Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : June 1841, Vol. IV, No. VI

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H U N T ’S

M E R C H A N T S ’ MAGAZINE.
J U N E , - 1 8 4 1.

A rt. I.—T H E M ERCHANTS OF T H E TIM E OF ELIZABETH.*
T he reign of Queen Elizabeth is very commonly referred to as the
most glorious and interesting period of English history. Its long and un­
interrupted prosperity, the illustrious names with which it is associated,
and the coloring of romance which gallantry, and chivalry, and poetry
have left upon its pages, are so familiar to the reader, that we think of the
virgin queen, her statesmen, heroes, and poets, as of familiar friends.
With the names of Sidney and Raleigh, we recall our earliest longings
after fame and adventure; to Spenser and Shakspeare we owe our first
glimpses of the countless treasures of imagination.
These favorite themes for the present, however reluctantly, we will
leave for more unpoetical, yet I think not less useful, considerations. And
if an imperfect sketch of the origin and progress of that profession, which
has since been called the strength and security of Christendom, and to
which scieuce, art, civilization, and refinement owe existence and influ­
ence, leave but little scope to fancy, I indulge a hope that it may not be
altogether devoid of interest with those who take pleasure in observing the
gradual improvement and amelioration of our species; particularly with
that portion of my audience who are to constitute the future merchants of
what may be the emporium of the world.
The time during which Elizabeth occupied the British throne, embrac.
ing a period of some forty-three years, was certainly an era in the history
of modern commerce. Comparing the condition of trade as it existed
previously to that time, with the principles upon which it is at present
conducted— considering the changes it has undergone in its various rela­
tions, and the causes to which those changes may be attributed—-I cannot
* A lecture delivered by T . W . T u ck er , before the Mercantile Library Association,
at Clinton Hall, New York, and published in the Merchants’ Magazine by request
of the Board of Directors.
VOL. IV .— NO. V I.




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The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

err widely in dating from her accession the power and influence of the
mercantile classes, and in fact the commercial greatness, which Great
Britain has since enjoyed. Until the period at which my lecture commences
the principal sources of trade had been monopolized by two or three
Christian nations. After the discoveries of Columbus and his successors
had in their consequences effected a gradual change in the relative posi­
tion and importance of Western Europe, and had undermined the com­
mercial superiority so long enjoyed by the cities of the Mediterranean,
Spain, claiming the wealth of the new world by right of discovery, had
made Seville and Cadiz the store-houses of the western hemisphere ;
while Portugal, after the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, made Lisbon
the treasury of the Indies, and established her factories and colonies on
the Pacific. Some eighty towns of the Baltic, which for mutual protection
against piracy had united in a “ Hansa” or league, and thence are known
in history as the Hanse towns, had obtained a maritime pre-eminence,
and were, in the reign of Elizabeth, the common carriers of Europe. In
England, meanwhile, the importance of commerce, as connected with
national prosperity, was as yet little understood, and the internal resources
of the nation, great as they even then were, untried. Their fleets and
merchants were hired from Lubec, Dantzig, or Antwerp : for their com­
forts and luxuries they were dependent upon Spain and Venice ; and their
export and import trade was managed and controlled by the Dutch.
A calling, whose followers boasted no distinction of birth or hereditary
privilege, had not yet found favor in a realm where kingly prerogative
stood for law, and royal necessity for justice. At a period when an aiderman of London was compelled by Henry the Eighth to serve as a private
soldier until he consented to pay an illegal tax, we can readily understand
that mercantile pursuits had little protection from the laws, and small esti­
mation with the government. In the causes which first gave an impetus
to English commerce, and formed, I may say, the nucleus for its subse­
quent increase, much of course is attributable to accident, much to the
sagacity of the queen and her counsellors, and most of all perhaps to the
peculiar spirit of the age. During the whole period to which our lecture
refers, that influence which fools call chance, and sages Providence, com­
bined with human foresight in advancing the interests of commerce -r
Every page of the annals of this period will furnish an illustration of its
constant and unfaltering progress; and no one more forcible than the
rise and origin of the great trading incorporations which then sprang into
existence.
In the time of Elizabeth, it must be remembered, the principal revenues
of the crown were derived from the queen’s own domains. True it is that
subsidies and loans were sometimes furnished by her people ; but these
were afforded generally on great emergencies, and always with jealous
and unwilling hands. The various parliaments were content that their
liberties should be disregarded, provided that their pockets were spared,
and were satisfied with the performance of their duties in restraining the
extravagance of the crown.
However much, therefore, we have heard of the golden days of good
Queen Bess, it is no less true that her majesty was often desperately in
want of money; and as the remedy for this evil has in all ages been
nearly the same, she borrowed of her neighbors upon such terms as they
were willing to accept. Sometimes the city of Loudon, sometimes France>




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491

sometimes the Netherlands, supplied her necessities ; sometimes the mer­
chants of London became her sureties for payment;—and following the
example of her predecessors in the exercise of her queenly power, she
sometimes procured pecuniary assistance without expense to herself, and in
return for the loans which her necessities required, she enriched her lend­
ers by the grant of some exclusive privilege or monopoly. During her
reign this was a common, as it was an economical mode, by which her
majesty either gratified her own favorites, or rewarded the benefactors of
her people. Essex, for instance, was favored with a monopoly of sweet
wines ; Raleigh was rewarded with the monopoly of granting licences ; and
trading privileges were constantly secured by charter, without reference
to any right of competition or fear of injustice. The frequent exercise of
this prerogative, directed public attention to a company of Dutch traders,
for many years residents in London, at a place called the Stilyard; who,
from that circumstance, were generally known as the Hanseatic merchants
of the Stilyard. This association, during the infancy of English com­
merce, had been a bank to Henry the Eighth, from which he derived the
means of carrying on his wars : and in return for their occasional loans,
had obtained from him so many privileges and protections, that the export
and import trade of the kingdom had been gradually concentrating in their
hands. Their profits from the exportation of English woollen, even at
that time, are said to have been enormous; and their connection with the
Hanse towns, and their control of the shipping, enabled them to regulate
English trade for their own advantage. As their immense wealth awak­
ened attention, and its causes became better understood, the English traders
rebelled against a monopoly, which, in their own language, “ set what
price it pleased upon exports and imports,” and “ having command of the
market, broke other merchants.”
Elizabeth probably consulted her own interest, as well as gratified this
jealousy of the foreign traders, in granting a charter of incorporation to a
rival company. Thus came into existence the first English corporation,
we are told, “ The Company of English Merchant Adventurers.” They
were known in English history as traders and merchants many years pre­
vious, but received their first charter from Elizabeth.
The Germans and their friends beheld in this institution the decline of
their ascendancy. The Hanse towns and the Low Countries saw in it a
most fatal interference with their commercial monopoly. Philip of Spain
feared it as a drain which would impoverish his treasury. The English
company were driven out of Antwerp, where they had established their
mart. English property was confiscated. The lion temper of Elizabeth
was roused in defence of her subjects. A war of retaliation commenced,
whose details, too voluminous for this occasion, are for many years the
history of Europe, and which terminated in the total destruction of the
Stilyard monopoly.
From this the English appear to have formed a just appreciation of the
real value of their internal resources, and the importance of commerce
in bringing them to light. The mercantile classes took at this time a
position where they were able to command respect. A model was formed
for new associations, and a new path laid open for competition and en­
terprise.
The company of Merchant Adventurers were for many years the prin­
cipal traders to Germany, the Netherlands, and the adjacent countries—




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The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

establishing their marts in all the principal cities of western Europe—pre­
serving a communication with all commercial factories—maintaining at
Antwerp alone 20,000 individuals in their service, and exporting annually
English woollen cloths to the sterling value of £1,000,000. They became
abroad what the Stilyard merchants had been in England, and their credit
was in repute, and their wealth exaggerated throughout Europe; and the
general estimation in which they were held abroad may be judged of from
the fact, that Philip of Burgundy, because of the great revenues accruing
to his treasury from the duties on English woollen, adopted for his favorite
order of knighthood “ The Golden Fleece,” as its name and emblem.
If we remember under what disadvantages this company was formed,
how long the Hanse town monopoly had existed in England, what influ­
ence its ability to serve the crown must have ensured it, and how little the
real importance of the contest was appreciated, a perusal of its details will
afford grave matter of reflection, both for those who have yet to learn that
great abuses are not without good ends, and doubt the ultimate success of
reason and truth over error.
The spirit of adventure is contagious, and the incorporation of the Rus­
sia Company followed closely upon that of the Merchant Adventurers. A
few hardy adventurers, under Sir Hugh Willoughby, had discovered a
passage to Russia by way of the White sea, and obtained from Bazilowitz
the Czar, permission to trade through his dominions. An enterprising
citizen of London thereupon commenced a trade in raw silk with Persia,
and soon after hundreds of adventurous traders were navigating the Dwina,
the Wolga, and the Caspian, braving inclement skies, trackless wastes,
and wandering savages, bringing home to England their siore of silks and
Indian spices, jewels, and costly stuffs of Cashmere. Paying an annual
tribute to Denmark for the liberty of navigating the North sea, in 1582
they fitted out and armed eleven ships for a voyage of trade and discovery.
They sent also, at private cost, artificers to Persia, to learn the art of dyeing
and carpet making ; and following the light of their load-star, wealth, they
unconsciously improved and civilized the barbarous countries through
which they journeyed, while introducing new sources of enjoyment, infor­
mation, and refinement into their own.
A few years later was incorporated that association so well known to
history as the Turkey Company. Their purpose, as their name might
seem to indicate, was the trade with India, that common goal of adventure.
Half informed as to the geography or government of the people with whom
they meant to trade, these first adventurers carried letters of credence from
the queen to the king of Cambaya and the emperor of China. They
opened a route by way of Aleppo and Bagdad, down the Tigris to Ormus
in the Persian Gulf, and as far as the city of Goa. Throughout their pro­
gress, opposed by the merchants of Venice, whose argosies had so long
supplied Europe with eastern produce, and whose factors beheld with fear
and trembling these daring interlopers, they reached the capital of the
great Mogul, and established a permanent trade with his dominions.
Many companies of lesser note were afterwards chartered by Elizabeth.
The objects for which they were formed, the tenure by which they held
their privileges, their adventures and consequences, although extremely
curious and instructive, will require a more detailed examination than I
can give them :—The Morocco Company, patronised by the favorite Lei­
cester; the Company of Eastland Merchants, who explored new trades




