins, M.D. 12mo. pp. 308. Philadelphia: Carey &
Hart. 1842.
We thank the publishers for introducing us to a new author, and although one we never
heard of before, we give him our hearty welcome, for his “ Miscellanies” afford no mean
evidence of his claims to a prominent niche in the temple of the Nine. The volume con­
sists of essays, criticisms and speeches, generally sensible and well-written; every page
evincive of a desire to “ advance the cause of virtue, literature, or humanity.”
8. —Discourses on Various Subjects. By E. H. Chapin. Boston: Abel Tompkins.
Mr. Chapin sets out with a proposition that none will perhaps deny, that the great end of
preaching is to reform the life, and reconcile men to duty and to God. To accomplish this
the most effectually, he maintains that we should have correct views of the doctrines of
Christianity, and that we should understand the true motives and objects of religion. He is
a Universalist, and makes no effort to conceal his opinions, or to go between the discordant
tenets of the sects. Neither does he travel out of his course in order to thrust prominently
forward his peculiar views; but these discourses are chiefly practical, inculcating Christian
dispositions, the government of the tongue, self-denial, and the various graces and virtues
portrayed in the life, and taught from the fervent Ups of Jesus, the divine ideal of Chris­
tianity.




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573

9. —The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper, Esq., etc.; with a Memoir o f the

Author. By the Rev. H. Stubbing, A.M. 18mo. pp. 823. New York: D. Appleton &
Co. 1&42.
The poetical works of Cowper are too well known and appreciated to require literary
criticism at our hands. Our only object in the present notice, is to call the attention of the
admirers of this delightful bard, to the beautiful edition before us, which is undoubtedly the
most perfect and complete that has ever been reprinted in this country. It includes, in
addition to the poems embraced in the ordinary editions of Cowper, the hymns and trans­
lations from Madame Guion, Milton, etc.,—and Adam, a sacred drama, from the Italian
of Andreini. The printing and paper are superb, and in perfect keeping with the uniformly
correct and elegant style adopted by the liberal and enterprising publishers.

10. —Library for M y Young Countrymen. Vol. 3.—Dawnings of Genius ; or, the Early
Lives of Some Eminent Persons o f the Last Century. By A n n e Pratt, author of “ Flow­
ers and their Associations,” etc. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Philadelphia: Geo.
S. Appleton. 1842.
The narratives of Sir Humphrey Davy, Rev. George Crabbe, Baron Cuvier, Sir Joshua
Reynolds, Lindley Murray, Sir James Mackintosh, and Adam Clarke, contained in this
volume, are not abridgments of the lives of the eminent persons named—they present
chiefly some account of their childhood and early youth. The author, however, aims to
give her young readers a correct impression of the character which the individuals bore in
later years, and of the degree in which the memoirs are entitled to our respect and admi­
ration. The author’s design, is to show that moral excellence is, in many instances, com­
bined with mental greatness, giving to it its peculiar beauty and highest value. “ She has
wished,” to quote from the preface, “ to convince the young of the importance of cultivate
ing both the mind and the heart,—of taking for their example a high standard of mental
and moral w orth; and in all things excellent she would recommend them to adopt the
motto of Dr. Johnson, and “ aim at the eagle, if they only hit the sparrow.”
11. — The Liitie Boys’ and Girls' Library o f Amusement and Instruction. Edited by Mrs.
S arah J. Hale. New Y ork: Edward Dunigan. 1842.
Here are eight little volumes, containing sixteen stories in prose and verse, illustrated
with a great many highly-colored engravings, admirably adapted for the amusement and
instruction of “ little folks.” We have long known the editor, she is the mother of a large
family of children, and aside from her well-earned fame, in the higher walks of polite lite­
rature, the happy results that have followed her maternal teachings and influence, afford
abundant evidence of her ability to impart to the young mind profitable moral and mental
culture.
12. —Little Coin, Much Care ; or, How Poor Men Live. A Tale for Young Persons. By
Mary Howitt.— Work aixd Wages; or, Life in Service. A continuation of “ Little
Coin, Much Care." By Mary Howitt. New York : D. Appleton & Co. Philadelphia:
Geo. S. Appleton. 1842.
These little volumes are designed to inculcate lessons of prudence and economy in hum­
ble life, as may be inferred from the expressive titles; and although referring to the condi­
tion of the factory operatives of England, they contain many important hints, that would
be useful to a large class of people in a corresponding condition in the United States.
<cWork and Wages,” embraces an interesting narrative of a girl at service, and may be
read with profit by mistress and servant.
13. —Tired o f Housekeeping. By T. S. Arthur, author of “ Insubordination,” “ Six Nights
with the Washingtonians,” etc. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Philadelphia: George
S. Appleton. 1$42.
This is an American tale, and admirably adapted to the social condition of our people,
and in our judgment one of the best of the series of “ Tales for the People and their Chil­
dren,” in course of publication by the Appletons. The machinery of the narrative is well
managed, and is withal agreeable and attractive ; the tendency of works like the present,
in a moral and social view, cannot for a moment be doubted. We hope to see more, in
the series, from the same gifted pen.