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493

in the northwestern part of Europe; the Hamburgh Company, famous for
their woollen trade ; the Guinea Company, whose first charter bears the
first ineffacable blot of slavery ; and last of all, that anomaly in govern­
ment, the first English East India Company.
Most of these associations were termed regulated companies, as distin­
guished from those framed upon the joint-stock principle. The members
were governed by general regulations, which were obligatory upon all,
but there was necessarily no common capital, and every member might trade
upon his own account. In some instances, membership was hereditary;
in others, the company had judicial powers. Generally, their privileges
were resumable at the pleasure of the queen, and in almost all cases their
charters compelled them to supply the realm with ships in war, and the
treasury with money.
The state of things which called these companies into existence, no
doubt invested them with many pervading and peculiar characteristics.
To appreciate these, it will be important for us to remember, that of the
accurate information which now directs commercial enterprise, there was
little—of the established law which guides the course of modern trade,
there was none. A generation suddenly awaking to an imperfect sense
of its own strength, stimulated by successes of which they neither under­
stood the cause or the importance, yielded eager faith to exaggerations
which promised speedy wealth, and regarded the trading expeditions of
the time as so many roads to undiscovered worlds of adventure and trea­
sure. Geographical knowledge was in its infancy. In a treatise published
in Strasburgh, a few years previous, afld entitled “ The Geographical
Works of Claudius Ptolomaeus,” America is designated on the map, as
“ terra nova inventa per Christopherum Columbum,” or the new world dis­
covered by Christopher Columbus. China is there called the kingdom of
Cathay, and the only information given by the author respecting it, is that
it was sailed to from India. England and Scotland are represented as two
different islands, and Greenland, Norway, and Lapland, connected by a
fabulous range of mountains. Consistently with the then existing state of
knowledge, the charters of these trading companies describe the limit of
their operations with most amusing uncertainty, and probably most of the
adventurers of the time derived their notions of foreign parts from fables
of Prester John, and the great Kam of Tartary. This very ignorance
combined with the spirit of adventure and avarice in effecting what a
wiser generation might have failed to accomplish. As the fruitless toil of
the alchemist is said to have enriched science with the secrets of chemistry,
so expeditions, resembling the vagaries of romance rather than the plans
which begin and end with pounds, shillings, and pence, terminated not in
discovering mountains of carbuncle and cities of gold, but in ascertaining
and bringing into use numberless means and sources of comfort and refine­
ment, in extending throughout the world general knowledge, and in deposit­
ing the germ of civil and religious liberty.
I will take leave of the trading companies of Elizabeth with one word
of reference to the last charter of her reign—a charter whose history is
interwoven with the rise and fall of empires, and whose results, even at
this day, it would be difficult to calculate.
The wealth which Portugal had amassed from her Indian commerce,
had given her a first place among European powers, and excited the
cupidity of her less fortunate neighbors. Her factories in the Pacific and




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The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

Southern seas, the merchants of Goa, and their immense caracca ships,
monopolized, on her behalf, the richest traffic in the world; and although
the Dutch, in 1558, asserted their naval pre-eminence, fought their wayround the Cape of Good Hope, and established an East India Company of their
own, the English merchants for many years made no direct attempt to par­
ticipate in the Indian trade, and are indebted to accident, as a contempo­
rary historian informs us, for their first knowledge of its value. A proof
of their imperfect information as to foreign countries, and the poverty of
their maritime resources.
When Sir Francis Drake (it is written) was sent, in 1587, with four
royal ships against the power of Philip, king of Spain, by chance he lighted
upon a very great merchant ship, called a carack, returning from the East
Indies, richly laden, and named the St. Philip. This vessel he easily
mastered, and among other consequences of the capture, in the language
of Camden, they fully understood from this merchantman’s papers the rich
value of the Indian merchandise, and the manner of trading to the eastern
world; whereupon, says the quaint old historian, “ our own Turkey Com­
pany, and the Dutch East India Company, keeping the price of peppers at
eight shillings a pound, and war with Spain preventing our getting spices
from Lisbon, Queen Elizabeth determined to enter directly into a com­
merce with the East Indies.” Accordingly on the 31st of December, in the
year of our Lord 1600, she gave to George, Earl of Cumberland, and two
hundred and fifteen knights, aldermen, and merchants, the first charter of
the first English East India Company. W ith characteristic disregard of
geographical accuracy, they were licensed to trade with the East Indies
in the country, and parts of Asia and Africa, and the islands thereabouts.
And the vast and hereditary exclusive privileges with which they are in­
vested, will afford to such as may study their details a volume of comment
and explanation, both as to the imperfect notions of civil liberty which then
existed, and of the leading causes which have elevated an association of
merchants into a powerful empire.
It may be interesting to political economists to know what objections to
this incorporation were strenuously urged in the queen’s council. Their
exportation of specie, it was argued, would exhaust the treasury of the
realm ; their protracted voyages, it was feared, would cause the decay of
the shipping; and by introducing more spices than could be sold, it was
insisted, it would obstruct the sale of English cloths, which were then bar­
tered in exchange for the spices of Turkey.
The first president of the first East India Company, was Sir Thomas
Smith, a gentleman distinguished in the annals of the time for his courage,
enterprise, and liberality. Their first expedition sailed in 1601 ; a fleet
of five ships, the largest not exceeding 600 tons, commanded by Captain
Lancaster, with a company of 480 men, and carrying money and goods to
the value of twenty-seven thousand pounds. This was considered a heavy
adventure for the finances of that period, and offers a striking contrast to
the present operations of that princely association. Its annals have now
become familiar matters of history, and afford matter of illustration as to
the every-day repeated story of the course of empire—the infancy, the ma­
turity, the abuse of power. It may be fair matter for discussion, whether
it is not now approaching the period of its decline. Whether the time is
very distant when its privileges, yielding to the gradual changes of national
polity—its revenues diminishing before competition—its dominions usurped




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49S

by the crown—may become a story of past grandeur, a moral to point a
phillipic against oppression, or illustrate the progress of refinement.
An examination of the motives to which all these companies owed their
origin, the limited views which both monarch and subject took of their importance, the partial and crude notions of trade which were entertained in
the sixteenth century, as they are contrasted with the matured opinions
which now guide the commercial intercourse of mankind, will serve the
philosopher with ample speculation as to the curious relation of cause and
effect. It will do more than this. It will prove to the philanthropist the
ever-active presence of a superior and benevolent Intelligence—an influ­
ence silently and incessantly operating in our behalf; by means neglected and
despised even by the follies and prejudices of human weakness, forever mul­
tiplying the sum of human happiness. W e may now easily understand the
motives which conferred an exclusive privilege in return for some timely
service, or in place of more costly token of royal preference;—but how
little could the monarch or the subject foresee what mighty results were
waiting on the caprice or the necessity of a moment!
“ If we consider our own country in its natural prospect,” says Addi­
son, “ without any of the benefits and advantages of commerce, what a
barren, uncomfortable spot of earth falls to our share ! Natural historians
tell us that no fruit grows originally among us, besides hips and haws,
acorns and pignuts, with other delicacies of the like nature. That our
climate of itself, and without the assistance of art, can make no farther
advances toward a plumb than a sloe, and carries an apple to no greater
perfection than a crab. That our melons, our peaches, our figs, our apri­
cots and cherries are strangers among us, imported in different ages, and
naturalized in our English gardens ; and that they would all degenerate
and fall away into the trash of our own country, if they were wholly neg­
lected by the planter, and left to the mercy of our sun and soil. Nor haa
traffic more enriched our vegetable world than it has improved the whole
face of nature among us. Our ships are laden with the harvest of every
climate ; our tables are stored with spices, and oils, and wines ; our rooms
are filled with pyramids of China, and adorned with the workmanship of
Japan; our morning’s draught comes to us from the remotest comers of
the earth ; we repair our bodies by the drugs of America, and repose
ourselves under Indian canopies ; the vineyards of France are our gar­
dens, the spice islands our hotbeds, the Persians our silkweavers, and
the Chinese our potters. Trade, without enlarging the British territories,
has given us a kind of additional empire.” Such, and so important, were its
effects upon the people and age we are considering.
The improvement of naval skill and architecture ; the establishment
and diffusion of just principles of international law ; the untiring progress
of discovery, bearing with it knowledge, refinement, and the light of
Christianity, ameliorating and blessing the moral and physical condition
of the world ;—these, and more than these, have been the consequences
to us.
In reference to the trades and manufactures of the period which we are
considering, and which constitute an important feature in its commercial
history, one system existed both in England and in Europe. The same
causes, namely, mutual weakness and protection, which in the infancy of
trade had gathered the trading classes into towns and cities, had also
divided the various trades into different guilds or companies. London, for




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The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

instance, was divided into sixty-two trading companies; from one of these the
lord mayor was annually chosen ; and the first merchant adventurer to Bar­
bary, Russia, and Genoa, is said to have been Sir George Barne, who was
chief magistrate of the city in 1581. As every artisan and trader belonged
to some one of these associations, claiming and enjoying separate laws,
privileges, and organization, an esprit du corps pervaded the city proper,
as it was termed, which, with its wealth, compactness, and population,
rendered it, in the time of Elizabeth, a formidable and almost distinct
member of the body politic. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, twelve of
these city companies lent the crown twenty-one thousand two hundred and
sixty-three pounds sterling. They are frequently mentioned in the reign
of Elizabeth as security for the payment of her loans, and, at the time of
the Spanish armada, they volunteered ten thousand men and twenty ships
of war.
That they were regarded with jealousy by the court, is attested by the
royal proclamation at various times promulgated against city disturbances,
and the frequent recourse which was had to martial law and the provost-mar­
shal. In the history of this reign, we constantly meet edicts against the
foppery and extravagance of the citizens, and for keeping in subordination
the numerous apprentices. Owning no law but the interest of their employ­
ers, these are characterized by the annals of the time “ as a riotous and
disorderly body of young men,” ready at all times to second the gangs of
loose and vicious characters, with which London swarmed. Disturbances,
commencing in some local broil, not unfrequently threatened destruction
to the peace of the realm ; and among the many which are recorded dur­
ing the reign, the most serious one originated in jealousy of the resident
foreign artisans and merchants. These, flying from the religious perse­
cutions of Europe, had settled in numbers about the suburbs and city of
London, bringing with them matured skill and numberless improvements
in every branch of art. Two thousand seven hundred and thirty for­
eign traders and mechanics, mostly Dutch and French, were numbered,
at the commencement of the Spanish war, as residing and practising their
various callings in and about the city. Their advent in England may be
referred to as an era in the history of English manufactures, and as if to
illustrate the feebleness of human foresight, their presence was the subject
of hatred among the people whom they were constantly enriching. Their
importation of foreign manufactures, their exportation of domestic produce,
their skill and activity, were sufficient to excite envy and invite persecu­
tion. Bigotry on the one hand, and ignorance on the other, conspired in
extirpating the source upon which both depended for power and import­
ance.
The city, in fact, both in this and the preceding reigns, was, or was
supposed to be, a mark for every conspiracy or faction. Several of the
queen’s laws prohibited the erection of any more buildings in the city,
avowedly because it was already too populous, and to prevent the con­
course of dangerous and worthless characters to that common centre. And
one quotation from a letter written by Fleetwood, the recorder of London,
to Burleigh, when lord high treasurer, evidences the constant anxiety
with which the court followed every movement of the metropolis, and
affords a curious picture of the material which then made up its popula­
tion.
“ A Mr. Newell,” so runs this epistle, “ hath caused his man to strike




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-A9T

a cartman, of which blow the cartman hath died; for which both master
and man are arrested. How they will fare J know not, for here are sunderie young men that use the court, who most commonly term themselves
gentylmen; when any of these have done any thing amiss, and are com­
plained of, or arrested for debt, they run unto me, and no other excuse or
answer deign they to make, but say I am a gentylman, and so being a
gentylman, am not to be used as a slave.”
The characteristics which distinguished the trading population of London,
might be remarked of other towns and cities of the kingdom. Some re­
mains of the feudal military spirit, imperfect notions of civil government,
and a newly acquired sense of importance, rendered the various compa­
nies frequently as turbulent as they were useful. The queen, who so often
depended upon them for supplies, which her parliaments refused to furnish,
found it as politic as it was convenient to propitiate an influence so power­
ful, and no mode of doing this was more available than her economical
fashion of granting monopolies. Hence, in the words of a contemporary
historian, these exclusive companies had reached an enormous height, and
were every day increasing. The town of Bridport, for instance, noted then
for its rope-making establishments, obtained the passage of a law, which
prohibited the mystery of rope-making in its vicinity to any save the
townsmen. The city of York was favored with a similar monopoly in the
article of bed coverlets. The city of London procured many similar
enactments against the resident foreigners. The Fishmonger’s Company,
one of the most influential companies in London, was protected by a law
which obliged all the queen’s subjects to eat fish twice a week for the benefit
of the fishers ; and it may be remarked, as a specimen of the religious
toleration then prevailing, that the same law ordained a penalty for any
who should profess that religious feeling had any connection with obedience
to its provisions.
The Capmaker’s Company, too, procured an ordinance, under which
every one, save ladies, knights, and noblemen, were obliged to wear wool­
len caps. These, and many similar arbitrary interferences with private
rights and the ordinary course of trade— laws against crowding the city—laws specifying the quantity of land used for pasture—laws regulating dress—laws forbidding the exportation of scarlet cloth, until the court and queen
were provided; all these were eccentricities of infant commerce, the off­
spring of a time when it was criminal to propose parliamentary reform, or
even to petition the crown against an infringement of constitutional liberty.
These doubtless retarded, but the period had arrived when nothing could
check, the progress and prosperity of commerce, to which eyery day was
adding interest and support. Symptomatic of this, we have, in 1569, the
first work published in England, on the art of Italian Merchants’ Accounts,
or Bookkeeping by Double Entry, a folio in black-letter, by James Peale.
At this time, too, we have the first statute appointing a tribunal for hearing
and determining upon policies of assurance. Besides this, a general
recoining and purification of the sterling coin of the realm, and the erec­
tion of a Merchants’ Exchange. In alluding to this last, it would be unfair
to omit all mention of its founder; the rather that, in his day and race he
was the very soul of English commerce, and more than any individual of
his time, perhaps, contributed to elevate and dignify the mercantile char­
acter.
Sir Thomas Gresham was the son of a mercer of London, and comyol. iv.— mo. vi.
63




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The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

menoed his career as an apprentice to his father’s trade. More fortunate
than apprentices were wont to be, he pursued classical studies at Caius’s
College, where his attainments procured him the title of Doctissimus Mer­
cator, and was made free of the Mercers’ Company in 1543. His first
appearance in public life is in character of the king’s agent at Antwerp,
during the reign of Henry the Eighth, in which post his industry and finan­
cial talent relieved the crown from a debt of 260,000 pounds sterling;
which service the king had acknowledged by a pension, and the remark,
“ You shall know that you have served a king.”
At the accession of Elizabeth, the sagacity of the queen at once drew
him from retirement into the public service. She employed him to fur­
nish her arsenals, and bis activity placed the nation in possession of ample
munitions of war. She employed him as her agent abroad, and under his
management, English .credit rose above all former example. Knighted by
the queen for his public service, esteemed and trusted by Walsingham and
Burleigh, envied and courted by the butterflies who flutter in the path of
the rising sun, his prosperity was a public benefit, as it enabled him to
gratify the promptings of a liberal and benevolent heart. At this time the
merchants of London were in the habit of meeting in the open air for the
transaction of business, and Sir Thomas, in furtherance of a plan which
his father had euggested, offered to build a place for their accommoda­
tion, if the citizens would provide a spot for its erection. Eighty
houses, on Cornhill, being purchased and removed at the city expense,
■possession was given to Gresham. On the 7th of June, 1567, he laid the
first stone. In January, 1570, Queen Elizabeth, with her nobility, came
in royal state from Somerset House to dine with her favorite merchant,
and to give a name to the newly erected Bourse. This name, then com­
monly applied to all places of resort used by merchants, originated, we
are told by Guicciardini, in the town of Bruges. In the public square of
that place, there stood an antique mansion, used by the merchants as a
rendezvous, which at some former periods had belonged to the noble family
•of “ La Bourse,” and their coat of arms, three purses, was painted on the
walls. The name then adopted in Antwerp, came to be applied to all edi­
fices of a similar character. Queen Elizabeth, however, determining that
the work of English liberality and public spirit should be known by an
English name, it was by the voice of herald and sound of trumpet .christ­
ened “ The Royal Exchange.”
This celebrated building stood until
1666, when it was burned down, ninety-six years after its erection. To
S ir Thomas Gresham also belongs the honor of having effected a revolu­
tion in the financial operations of government. We have seen that the
predecessors of Elizabeth, as well as she herself, had been in the habit of
depending either upon foreign states or the great monopolies for temporary
loans. During the dispute with Spain and the Low Countries, arising
from the rivalship between the Merchants of the Stilyard and the Merchant
Adventurers, the latter association had pleaded inability to supply the
wants of the crown, and impending war cut off all supplies from Europe.
By Gresham’s interest, £16,000 sterling was obtained in the city at six per
cent per annum ; and from that period, we are told, did the queen find her
own dominions sufficient for her pecuniary wants.
When, during the same contentions, the English merchants, driven from
Antwerp by the Duke of Alva, had settled in Hamburgh, Cecil, the secre­
tary of state, fearing that in this sudden derangement of their woollen




The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

499

trade, the queen’s revenue might suffer, consulted Gresham. By his ad­
vice, one half the crown debt was paid to the merchants of London, who
were thus enabled to make ample remittances to Hamburgh. The previ­
ous shipments to London were thus paid for, a new one was effected,
.£10,000 of duties flowed into the treasury, all doubt was removed, the
credit of the Merchant Adventurers remained unimpaired, and the Duke of
Alva, beholding the utter failure of his plan for their destruction, once
more, to quote the historian, “ quaked for fear.”
At this period, the silver coin of the realm was far from sufficient for
the purposes of trade, and the scarcity of this circulating medium gave
rise to constant embarrassments and complaints. At Gresham’s sugges­
tion, the queen coined into shillings and sixpences 30,000 Flemish ducatoons which had been deposited in the Tower for security by an Italian
merchant. Sir Thomas Gresham sent five sacks of Spanish coin, belong­
ing to himself, to the mint, and persuaded many others to follow his ex­
ample. Silver became plenty, the queen’s debts were paid in the new
coin, and, for the first time, remitted in bills on Hamburgh : and this
event abolished an office which had, heretofore, been attended with much
loss and trouble to the kingdom—that of money agent abroad for the crown.
Accumulating wealth opened for our merchant new fields of utility, none
of which he suffered to lie fallow. Near his magnificent seat, at Osterly
Park, by the erection of paper, oil, and corn mills, he gave constant em­
ployment to the poor. In London, where a want of proper facilities of
education rendered the mercantile classes, in the very words of Sir
Thomas, “ obstinate and tenacious of every idle prejudice,” he converted
his dwelling-house into a college, with most liberal endowments. To de­
tail every instance of usefulness which marked the life of this noble citi­
zen, although I could wish no worthier subject, would outrun the limit
allotted me. After a career, at once brilliant and useful, with a fortune
honestly acquired, and used with a most liberal spirit, he died in 1570,
leaving a character and example for the merchants in all time to come :
a beneficent patron to the learned, an active friend to talent and enter­
prise in whatever station. Regardless of petty gains and private views,
where the public good or national honor was in question, he may well be
said to have deserved the title with which his royal mistress honored him.
He was indeed a royal merchant.
History has preserved many a name besides, which time will compel
me to pass with brief notice, which reflect honor upon the character both
of citizen and merchant— men who, uniting with the natural selfishness of
traffic a noble and generous ambition, connected their private interest with
the advancement of great public purposes. Such was Anthony Jenkinson,
to whom the English were indebted for their first silk trade to Persia, and
their earliest commercial privilege in Turkey. Such was John Muldenhall, who fitted out four ships to the court of the Great Mogul, and opened
the way for the English East India Company. Such also was William
Harburn, the able ambassador of the queen at the court of Constantinople,
whose ability and perseverance placed the English merchant upon
an equal footing with the traders of France and Venice. Such was
Randolph, the postmaster-general, and ambassador to Russia ; Hubblestone, who devoted years of self-banishment in acquiring the secrets of the
Persian loom ; and Sutton, the munificent founder of the charter-house.
One instance only, of the recorded many, which serve to mark the charac­




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The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

ter of the time and people, will also illustrate the spirit which animated
the merchant of London. On old London Bridge dwelt, long previous to
the accession of Elizabeth, Sir William Hewitt, a citizen of some emi­
nence, and a member of the most worshipful company of cloth workers.
At this time, as every antiquary knows, this bridge was, in fact, a popu­
lous street ; upon its arches stood the famous Traitors’ Gate and Tower,
the old chapel, and the celebrated palace of Nonesuch-house, of which it
is said that the materials were constructed in Holland, and put together in
England, without the intervention of nail or bolt: rows of houses and
shops ran on either side, and flour-mills and water-works clustered about
its arches. Commanding at one time the only passage of the river, it had
been formerly a military post, and at the period to which I refer, was the
abode of a crowded and active population, and the centre of a very thriving
trade. Of course it was the theatre of many of those disturbances so
common during the reign. From one of these my story is dated. An
occasion of public festivity had drawn together all classes of people, and,as was not unusual when the arrogance of the noble and the growing in­
dependence of the people came into collision, a quarrel had enc-'ied be­
tween the retainers of the court and the city apprentices. During the
excitement, a domestic who bore in her arms the infant and only daughter
of Hewitt, and who, with hundreds of others, were looking upon the show
from an upper window, allowed her precious charge to slip from her arms
into the river. I can better imagine than describe the agony of the
parents—the general horror and confusion of the spectators. The child,
however, was rescued by the courage of a London apprentice, Edward
Osborn, the hero of this anecdote. From this event; the grateful father
became his warm and lasting friend. The ability and conduct of the pro­
tege seconded and justified that friendship, and before age might seem to
have matured his judgment, Osborn was intrusted with an honorable
charge to Antwerp, in the service of the Merchant Adventurers. Mean­
time, the Child whom he had saved grew to womanhood, and was, accord­
ing to the chronicle, “ so fayer that the fame of her beauty invaded even the
precincts of the court.” Suitors of gentle-blood, attracted by the daughter’s
charms and the father’s wealth, haunted London Bridge, and no less a
candidate than the gallant Earl of Shrewsbury is said to have sought her
hand in marriage. During all this, Osborn, now Master Osborn, the mer­
chant, returned from abroad, matured in person, and improved by travel.
Our chronicler, who had apparently outlived all sentiment at the time of
his inditing, has omitted all account of his reception by Sir William
Hewitt and his daughter. That the latter had not forgotten her preserver
is probable, as the chronicle has recorded how she rejected the earl’s
coronet, to the great horror of all well-wishers, and became plain Mistress
Osborn. With this event, of course, the romance of Osborn’s history ter­
minates—not so his career in usefulness and honor. Conspicuous for
many years for his efforts in favor of English commerce, at home and
abroad, he was instrumental in bringing forward the untried resources of
the nation. Infusing his own liberal spirit into the merchants of the city,
he succeeded in giving their operations a wider range and more elevated
character. Both as Sir Edward Osborn, Knight, and as Lord Mayor of
London, he was fortunate in meriting and enjoying universal esteem
among his fellow-citizens, as well as the favor of his monarch. And if it
be true, as it is recorded, that from him the present ducal family of