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14. —The Young Naturalist's Rambles through Many Lands ; containing an Account of the
Principal Animals and Birds of both the Old and New Countries; with Anecdotes.
Illustrated with upwards of fitly engravings. 16mo. pp. 205.
15. —Stories Illustrative of the Instinct o f Animals, their Characters, and Habits. By Thomas
Bingley. Embellished with engravings from drawings by T. Landser. 16mo. pp. 201.
16. —Tales about Travellers, their Perils, Adventures, and Discoveties. By Thomas Blngley.
Embellished with engravings. 16mo. pp. 190.
17. — William Tell, the Patiiot of Switzerland. Translated from the French of M. De Florian. Together with the Life of the author. To which is added Andreas Hofer, the
“ Tell” of Tyrol. Illustrated with engravings on wood, by Butler. 16mo. pp. 240.
18. — Tales o f the Kings o f England ; 1st ana 2d Series. 2 vols. 16mo. pp. 224 and 239.
New York: Wiley & Putnam. 1842.
We cannot thus record in our pages the titles of these works, forming a sort of “ Library
for the Young,” and exclusively devoted to the instruction and amusement of youth, with­
out noticing the changes which a few years have made in this department of literature.
If it be an undoubted truth, that a slight impression on the infant mind will affect its form
and strength through life, a generation nurtured among the valuable and pleasing volumes
which now form our “ Libraries for the People and their Children,” or “ My Young Coun­
trymen,” etc., must far surpass, in every intellectual and moral trait, a race taught only the
absurd tales of fairy enchantment, and the foolish chimes of “ Rhymes for the Nursery.”
The worthless volumes, in the perusal of which our childhood was wasted, have now
given place to a class, which, though happily adapted to the comprehension of the young­
est, may both amuse and instruct the oldest. Such is the character of the volumes of the
series before us, which, although reprints from the English, we have read not without plea­
sure or advantage. The compiler of the “ Tales of the Kings of England,” instead of re­
sorting to the very general practice of giving abridgments—mere outlines of history, in
which there is nothing to arrest the attention of the child, has selected such incidents from
the history of England, as shall not only convey instruction to his young readers, but afford
them as much interest and delight as the fairy stories of their infancy. In the “ Naturalist's
Rambles” the plan of grouping the animals and birds in their several quarters of the world,
is adopted, so that the youthful reader will be able to recollect with ease from which
places any of them are brought.
19. —The Siege o f Derry ; or, Sufferings o f the Protestants. A Tale of the Revolution.
12mo. pp. 292.
20. —Helen Fleetwood. 12mo. pp. 390.
21. —Personal Recollections, pp. 303.
22. —Principalities and Powers in Heavenly Places. By Charlotte E lizabeth. W ith an
Introduction, by the Rev. E dw. Bickersteth. pp. 298. New York: John S. Taylor & Co.
Mr. Taylor, we believe, three or four years ago, first introduced this popular writer to
the American reader, by the republication of several of the earliest productions of her pro­
lific pen. Her popularity is chiefly confined to the more religious portion of the reading
community; a class neither few in number, or wanting in the disposition to partake of the
intellectual nutriment which the press of the present day so amply supplies. Her writings
are strictly religious in their tone and tendency, as much so as the works of Mrs. Sherwood.
She, however, excels that lady in a more spirited and flowing style; and is destined to
acquire a greater degree of popularity, and a more numerous circle of readers among those
who hold the popular “ evangelical” or “ orthodox” faith.
The volumes of the uniform edition before us, we have noticed separately as they were
published during the last year. We therefore merely wish to express, at this time, our
admiration of the taste displayed by Mr. Taylor in the “ getting up” of the present beau­
tiful edition, and recommend it to the admirers of the gilled author. Additions to this
series are to be made, simultaneously with their appearance in England, Mr. Taylor hav­
ing, as we understand, made a liberal arrangement wdth the author for early copies of every
work she may hereafter publish.
23. —A Discourse occasioned by the Death o f William Ellery Channing, D.D., pronounced
before the Unitarian Societies of New York and Brooklyn, in the Church of the Messiah,
October 13th, 1842. By Henry W. Bellows. 8vo. pp. 28.
W e listened with deep interest to the delivery of this discourse, and its subsequent peru­
sal has only served to strengthen and confirm our conviction of its character, as an able,
eloquent, and truthful portraiture of one of the greatest and purest men of the age.