The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

50i

Leeds date their origin, they may be justly proud of their merchant
ancestor.
The vvhole number of the merchants in London, during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, is said to have been three hundred and twenty-seven, all
of whom were members of the different trading companies of the city. I
have already alluded to the influence which these associations possessed,
and, probably, their rank and consequence increased in proportion as did
their wealth and numbers. Their aid and favor became an object of
competition, and royalty itself was not too proud to ask admission into
their privileges. Of one single company, that of the merchant tailors, it
is said that among its members might be counted seven kings, one
queen, seventeen princes and dukes, two dutchesses, one archbishop,
thirty-one earls, sixty-six barons and lords, fourteen abbots and priors,
besides many knights, esquiresj and gentlemen. These powerful associa­
tions furnished the sinews of war, and were able to control the naval ope­
rations of the kingdom. Their foreign connections gave them influence
abroad, and enabled them to guide or counteract any change in foreign
policy. One often-told story will seem to illustrate the manner in which
so enormous a power was employed, and with that we will take leave of
the merchant companies of London.
In the year 1587, that is, the twenty-eighth year of Elizabeth’s reign,
Sir Francis Walsingham, being then secretary of state, secretly entertained
a correspondence with the court of Madrid, in regard to the unfriendly
disposition towards England which was believed to exist on the part of
Spain. He thus received intelligence that Philip, the king, was making
vast preparations for an expedition, the object of which he carefully con­
cealed, and that he had written to the pope for his blessing upon the un­
dertaking; Through the agency of a spy in Venice, Sir Francis succeeded
in bribing a gentleman of the pope’s bed-chamber, who purloined the key
of his private cabinet, while his holiness was asleep. In this cabinet was
found the king of Spain’s letter, which disclosed the secret expedition to
be the Spanish armada. With the aid of Sir Thomas Gresham and Sir
Thomas Sutton, the secretary ascertained that for the expense of fitting
out and victualling this fleet, Philip depended wholly upon the Bank of
Genoa for funds, his own resources having been wholly exhausted by pre­
vious wars.
By the influence and assistance of the English merchants and their cor­
respondence, he procured from all the places of trade remittances upon
the bank to an amount sufficient to place its current funds entirely at his
own disposal; the Spanish drafts were, consequently, protested, the sup­
plies for the armada cut off, and its sailing delayed twelve months, which
time was employed by the English nation in warlike preparation. The
loss, on keeping these funds unemployed, according to good old Bishop
Burnet, was forty thousand pounds. At so small a price, he tells us, and
With such skilful management, was the nation saved at that time.
Perhaps the most interesting chapter of English commercial history ;
during the reign of Elizabeth, is connected with the progress of maritime
discovery. The daring and eccentric spirits who are so familiar to every
reader—Drake, Cavendish, Raleigh, Lancaster, and their companions,
the merchant rovers, who, for more than a century, were the pride and
terror of the seas, and are, even now, living, acting personages in the
fancy of every school-boy—will hardly need from me what every library




502

The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

can furnish. My task with the lives of these fortunate adventurers, shall
be confined to a brief allusion to the means which they possessed, and
the ends which they accomplished—they were the accidents of an age ;
ours is the moral and the example.
Although the navy of Europe had improved since Canute floated about the
channel in his one-masted tubs, naval architecture, in the sixteenth cen­
tury, was in a most deplorable condition. The galleons of Spain, the
caracks or canacer ships of Portugal, to eyes accustomed to the beautiful
fabrics of modern skill, appear most unwieldy and unsightly monstrosities.
Take, for instance, the following description of a first class man-of-war of
the period—the “ Great H arry,” as the vessel was called, rated at one
thousand tons, and mounting one hundred and twenty-two guns. Of these,
however, only thirty deserved the name of guns ; the rest were mere
swivels, and were stuck through circular holes in various parts of the ship,
more for ornament than use. Although from her height and bulk a fiercelooking vessel, she was ill adapted to sustain a rolling sea, or a gale of
wind—and one broadside from a modern ship, would have sent her to the
bottom. Such is the description of a contemporary ; probably it would an­
swer the larger ships of the navy at that time— and, judging from the con­
temporary accounts which are now extant, one modern ship of the line
might have been a match for the whole Spanish armada. The English
had in time of war depended upon the Hanse towns for their marine ;
and there is one account extant which represents the English admiral
sending the Hanse town vessels to sustain the brunt of a conflict, that the
queen’s ships might not be injured. The whole navy of Queen Eliza­
beth consisted, in the thirteenth year of her reign, of one hundred
and forty-six sail—of these, all were hired merchantmen but thirteen.
To oppose the Spanish armada, about one hundred and eighty vessels
were collected, of which some twenty-eight might constitute the royal
navy ; and although upon paper one hundred ships may appear a tre­
mendous force, we are told that nine tenths of these were, in point of size
and force, utterly insignificant. According to Camden, the whole realm
at this time did not possess four ships exceeding four hundred tons; and a
letter still extant to Sir William Cecil, from a citizen of London, contains
the following assertion : “ There is never a city in Christendom,” so runs
the epistle, “ having the occupancy of London, so slenderly provided with
ships. I have seen thirty-seven hoys laden with wood go at one tide out
of Rye, and never an English mariner among them.” Under such disad­
vantages, the enterprising navigators of that period opened their career of
discovery and conquest. The results which have followed from their en­
terprise are no less remarkable than the means by which they were accomplished ; supplying the want of knowledge and experience by a most in­
domitable perseverance, they succeeded in extending the limits of trade to
the antipodes, and establishing a naval reputation. The idleness of a long
peace, vague notions of golden regions where boundless wealth awaited
the adventurous— these, combining with and giving energy to nobler and
juster views, produced a class of men who had then no parallels in history,
and whose characters are hardly appreciated.yet.
W e know, to be sure, that Drake and Cavendish circumnavigated the
globe, and we are familiar with the adventures of Raleigh and Hawkins,
Frobisher and Davis; but the exploits for which their names are remem­
bered, are far less interesting for audacity and success, than for the lasting




The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth.

503

and real advantages they have produced upon commerce. When these
hardy spirits, with their half-equipped fleets and scanty forces, performed
what, even in our own day, would command admiration, their immediate
purpose was accomplished by the acquisition of glory and plunder. Their
voyages were not intended for the formation of permanent colonies, nor
were they undertaken with any considered plan of commercial intercourse.
Their trading voyages were so many privateering speculations, and the
capture of a town or the wealth of a galleon frequently terminated expedi­
tions which were commenced for purposes of discovery. Modern notions of
neutrality were unthought of, while it was a common saying, that “ there
was no peace beyond the Cape of Good Hope.” The law of nations was
little understood; while the fleets of two friendly nations destroyed each
other without scruple, and officers of the crown captured and laid under
contribution towns and villages with whom their government was at peace.
W hen the queen herself breakfasted on board the victorious vessel of
Drake, he was accused of having violated every obligation of public or
private right. While the whole nation vied in lauding the bravery and the
success of the gallant sea-rovers, France, Denmark, and Spain were re­
monstrating against the piracy of English cruisers. It should be remem­
bered, that men had learned to think the will of the strongest the only law
of the ocean ; Spain and Portugal, in their day of power, had unscrupu­
lously driven competition from the Indian se a s; and English commerce
had been as yet unprotected by a navy : their voyages had been com­
menced at the risk of hostile interference, and their equipment was neces­
sarily warlike, where every stranger might be an enemy.
The leaders of expeditions, which had no certain purpose nor duration,
were from necessity clothed with extraordinary and discretionary power.
Thrown upon their own resources among strange and occasionally hostile
people, they became merchants, ambassadors, or warriors, as expediency
or safety might dictate ; not only did they comprise the merchant marine
of Britain in time of peace, but, as we have seen, they furnished the strength
of the navy in time of war. It was not uncommon for the queen to stipu­
late in her charters of incorporation, that the ships of her trading compa­
nies should be at her service in case of any national quarrel ; and in the
warlike expeditions so common during the reign, the English forces were
augmented by thousands of private adventurers. The most important
naval operations were characterized by the spirit of these merchant volun­
teers. As their trading voyages were warlike, their warlike demonstra­
tions became commercial. Thus we hear of a great expedition against
the power of Spain, in which the Earl of Essex was commander, and in
which the naval strength of the kingdom was employed. The historian
tells us that the merchants, who had engaged in the expedition for hope of
profit, became discontented with these military enterprises, and the admi­
ral and his forces, yielding to their importunity, sailed away to intercept a
rich treasure-ship of Portugal. All this, however strangely it may sound
to modern ears, was by no means repugnant to the spirit of the age. All
ranks and classes had imbibed the same feeling. Exaggerated tales of
foreign adventures—-the sight of riches easily obtained and profusely spent—
attracted the needy, the avaricious, and the adventurous : the queen her­
self was stockholder and part owner in many of these trading voyages.
The sagacious Burleigh joined in fitting out four ships, and contributing
£35,000 towards a speculation in slaves and gold dust. Leicester, Wal-