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24.—The Ursuline Manual; or a Collection o f Prayers, Spiritual Exercises, etc., interiersed with Various Instructions necessary for forming Youth to the Practice of Solid
iety; originally arranged for the Young Ladies educated at the Ursuline Convent, Cork.
Revised by the Very Reverend John Power, and approved by Bishop Hughes. New
Y ork: Edward Dunigan.
The Catholic public are indebted to Mr. Dunigan for the most elegantly-bound and
handsomely printed edition of this manual of devotion that, to our knowledge, has ever
before been published. The “ Ursuline Manual,” is, we are informed, more used, by the
members of the Catholic church, than any other extant. Heretics, as we should be consid­
ered by our Catholic brethren, we do not anticipate ourselves to be greatly edified t y its
perusal or use; and we have therefore concluded, in the true catholic spirit, respecting the
sincerity of all, to present it to a very faithful daughter of the church and of Erin, in our
family, whom we know will fully appreciate its value.
25.— The London Christian Observer.
This popular monthly religious miscellany is again to be republished in this country.
Mr. Mason, the proprietor of the American edition of the English reviews and magazines,
has issued a prospectus, which will be found appended to this magazine, announcing the
reprint of that work, which it is promised shall be a fac-simile of the British edition, at very
little more than a fourth part of the price of the imported copy. It advocates, what are
considered by a large portion of the Protestant Christian community, the distinctive doc­
trines of the sacred Scripture. It has ever been conducted with marked ability ; and will
doubtless meet with encouragement from different denominations of American theologians.
26.— The Young American; or Book of Government and Law : Showing their History,
Nature, and Necessity. By S. G. Goodrich, author of “ Peter Parley's Tales. 18mo.
pp. 282. New York : William Robinson. 1842.
The design of this little treatise is excellent; and like every thing from Peter Parley,
admirably well calculated to secure the attention of children. It begins with the first ideas
$?of govrfnment and law, and successively treats of governments and legislation in all their
successive stages, and diversified forms. The nature, origin, and principles of government,
and especially our own, are here made accessible to all, and at the same time familiar to
the youthful student.
27.— The Young Islanders. A Tale of the Last Century. By Jefferys Taylor. Nevr York:
D. Appleton & Co.
A,$«Je of deep and thrilling effect, and calculated to awaken the most intense interest in
bqtlf young and old. It is besides full of earnest instruction. The engraved illustrations
ifaji superb; and altogether it is one of the best juvenile gift books of the season.
28.—Backbiting. By Charlotte E lizabeth. New York: John S. Taylor & Co.
It will not, we trust, be deemed uncharitable in us to say, that if all who might receive
benefit from this happy illustration of the evil indicated by the title, should read the book,
the publishers’ enterprise would be amply rewarded.
29.—Line Upon Line ; or a Second Series of the Earliest Religious Instruction the Infant
Mind is capable of receiving, etc. By the author of the “ Peep of Day.” 18mo. pp. 272.
New York: John S. Taylor <fc Co.
The design of this little work is to lead children to understand, and to delight in the
Scriptures. The most interesting narratives of the Old Testament are selected, and ren­
dered attractive to the young, by the easy and familiar style in which they are related. It
is the fifth American from the fourth London edition of the work
30.—Tales and Illustrations, chiefly intended fo r Young Persons. By Charlotte E liza­
beth. 18mo. pp. 228. New York: John S. Taylor & Co.
This little volume contains fifteen tales and sketches, designed to inculcate in an attrac­
tive form the same moral and religious sentiments and feelings that characterize all the
writings of the popular author.
31.—The Juvenile Pianist ; or a Mirror of Music for Infant Minds. By Anne R odwell.
Illustrated with numerous diagrams and engravings. New York: James D. Lockwood.
The style of this little treatise is adapted to the most infantile capacity, and is designed
to render the early practice of the piano both easy and attractive.

P




m

"Mercantile Library Association.
M ERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.

The twt TTy.secr.nd anniversary of this highly useful institution was celebrated on Wednesday, ijie 3 th oT November. A large audience was assembled at the Tabernacle, not­
withstanding the very, stormy state of the weather.
'
Philip Ifone. E?q., presided, and addressed the meeting, giving an account of the
origin ol the society. He was succeeded by J. T . Rollins, Esq., who described its progrev , and present favorable position.
Ck-irles Lames, Esq., then rose and delivered a most eloquent and powerful oration,
illustrating th benefits, v filch navigation and commerce had conferred upon mankind.
His address was much applauded.
t
After the ora ,ion, Park Benjamin, Esq., pronounced a poem which he had been re­
quested to prepare for the occasion. W e had expected to hear a serious and learned
effusion on the ad van
s derived by the rising generation from the establishment of
the Mercantile L'bran : it we were most agreeably surprised to find that Mr. Benja­
min’s poem was a satire on the present rage for verse making. It is replete with ele­
gant fancies, hiring sarcasm, and happy allusions, which were eagerly seized by the
audience, and highly applauded. His lines upon the present state of the drama were
beautiful, nnd produced a most thrilling effect.
The company adjourned to Niblo’s, where a dinner had been prepared. A number
of toasts v. . re given from the chair, which was very ably filled by Philip Hone, Esq.
.‘Several csot dent spec dies were made; those by Mr. Mayor Morris, Mr. Evarts, Mr.
J. 0 . Sargent, and-Mr. Keese, were the best of the evening.
The general hilarity of the evening was very much increased by some excellent mu­
sic which had bee it prepared by Mr. H. C. Watson. Several beautiful song
and glees were sung by Mrs. Loder, her sister Miss Watson, Mr. Horn,
M osseti; and Mr. Timm and Mr. W. A. King delighted the company bfJjSayi'flgSt-,
magnificent duet.
W t lay before our readers a programme of the course of lectures to be dell
ing tb'j months of December, January, February, and March.
1842, Dec. 6th—One Lecture—O. A. B rownson, Esq.—“ Government, its OrigSfJWf.
ganization, and End.”
Dec. 13th—One Lecture—E lihtj B urritt , Esq.—“ The Indispensable Character a!RP
Necessity of Popular Lectures, in View of the Present and Prospective Wants of the
Community.” .
Dec. 20tb—One Le cture— G eorge B ancroft, Esq.—“ Genius is the Expression of the
Spirit of the A.ge.”
Dec. $7lb—One Lecture— C harles O’Connor, Esq.—“ The Advantages Resulting to
Society from the Study and Practice of the Art of Public Speaking.”
1813, Jan. 3d—One Lecture—R ichard H. D ana, Jr., Esq.—“ The Foundation of In­
fluence.”
Jan. 17th—One Lecture—Rev. W illiam H. F urness— “ The Characteristics of Genius.”
Jan. 24th—One Lecture—J ohn N eal, Esq.—“ The Rights of Woman.”
Jan. 31st—One Lecture—J ohn N eal, Esq.—“ General Reading.”
Feb. 7th—One Lecture—W illiam M. E varts, Esq.—“ The Service of Political Econ­
omy in the Advancement of Society.”
Feb. 14th—One Lecture—Rev. H enry G iles—“ The Spirit of Irish History.”
Feb. 21st—One Lecture—Rev. H enry G iles—“ The Genius of Byron.”
Feb. 28th—One Lecture— R alph W aldo E merson, Esq.
M arch 7th—One Lecture—R alph W aldo E merson, Esq.
The lectures are delivered on Tuesday evening of each week.