504

The Merchants o f the Time o f Queen Elizabeth,

singham, Essex, nobility, gentry, and commons, all became merchants in
the common acceptation of the word; and with all due respect to the
memory of her majesty and court be it spoken, their commercial reputa­
tion at the present day would hardly bear the scrutiny of justice. When
the plunder of Spain, that common enemy, no longer sufficed for the in­
crease of competition, neutral property too often supplied the deficiency;
and if the loud and constant complaints of neighboring states were not
groundless altogetheiv—if the queen’s edicts against the capture of neutral
vessels were not unnecessary—commercial morality was as yet little ap­
preciated. All this, however, was incidental to an age even then passing
away, and to a people untaught in the principles of international right. It
was inconsistent with the very luxury and refinement which it was pro­
ducing, and disappeared as its novelty wore off, and public opinion judged
its moral consequences with more severity. The settlement of the first
English colony in North America—the acquisition of Newfoundland by
the British crown— the discovery of Davis’ straits, and the northern pas­
sage through the White sea, are a few of the benefits we owe the mer­
chant rovers of Elizabeth’s reign. The spirit of avarice, seconding the
spirit of adventure, has left us many great and permanent blessings, even
though working for the most selfish purposes, it called into action dor­
mant energies, as well as evil passions, and was instrumental in giving
value and stability to the very laws upon which it so often trampled.
Having given England a navy, and the world a free trade, it disappeared
like the genius of Aladdin, leaving no trace of its terror, save in the
magnificent results for which we are its debtors.
Thus imperfectly have I endeavored to sketch English commerce du­
ring the latter part of the sixteenth century. A mine of curious information
connected with this interesting subject still remains, which time compels
me to leave unexplored :— The banking systems of Genoa, Venice, and
Barcelona; the estates of Holland, with their naval and commercial
power ; the free towns of western Europe, with the origin of their trade
and affluence ; Venice, where merchants of all nations yet crowded the
Rialto ; and Italy, where commerce, hand in hand with art, enriched the
dwelling of the Medici, “ Florence the beautiful,” and built her palaces in
the city whose merchants were princes; Genoa the proud.
From the history of all, the conclusion and the moral is the same ;
deeply important to a people who have created their own institutions, and
whose government is one of public opinion. W e have seen commerce,
against all the opposition of ancient prejudices, and under every disadvan­
tage of ignorance and poverty and want of power, step by step securing
and maintaining a foothold everywhere. W e have seen commerce band­
ing together the trading classes for mutual safety, strengthening the peo­
ple against the power of the nobility, and undermining the foundation of
the feudal system. We have seen commerce diverting the course of
trade as it had existed for centuries, and totally changing the political
balance of Europe. During the brief period which I have been consider­
ing, the mercantile classes were able to direct the energies of a nation,
and to control the power of a national enemy. In our own time, and in
our own favored country, where education is a birthright, and civil and
religious freedom an heir-loom, the responsibility of that class who wield a
power so universal may be subject for grave consideration; how far the
tone of society, how far the standard of morals, how far the interest, the




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505

well-being, the very existence of our institutions are connected with and
dependant upon the character of the mercantile classes ; a body of men
who control our means of communication with distant nations; through
whose agency we receive information and instruction from the remotest
corners of the universe; who procure for us the luxuries, the refine­
ments, the improvements, our wants or caprices require; who give
activity and direction to our national resources, and furnish employment
to the citizen, the mariner, the agriculturist.
The influence of such a class can hardly be exaggerated, and wo betide
that country where their influence is misdirected. In place of the narrow
means and limited views which clogged the enterprises of the sixteenth
century, the merchant of our day enters his career in the full light of ex­
perience, and with the prejudices and feelings of society enlisted in favor
of his time-honored profession. Intrusted by his position with the com­
forts, the necessities of society ; born to a free participation of every poli­
tical right, he owes to that society in return his influence and example.
All professions derive elevation from mental culture. Our geographical
and political relations impart peculiar importance to mercantile education.
All that depends upon our naval reputation—the safety of our citizens
abroad, the integrity of our territory, our national character—arc insepara­
bly united to commerce. Every treaty that we form with foreign powers,
every change in our foreign policy, has relation to commerce. The
change of European dynasties, the alternation of European war and peace,
affect us through our mercantile interests. In becoming acquainted with the
religious and political prejudices, the domestic habits, the tastes, the form
of government, the feelings and character of other countries, the American
merchant is only learning to advance his own interest. In watching the
history of nations, and understanding the causes which affected their for­
tunes, he is only learning to secure his own.
“ Our means of intellectual intercourse,” so says an able writer upon
our institutions, “ unite the most remote parts of the earth, and it is im­
possible for men to remain strangers to each other, or to be ignorant of
the events which are taking place in any corner of the globe. The con­
sequence is, that there is less difference at the present day between the
Europeans and their descendants in the new world, than there was between
towns in the thirteenth century, which were only separated by a river. If
this tendency to assimilation brings foreign nations closer to each other,
it must, a fortiori, prevent the defendants of the same people from becom­
ing aliens to each other.
“ The time will therefore come, when one hundred and fifty millions of
men will be living in North America, equal in condition, the progeny of
one race, owing their origin to the same cause, and preserving the same
civilization, the same language, the same religion, the same habits, the
same manners, and imbued with the same opinions propagated under the
same forms. The rest is uncertain ; but this is certain, and it is a fact
new to the world, a fact fraught with such portentous consequences as to
baffle the efforts of the imagination.”
In accomplishing this magnificent destiny, the example of the United
States will be felt in the character of future republics, and from the insti­
tutions of this country may be derived the commercial and political charac­
ter of the western hemisphere. Who shall say how much of this must
depend upon the mercantile classes ? Their office it is “ to knit mankind
VOL. iv.— no. vi.
64




Duties on Imports Considered.

606

together in a mutual intercourse of good offices, distribute the gifts of na­
ture, find work for the poor and magnificence to the great.” Through
their means our language will be known, and our customs, principles,
resources, become familiar to mankind. As an American citizen, I am
.sufficiently sanguine to believe, that with such knowledge, our national
reputation will continually acquire new lustre; and that while our coun­
try is respected and beloved as a benefactor to the world, liberality, pro­
bity, energy, and intelligence may combine to form the most enviable of
all characters, that of the American merchant.
u Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,”
Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him.
Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine,
His honor and the greatness of his name
Shall be, and make new nations : He shall flourish,
And like a mountain cedar, reach his branches
To all the plains about him. His children’s childreM
Shall see this, and bless heaven.

A rt.

II.—D U TIES ON IMPORTS CONSIDERED.

T h e present tariff of duties must soon undergo revision, if not at the
approaching session of congress, certainly at the succeeding session, and
when we recollect that it more or less concerns all the great interests of
the nation, it must seem that no subject better deserves the profound and
thorough consideration of the statesman and political economist. It is im­
portant as a mere question of taxation. It must directly affect the agri­
cultural, manufacturing, and commercial interests. It may operate une­
qually on the great local divisions of the country. It may affect our for­
eign relations ; and lastly, it may hasten or retard the increase of the
national capital.
On some of the questions involved in these great topics, the diversities
of opinion are purely speculative, because the interests of every part of the
nation are substantially the same ; but on others, comprehending much
the greatest number, the difference of opinion has grown out of a differ­
ence of interest, real or supposed. The feelings of the contending parties
being once fairly enlisted, and farther inflamed by heated or designing
politicians, passion has had its wonted influence in blinding the judgment,
so that they have neither been able to see what there was of sound reason­
ing in the arguments of their adversaries, nor to detect the fallacies in
their own. Both sides have afforded some remarkable instances of this
mental blindness, to so some of which we shall take occasion to refer.
As conflicting interests have given rise to angry disputes and irreconcila­
ble views, whenever the subject of the tariff has been agitated in congress,
we may expect a recurrence of somewhat of the same discordant opin­
ions, heat, and intolerance, when the-subject again comes under discussion;
but it may tend to allay its acrimony if the mass of both parties could be
disabused of some of their more flagrant errors, and the public mind settle
down on some great truths, that have been hitherto disputed, before its
passions are again inflamed. At all events, the present interval of calm
seems particularly favorable to the investigation of so delicate and intricate




Duties on Imports Considered.

507

a subject, and on that account, I shall venture to offer some remarks and
suggestions on its more mooted points.
I.
How f a r are duties on imports eligible, considered merely as a mode
o f raising revenue ?
Those who can carry their recollections back to the period immediately
preceding Mr. Jefferson’s administration, or who are familiar with the his­
tory of parties in our country, know that it was a favorite doctrine with the
republican party, that direct taxes were preferable to a tax on imports, for
two reasons: one was that they were more economical, inasmuch as the
importer, being obliged to advance the tax to the government, charged a
profit on such advance as well as on the price of the goods, by which the
price to the consumer was proportionally enhanced, and thus more was
taken from the pockets of the people than was paid into the treasury.
The other reason was purely a political one. It was, that when taxes
were direct, the people would necessarily know what was the extent of
their burdens, and when they were increased, whereby they would more
closely look into the expenditures of the government, and thus check its
tendencies to waste and extravagance, which, when taxes are indirect, they
may indulge with impunity. For these reasons, it was confidently expected
and predicted that when Mr. Jefferson came into power, the federal revenue
would be raised by the safer and more economical mode of direct taxation.
But a report from Mr. Gallatin, then secretary of the treasury, soon exposed
one of the errors of the proposed policy. There had been a direct tax in Mr.
Adams’s administration, and he showed that the expenses of collection had
been about four per cent, whereas those on the customs were but thirty
per cent. The difference many times exceeds any enhancement of price
to the consumer, in consequence of a profit on the duty.
But we may go further in defence of the impost. If the importer ad­
vances the tax, the government gets it so much sooner than if it were to
be paid when bought for consumption, and the consumer, from whom the
tax is really drawn, has the use of his money so much longer. It is true
that the importer’s premium on the tax.advanced, may, and commonly does
exceed the interest of the money, but the difference is not considerable,
and a very large class of the consumers, i f .they had the option, would
rather pay the premium than advance the tax.
In Great Britain, indeed, the land tax and other direct taxes are collected at
less expense than the duties on imports. Thus, in 1834, the charges of col­
lection on £4,662,345 of assessed and land taxes were £213,620, or
about 4f per cent, on the gross amount; while, in the same year, the nett
receipt of the “ customs-duties” were £2,716,014 less than the gross re­
ceipts, equal to £21,110,467, showing the cost of collection to be near
13 per cent. But in the year 1838, it was reduced to about 10 per cent.
In that country, however, the land tax, and which is not, by the way, a
fortieth of its revenue, is collected at much less expense than it can be
here. In the first place, they have had no valuation of the land for near
a century and a half, whereas we should be obliged to make one every ten
years, and the rapid alterations which lands experience in many of the
states in that time, would, to avoid gross inequality, make it necessary to
have valuations still oftener. In the next place, the dispersion of our popu­
lation over so large a surface greatly enhances the cost of collection. Our
population is less on an average than 20 to a square mile ; theirs is more
than 200. On the other hand, the expense of collecting the impost is less in




508

Duties on Imports Considered.

this country than it is in Great Britain, because we have neither the same
facilities nor the same inclination to smuggle. There is not here, as there,
a separate class of men, who follow illicit trade as an occupation. It is
these points of difference between that country and this, which make it
necessary for her to maintain an army of customhouse officers and a navy
of revenue cutters, from which expense.we are comparatively exempt.
But if direct taxes could be more cheaply collected, they would be less
eligible than taxes on consumption. The last compel the prodigal, the
ostentatious, the luxurious—the unthrifty of every description—who lessen
the amount of the national wealth by wasting their own, to pay a part of
what they spend into the public treasury, and they leave to the prudent
and industrious their capital unimpaired. Thus every man pays his public
contributions in the easiest way and at the most convenient time. He
pays it when it suits him, and as it suits him—a little this month and little
next. But a direct tax must be collected all at once, and may be called
for when the taxed party is least prepared to pay it. If any adverse
change has taken place in his circumstances since the assessment, he can­
not by any voluntary retrenchment of his expenses, as in the case of in­
direct taxes, make any proportional abatement of his contribution to the
government.
It is on account of these and the like considerations, that Adam Smith,
and other writers on political economy, have been in favor of taxes on
consumption; and that one of the latest of them, Mr. McCulloch, says,
“ Direct taxes on property have been the curse of every country into which
they have been introduced.” He adds, “ Such taxes are, besides, most
unpopular, as well from their requiring an odious, though ineffectual, inqui­
sition into the affairs of individuals, as from their being direct. So much is
this the case, that we are well convinced that the raising of eighteen or
twenty millions by taxes on income would be felt to be a much greater
burden, and would really be far more injurious, than the raising of fifty or
sixty millions by our present taxes.” *
Nor does there seem to be more force in the political reason, which
supposes that indirect taxes are favorable to a lavish expenditure of the
public money. Without doubt the greater facility with which money is
raised by indirect taxes, and the smaller discontent they cause among the
people, enable governments to raise a much larger revenue than would be
practicable by direct taxation. But this is an evil or a good, according to
the use that is made of the money. If the quicker sensibility of the people
to direct taxation would sometimes prove a salutary check on waste and
extravagance, it might on the other hand, with equal propriety, be insisted
that it would yet oftener prove a mischievous restriction on expenditures
that ought to be incurred. The people thus rendered sore by the taxgatherer, may object to preparing for the national defence—to give ade­
quate salaries to their public servants—to requite past services by pen­
sions—to discharge just claims—to say nothing of those national establish­
ments whose benefits are remote or not obvious to the mass of the people. If
even now some of these items of proper expense afford plausible topics to the
popular sycophant, and tempt him to sacrifice the claims of justice and sound
policy to a false economy, how much more would it be the case under the
pressure of direct taxation ! On this supposition, too, the evil would greatly




* Mr. McCulloch’s Stat., II. p. 516.

Duties on Imports Considered.

509

exceed the good; for every liberal-minded man will admit, that it is far
better for a nation to spend some money uselessly than to refuse to spend
that which the justice or the interests of the nation requires—that it would
be less evil to have some superfluous pensioners than to have none at a ll;
to pay some unfounded claims than to refuse to pay honest debts, and to
have several fortifications too many than one too few.
But while the last argument may be fairly set off against the first, I am
not disposed to lay any stress on it. They both are derogatory to the
cardinal principle of republican government. They both assume that the
people are ignorant of their interests, and that the legislature may disre­
gard them.
But the advocates of direct taxation object, that “ taxes on consumption
are so disguised by being mixed up with the price, that the people pay
them without knowing it”—as if that was not one of their recommenda­
tions, and we were not always endeavoring to cheat life of some of its dis­
agreeableness by semblances and disguises, from the gilded pill to the
illusions of hope and the courtesies of politeness. The feelings of a peo­
ple will always be regarded by a wise legislature as well as their interests ;
and in imposing taxes, which are an evil at best, though a necessary one,
it will make them as little unpalatable as they can. If it can prevent the
people from feeling the burden at all, so much the better. Surely where
knowledge would make us more unhappy, “ ’tis folly to be wise.”
Besides these cogent reasons, which apply to direct taxation everywhere,
there are circumstances in our country which make them peculiarly ob­
jectionable. The want of a sufficient circulating medium out of the great
cities, would for some time present an insuperable obstacle to raising a
large sum in this way. Thus, suppose twenty millions the amount of
revenue to be raised. The proportion which Pennsylvania would have to
contribute would be near one eighth, or two millions and a half. Now if
her own legislature, prompted by the strongest considerations to raise a
revenue, found it difficult last year to raise, by direct and indirect taxes
together, six hundred thousand dollars, how can it be supposed it could
raise four times that amount by direct taxes alone ? There is not currency
enough in circulation out of the cities to pay such a tax. In time, indeed, the
distribution of the currency would be altered, and the people might find
it as practicable to pay their quota of taxes in the new form, as they now
do in the existing form ; but to effect this change, it would require a very
large addition to our circulation. The money which would be gradually
accumulated by individuals in the country to meet the tax-gatherer, in his/
annual visit, would be then withdrawn from circulation the greater part of
the year, whereas that which pays the public revenue is always perform­
ing the functions of currency.
Another peculiarity is the rapidity of change in the value of lands and
city lots in our country. This would make valuations more frequent here
than in any oth er; they are expensive everywhere, and particularly so
here, where the population is so thin and scattered.
On all these accounts, I should be disposed to go yet farther than Mr.
McCulloch, and say, that in this country it would be easier to raise twenty
millions by the impost than jive millions by direct taxes.
These remarks have been extended to a greater length than the subject
seemed to require ; but it has been frequently hinted at of late years, by
some of the public journals as well as by politicians, either misled by the




510

Duties on Imparts Considered.

experience of Great Britain, without adverting to the difference of circum­
stances between that country and this, or in their zeal against a protective
tariff, feeling an undistinguishing prejudice against all duties whatever.
II.
How should duties be laid so as to operate most equally among the seve­
ral states ?
Commodities on which duties may be laid, and in fact are laid by our
tariff, divide themselves into three classes.
1st. Those which can in general be produced in the United States, and
sold at a lower price than the same articles imported from abroad.
2d. Those which are partly produced at home, and partly supplied from
abroad.
3d. Those which are wholly supplied by foreign countries.
Articles of the first class, such as cotton, tobacco, rice, naval stores,
lumber and provisions, being almost always cheaper here than in the
countries with which we trade, are rarely imported, and consequently the
duties imposed on them are utterly inoperative.
The statute which
lays a duty of 15 per cent on cotton or tobacco, though laid ostensibly
for protecting the grower of those products, is a dead letter. He has a
more efficient protection in the low price which he can afford to take for
them, and at which he offers them. It is true that we a few years since,
for two successive seasons, imported wheat from Europe ; but besides that,
there had been no other instances of such importation since the adoption
of the federal constitution. On these occasions wheat was unusually high,
and the quantity imported had no sensible effect in reducing the price,
except at the ports of entry ; so that the 15 per cent on the commodity af­
forded no protection, nor was any wanted. This, then, affords no excep­
tion to the rule, that as to our great staples, the duty on similar articles
from abroad is merely nominal.
The second class of commodities comprehends the coarser woollen and
cotton fabrics, and a portion of the finer, iron, and many articles of iron
manufacture, sugar, salt, glass, paper, leather and manufactures of leather,
manufactures of copper, brass, and tin, lead and manufactures of lead,
with many others of less moment. Now, as the duty enhances the price
to the same or a greater amount, and as some of these articles are pro­
duced exclusively in some states, and all are produced at less expense in
some states than others, it is clear that the duties on this class operate
with more or less inequality in the different states. Thus, a duty on su­
gar would be inoperative as a tax in Louisiana, because they raise enough,
and more than enough, for their own consumption ; but it would be an
efficient tax on all the states that did not produce it. No part of the duty
on salt is paid in the neighborhood of the salt manufactories in Massa­
chusetts, or New York, or Virginia. Little or no part of the duty on iron
is paid in the vicinity of the iron works in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and
other states ; nor is it likely that the duty on the cheaper cotton fabrics is
paid in any of the New England states.
Even where those states are not altogether supplied by their own pro­
ducts, but derive a portion of the same products from foreign commerce,
and consequently pay a part of the duty, that part must be less, in propor­
tion to their numbers, than is paid by the states which are supplied
altogether by imports. They save the charges of transportation.
Nor is it necessary that a state should be the consumer of commodities
actually imported, to pay the duty laid on such articles; it may also pay




Duties on Imports Considered.

511

a part or the whole of such duty, by consuming similar articles made in
other states. The duty on an article may be so high as to prevent its
importation altogether. In this case, if it could be imported duty free,
and sold here at a less price than the home-made article, the state that
purchases it virtually pays the duty to the amount o f the difference o f price,
as much as if it had been paid at the customhouse. The only difference
is, that in the last case the duty goes into the public treasury, and in the
other, it goes to reward or to indemnify the home producer. Thus, if I can
buy an English or French hat for $4 when exempt from duty, and by
reason of a duty of $2 I buy a home-made hat of the same quality for $5,
it is clear, that by reason of the duty, my hat has cost me an additional
dollar. And as the enhancement of price is commonly something more
than the tax, suppose that the foreign hat could not be sold under $61,
and the price of the American hat was $6, in that case, the purchaser pays
the whole amount of duty, though no part of it contributes to the public
revenue.
The unequal bearing of duties laid on the second class of articles, is not
confined to a difference of burdens, but extends also to a difference of
benefits ; and the states that bear the least burden derive the most benefit.
It is clear, that so far as foreign competition is exlcuded or discouraged,
so far does it improve the home m arket; and that the states, which pro­
duce a commodity subject to duty, are thereby able to sell more of it, and
at a better price. Thus, by reason of a tax on salt, the salt-works on
Lake Ontario, in New York, have a larger field of supply, and can make
a nearer approach to the city of New York, before they encounter the
competition by the salt of Liverpool or Turks’ Island ; and that if the
duty is sufficiently high, foreign competition may be excluded altogether;
by reason of which, either the market is extended or the price raised, and
commonly both. This stimulus on home production has further effects,
good and bad, which will be considered under another head ; at present,
we are considering only the subject of inequality among the states.
But although the duty laid on each article of this second class operates
thus unequally on the states that produce and those that only consume it,
yet the inequality is greatly diminished, as to most of the states, by the
great number and variety of the articles subject to duty; so that while a
state gains by some, of which she is a producer, she loses by others, of
which she is merely a consumer; and if every state produced its just pro­
portion of articles of this class, there might be such a compensation of
inequalities, as to produce equality. What Louisiana gained by the duty
on sugar, she might lose by the duties on salt, iron, cotton and woollen
fabrics, glass, &c., and so of every other state. As to many of the states,
some compensation of this kind actually takes place; but it happens that
there are others which produce no articles of the second class, and which,
consequently, pay more than their fair proportion of all the duties of this
class, without any compensation. This is strictly the case with all the
southern and southwestern states, except Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia,
and North Carolina; and it is substantially true with them all, for the iron
and cotton fabrics which the three last states produce, and the salt and
coal of Virginia, make but small deductions from the duties which those
states pay on other articles. The same remark applies to all the north­
western states, except, perhaps, to Ohio and Kentucky, if, indeed, they
furnish exceptions. There are, then, from twelve to fourteen states, which




512

Duties on Imports Considered.

must pay more than their proportion of either the duties on imports, as
collected at the customhouse, or of the tax that results from the enhanced
price of the home-made article.
The inequality arising from the last source, in proportion to its extent,
is greater than that from the duties actually paid, because no part of it
contributes to the public revenue, but goes to foster the industry of the
producing states. It may be greater, also, for another reason. The
whole amount of this unseen tax, if it may be so called, may greatly ex­
ceed the amount of the tax collected. Thus, in the supposed duty of $2
on each hat imported, the effect of the tax may be to reduce the number
of imported hats to one-twentieth of the hats of domestic manufacture;
and if the price of these last is $2 more than the foreign hats could be sold
for here, if free of duty, then the consumers pay twenty times as much to
encourage the hat manufacture at home, as they pay in the form of a tax
on hats, towards the public revenue ; if the difference of price is one dol­
lar, then they would pay ten times as much. It is indeed obvious, that as
the duty increases, it tends to lessen the amount paid at the customhouse,
and to increase the amount paid for encouragement; and that when they
are raised so high as to put a stop to the importation, while they bring
nothing into the treasury, they levy a tax on the whole amount of that com­
modity consumed in the country. This, in point of fact, is nearly the
case with the hats, boots, paper, and many other articles manufactured
at home.
While duties laid on the second class of articles, called protecting du­
ties, operate thus unequally on the different states, let us not overrate the
inequality by supposing, as some have done, that the producing states pay
no part of the unseen tax that has been mentioned, and that the whole of
that tax paid by the other states is received by the producing states. A l­
though a state does produce any article or commodity, yet if its consumers
could procurb the same from abroad at a lower price, in case there was
no duty, they lose the difference of price on all they consume of such arti­
cle or commodity; but the extra profit made by the producers in the same
state is a set-off against the loss incurred by the consumers. It may or
may not be a compensation. As to the unseen tax paid by the states that
are not producers of the commodities, only that part of it which consists
in the profits of the producers is received by the producing states, for a
part, and sometimes much the largest part, is received by no one. It is
so much value destroyed, as will subsequently be shown.
From the preceding views, it is manifest that duties cannot be laid on
this second class of articles so as to operate equally on all the states.
IIow far other considerations may justify some inequality, will be sepa­
rately examined.
It is then on the third class of articles, those which are procured from
abroad, that duties must be laid, to bear equally on all the states, accord­
ing to their numbers and wealth ; of this character are coffee, tea, silks,
wines, the finer fabrics of the loom, such as muslins, cambrics, and Irish
linen, porcelain, jewelry, and cutlery. So far as equal justice among the
states is concerned, duties should be laid upon these articles. But inas­
much as high duties tend to lessen the revenue, both by diminishing con­
sumption, and encouraging smuggling, it may not be practicable to raise
a sufficient revenue on this class of articles, in which case, those of the
second class must be resorted to. When this takes place, the legislature




Duties on Imports Considered,.

513

should endeavor so to lay the duties, as to compensate the necessary ine.quality by the greatest practical amount, first of national, and then of local
benefit.
Besides the unequal operation of duties on the different states that has
been mentioned, it has been supposed by some, that such duties operate
unequally in consequence of the difference in the amount of their exports ;
a tax on imports being, they say, equivalent to a tax on the exports given
in exchange for them. Others, again, have maintained that they operate
unequally, because they diminish exports, and thus bear most upon the
states which export the most.
As these propositions have received the sanction of some names of
weight and authority, and I have found myself compelled to refuse my as­
sent to them, after having given the most patient attention to the argu­
ments urged in their favor, I propose to give to each of them a full and
separate consideration.
III.
What is the difference between a tax on imports, and a tax on the
exports which have been given in exchange fo r them ?
A tax on imports enhances the price of the imported goods by the
amount of the tax, precisely as the freight, insurance, and other inci­
dental charges, because the repayment of all these charges is an indispenT
sable condition of their importation. They must be procured on these
terms or not at all. The tax, therefore, which is paid in the first instance
by the importer, is repaid by the consumer on whom it finally falls. It is
thus the same thing to the merchant, whether he imports goods which pay
a high duty, a low duty, or no duty whatever, as he makes the same profit
on all.
But a tax on exports cannot thus be thrown on the consumer, who is in
a foreign country, and where the tax laid in another country can have no
operation as at home. The price of cotton, for instance, in this country,
is mainly determined by the price in Liverpool; and the -merchant who
buys it for exportation, is regulated in the price he gives here by that
which he expects to get there. If, then, a tax should be laid on exported
cotton, he can manifestly afford to give so much less for it, as he knows
that he has no means of regaining, in a foreign country, the tax which he
has advanced, because he there has all the world for his competitors.
The amount of the tax will, therefore, be deducted from the price, and
thus it will fall on the producer of the cotton. The obvious operation of
such a tax occasioned the introduction of that clause in the federal con­
stitution, by which congress is prohibited from imposing any “ tax or duty
on articles exported from any state,”
In one case, indeed, a country might transfer the tax it had laid on an
exported commodity to the foreign consumer, and that is, where it had a
monopoly of the taxed commodity. It could do so, because the foreign
purchaser could not be suplied on better terms elsewhere, and the repay­
ment of the tax in the enhanced price might be the only condition on
which the article could be procured. Thus, had the Dutch, when they
owned Ceylon, instead of burning a part of their cinnamon, laid a tax on
its exportation, there is no doubt that a large part of such tax would have
fallen on the nations which consumed that spice. The same thing may be
said of the tea of China. But even in these cases, as the tax, by enhance
ing the price, would tend to diminish consumption, a part of it would vir­
tually fall on themselves,
65
v o n . iv.— NO. V I.




514

Duties on Imports Considered.

We, however, have no such monopolies, and whatever, taxes we lay we
cannot shift on others. A tax on imports must fall on their consumers,
and a tax on exports on their producers.
But some have supposed that though the exporting merchant cannot
regain the tax from the foreign consumer, he may get it back by adding it
to the price of the goods he has received in exchange for his exports—pre­
cisely as importers now do. But there is this essential difference between
the two cases. When the tax is paid on imports, the repayment of it by
the consumer is the only condition of their supply. No merchant would
or could import them on any other terms. But in the case of a tax on
exports, the repayment of the tax is not the necessary condition of obtain­
ing the imports, for any one who chooses may, by remitting money, (which
•we will suppose exempt from the export duty, and which never'can practi­
cally be subjected to a duty,) import goods which, having paid no tax, may
be sold that much cheaper. Foreign merchants and manufacturers, who
now furnish no inconsiderable portion of our imported merchandise, would
be able to sell their goods without any additional charge for a tax which
they had not paid; the result of all which would be, that the price of both
imports and exports would be lower than they now are, by the amount of
the duty. New York and Pennsylvania, which now contribute more than
one fourth of the revenue derived from the impost—supposing their con,
sumption of foreign goods to be in proportion to their numbers—would
then contribute to an insignificant amount, and the four states of South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, which now pay about one
ninth of the revenue, would then pay one half of it. But the tax on exports
would operate still more injuriously on them, by throwing out of cultiva­
tion all those lands which had not sufficient fertility to bear so large a deduc­
tion from their profits as the tax would require, and thus, if a tax on exports
did not augment their burdens, it would be because it still more lessened
their means. Their only relief from taxation would be impoverishment
and ruin.
In opposition to these views, it was vehemently maintained by Mr.
McDuffie, of South Carolina, in a speech in congress in 1830, that a tax on
imports eventually falls on the producer of the exports, and is consequently
equivalent to a tax on those exports. The Southern Review for Novem­
ber, 1831, in its notice of that and other speeches of Mr. McDuffie, thus
remarks on the doctrine :
“ But the case put by Mr. McDuffie, as it seems to us, unanswerably
establishes the equivalency of import and export duties. We never have
seen even a plausible attempt to answer it. As it is briefly stated, we
give it entire :—
“ ‘ Let us suppose, to make the case too plain for evasion or equivoca­
tion, that two merchants set out for Liverpool, each of them with a cargo
o f a thousand bales of upland cotton, worth thirty thousand dollars, with a
view to exchange them for cotton manufactures. W e will also suppose
that one of these merchants is compelled to pay an export duty of 33-j per
cent, and that the other, under the impression that it would be much less
burdensome, is permitted, as a special favor, to export his cotton free of
duty, on condition that he pay a like duty when he imports the return
cargo. Now, let us follow these merchants through their respective ad­
ventures, and see how the matter will end. One of them is compelled to
pay ten thousand dollars at the great national toll-gate as he goes out, to




Duties on Imports Considered.

515

raise which sum,.he sells one third of his cotton before he leaves the United
States. When they reach' Liverpool, and sell their respective cargoes,
one of them finds that he has only $>20,000 in his pocket wherewith to
purchase goods, while the other exults in the possession of $30,000. Each
of them proceeds to invest -his mopey in cotton manufactures, and they
then embark in the same vessel for the United States. When they reach
the customhouse, the one who recently exulted in the cargo worth
$30,000, is informed with great civility, that he will be permitted to
land his goods, if he will pay the trifling sum of $10,000 for so valuable
a privilege. He of course complies with a proposition so very reasonable ;
but upon comparing stock with his competitor, on this side of the federal
toll-gate, he is astonished to find that they are almost precisely in the
same condition. The only difference between them would be the interest
on $10,000 for the period consumed in the voyage ; a difference nearly
counterbalanced by that between the value of cotton in the United States,
upon which the export duty was paid, and the value of it in Liverpool,
upon which, or its equivalent, the import duty must be estimated.’ ”
The case, it must be confessed, is ingeniously put,'as whether it has been
“ plausibly answered” or not, it has been deemed satisfactory by thousands,
and it has staggered some whom it has not convinced. But on a close
inspection, it will be found to furnish no argument that a tax on imports
as well as one on exports falls on the home producer, and to shed no light
on their separate operation.
It will be readily conceded that there is no difference between the two
merchants in the case supposed. It scarcely required a case to prove
that, when two men traded at the same time, between the same places, in
the same article, to the same amount, and had both paid the same duty,
their profit or loss must also be the same, for it is but saying that equal quan­
tities being taken from equal quantities, the remainders are equal. But
the case put is not the case in controversy : the first supposes a coexist­
ent import and export tax, whereas the question in dispute considers the
operation of each when it is exclusive ; and it does not follow that their
operation is the same when they act separately and exclusively, because it
is the same when they act concurrently, for their peculiar effects may be
then neutralized, as in fact they are.
In the case supposed, the two merchants are equal, because he who had
paid the tax on exporting his cotton would be as well able to get it back
by adding it to the price of his goods as he who had paid the tax on his
imports. But why can he get it back ? It is because the payment of the
tax at one time or the other is the only condition upon which the foreign
goods can be supplied. If, however, the tax were wholly on exports, in­
stead of being as now wholly on imports, the payment of the tax, as we
have seen, would not he the necessary condition of supply. The imported
goods might and would be sold cheaper than when a tax was laid on im­
ports, by the amount of the tax, by all who could make their returns in
money—by all who migrated to this country—or by capitalists who wished
to place funds here, either for loan or permanent investment, as they could
sell at the lower price supposed, so must he. To assume, then, that
because the payer of taxes on exports could regain the tax, when he had the
'protection or safeguard o f the impost, he could also regain it when he had
not that protection, that is, when there was no impost, is clearly a speci­




516

Duties on Imports Considered,.

men of the argument called begging the question; which is in fact no arguj
ment at all.
But farther. In the hypothetical case relied upon, both the traders
must be supposed to add the tax they have severally paid to the price of
the goods they have imported. However duties be laid, they never fall
upon the merchant. His province is to transport merchandise from places
where they have less value to those where they have greater, and he must
be indemnified for all incidental expenses, whether caused by nature or
man, or his agency ceases. He may indeed, and commonly does incur
them, but then he must be repaid. On these plain principles of trade, both
the merchants, in the case supposed, would indemnify themselves for the
tax they had paid, by proportionally raising the price of their goods—and
this they could do, as all importers must in one way or the other incur the
same charge— by reason of which the taxes paid by both, would, as now,
fall upon the consumer. And thus, in the particular case adduced to show
that a tax on imports and exports equally falls on the producer of the ex­
ports, we are warranted in inferring that he would escape both. The
case, at any rate, assigns no reason why they would fall on the producers
rather than on the consumers; and though it had, it does not show and
could not show, that because the two modes of taxation have a similar
operation when they act simultaneously, they would also have it when each
acted singly and exclusively; and to infer their peculiar operation from
their concurrent action, is about as reasonable as to compare the speed of
two horses by yoking them together. The reasoning, therefore, is of that
class of fallacies which I believe logicians call “ a non tali fero tali,” and
in which two cases are supposed to be parallel that are not so ., In the
opposition which was naturally, and we must think justly, excited against
a high protective tariff, we need not wonder that bad arguments were re­
sorted to as well as good ones;
But the advocates for the doctrine of the equivalency of taxes farther
maintain, that even if the duties on imports were paid by the consumers,
they still would be paid actually by the producers of the exports, because
they consume in proportion to their exports. But this proposition is as
great an error in fact as the other is in reasoning. Could it indeed be
established, the question concerning the operation of taxes would be unim­
portant ; for if the states furnishing most of the exports, pay more than their
fair proportion of the duties, it is of little moment whether they pay it as
consumers or producers.
But there seems to be no foundation for such a claim. If we cast our
eyes over the Union, we find in every part of it the people liberal consu­
mers of goods subject to duty. If a given number of citizens in the slave­
holding states, a part of which are the great exporting states, consume
more than an equal number of citizens in the other states, as is probable,
because they consume a large part of the earnings of their slaves, yet on
the other hand, the slaves consume much less ; so that taking the popula­
tion of the exporting states, slave and free together, the average consump­
tion does not exceed that of the northern and middle states—nay, it is
probable that they will be found equal in this particular, when estimated
according tofederal numbers, by which two fifths of the slaves would be left
out of the reckoning.
And why should not the northern and middle states be as able to con­
sume foreign goods as the agricultural states ? Their population is indus;




Duties on Imports Considered.

517

trious, ingenious, and enterprising. They seem all to be always employed
in profitable labor, whereas a portion of the population in the southern
states is comparatively idle. This mode of comparing them furnishes ah
argument in favor of their making greater profit, and consequently of their
spending more. But then it is to be recollected that the southern states
have greatly the advantage as to climate and soil, which compensates per­
haps for the more general and unremitting industry of the northern states.
But as the southern states, constituting about one fourth of the Union,
furnish two thirds of the exports, how, it may be asked, are the other states
able to acquire their proportional share of what is produced by the land
and labor of the south. The answer is, by giving the products of their
labor, skill, and capital in exchange for it. Thus the southern states are
furnished by the northern or middle states, with all their oil, salted fish,
teas, spices, and other Chinese and East India commodities, with their cofc
fee, most of their sugar, their nails, whiskey, carriages, books, paper,
shoes, and other manufactures of leather, soap, and candles, and the thou­
sand little articles by which northern industry and igenuity tempt the love
of ease of their southern brethren. It must be remembered, too, that they
furnish the shipping which transports the cotton to Europe, and the mer­
chandise received in exchange for it; by which double operation they are
entitled to no small per centage on the proceds of the great southern sta­
ples. The western states are able to get their proportion by their horses;
mules, hogs, cotton bagging, pickled beef and pork, and other products of
their agriculture.
The southern states do indeed furnish the northern states with cotton for
their manufactures to the amount of 250,000 bales, but this is no doubt
paid for and more than paid for by the manufactured goods given in re­
turn, and which were not comprehended in the preceding enumeration of
commodities procured from the northern states. It is clear that in the
same degree in which the southern states spend the proceeds of their cot­
ton in the other states, are they less able to spend it in imported goods •
and probably there are few cotton planters who expend in foreign com­
modities more than from one fourth to one third of the proceeds of their
cotton.
If the goods imported must be exclusively consumed by the producers
of the exports given in exchange for them, it would follow that the con,
sumption of English and French goods in Virginia is confined to the to­
bacco district, (not one fifth of the state,) inasmuch as tobacco is the only
commodity which that state exports to Europe. No one will contend for
such an absurdity ; and the same interchange of products by which the
other four fifths of the state are able to consume their proportion' of the
proceeds of the tobacco, takes place among the several states, and enables
those which have not contributed proportionally to the exports, to consume
their full proportion of the imports; and thus pay their just quota of the
public revenue. It is in this way that the states of New York and Penn­
sylvania, which export scarcely any thing to Europe, except potash, and
all the western states north of Tennessee, which furnish nothing but tobac­
co and furs, to a comparatively small amount, for European export, are
able to consume their fair proportion of European merchandise; whereas
if the doctrine contended for were true, all those states together, compre­
hending half the population of the United States, would not consume Eng­
lish and French goods to an equal amount with the state of Mississippi!




518

Duties on Imports Considered.

The proposition that the states consumed imported goods, and conse­
quently paid duties in proportion to their exports, has been of a less start­
ling character, in consequence of the tobacco-growing and cotton-growing
states being all grouped together. But if the principle involved is true,
as to tobacco and cotton together, it must be equally true when applied to
cotton alone. Now it will be found that the states of South Carolina,
Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, represented by twentyseven of the two hundred and forty-two members of congress, and not likely
to have a greater proportion under the last census, contribute full one half
o f our whole exports, and must thus consume imports in the same propor­
tion ! Surely, if there was no direct reasoning against the novel doctrine,
these reductions to the absurd must be deemed irresistible,
It deserves to be remarked, that these claims of the exporting states to
be consumers of more than their proportion of the imports, is met by the
counter claims of the other states. Thus, one of the arguments against
the admission of Missouri, as a slaveholding state, was, that as slaves
Consumed less than freemen, the state containing them contributed less
than its quota to the revenue derived from the impost. And I have heard
it gravely maintained in Philadelphia, that that city consumed imported
merchandise to a larger amount than the whole state of South Carolina.
Neither of these positions is tenable, as may easily be shown; though
less extravagantly wrong than the doctrine opposed to them, they are de­
cidedly so. There is probably, as has been already said, no material dif­
ference in the consumption of the great divisions of the states. Let us
now pass to the other supposed source of inequality.
IV.
How fa r do duties on imports affect the price o f exports, or dis­
courage the export trade l
The only way in which such duties can effect the price of exported pro­
ducts, is by diminishing consumption, which, lessening the amount of im­
ports, discourages the export trade, and thus lessens the price of the exports.
Without doubt, the import and export trade mutually act on each other!
and no great change can take place in one, without a correspondent
change, greater or less, in the other.
Let us not, however, overrate this reciprocal influence. Though the
imports and exports of every country tend to equality, and, taking the ave­
rage of years, must attain it, except that the value of the imports at home
must permanently exceed the value of the exports; yet this proposition is
true only as it applies to its trade with all countries. It may buy more or
less merchandise than it sells to any one country, not only temporarily)
but permanently. That has always been the case with the United States
in their trade with China and the East Indies, and is likely to continue so.
On the other hand, they sell more than they buy to some parts of Spanish
America, and thus derive their supplies of gold and silver, wanted for do­
mestic use or for other branches of trade. We formerly, too, uniformly
sold more to France than we bought of her ; but of late years, we have
as invariably bought more than we sold. The theoretical equality of im­
ports and exports is then liable to three exceptions: 1st, The average
value of the imports must exceed that of the exports, to pay or represent
the expense of carrying on the trade and the profits of capital. 2d, Either
the imports or exports, from and to all countries, may be in excess for a
short period, seldom longer than a year; and, 3d, The imports or exports
may be in excess for an indefinite period, in the trade with particular




Duties on Imports Considered-

519

countries—such permanent excess, in some branches of trade, being coun­
terbalanced by temporary or permanent deficiencies in others.
Let us now see how duties on imports affect these principles of trade.
As they enhance the price of the articles on which they are laid, they
manifestly tend to lessen their consumption. There is scarcely any com­
modity of which a sensible increase of price does not diminish the con­
sumption, either from choice or necessity. With the great mass of the
community, whose income is only equal to their expenditure, there must
be a retrenchment equal to the tax, either in the same article or some­
thing else.
There is no regular proportion between the increase of tax or duty of
an article, and the lessening of its consumption. While a light tax may
not perceptibly diminish the consumption of particular articles, a high tax
must always, and a moderate tax may sometimes, stop the consumption of
others altogether. Between these extremes, there is no uniformity of ef­
fect ; but an increase of duty sometimes diminishes the consumption in a
less proportion than the tax, and sometimes in a far greater. From this
last irregularity, it may happen that an increase of duty lessens the reve­
nue it was intended to raise ; which suggested the witty remark of Swift,
that in the customhouse, two and two were sometimes equal only to
one. So, on the other hand, a reduction of the tax has been found to have
so disproportionally increased consumption, as to have augmented the re­
venue.
The cause of this diversity is to be found in the relations in
which different articles stand to the wants, desires, and circumstances of
men, which often make the effect of any specific duty a problem that can
be solved only by experience.
If, then, duties on imports be laid with moderation and judgment, their
necessary, and even their probable effect, would be to lessen the consump­
tion only in proportion to the duties, or in other words, to produce a re­
trenchment of expense equal to the whole amount of tax paid.
But the retrenchment thus effected would not be limited to the articles
paying duty, but would extend to the general expenditure of individuals.
With some persons it would be in one way, and with others in another;
but taking the general average of the community, the reduction of expense
would be distributed over all articles of consumption and every species of
expense. Thus, suppose that one whose annual expenditure was $2,000,
annually consumed imported merchandise to the amount of $400 when
duty free. Now, if a duty of 25 per cent be laid on this merchandise,
(amounting to $100 in his case,) the retrenchment it would require him to
make being extended over his whole expenditure, would be but one twen­
tieth, or 5 per cent on each particular p a rt; and thus his consumption of
imports would be reduced only $20,* the remaining $80 falling on the
rest of his expenditure. Such, too, may be the operation of any specific
tax or duty. It may reduce its consumption by each individual only in
the proportion which the duty levied on it bears to his whole income.
It follows from this, that while duties do lessen the consumption of im­
ports by those who pay the duty, they do not necessarily lessen the con­
* Strictly speaking, it would be something less than $20 ; as to avoid fractions, I
have deducted the 5 per cent from the imports when duty free, and not when reduced
by the operation of the duty. W ith mathematical accuracy, the retrenchment in im­
ported merchandise would be $19 05, and in other expenses $80 95.




520

Duties on Imports Considered.

sumption of the whole community ; for in the same proportion that those
who pay the tax are able to consume less, those who receive it are able to
pay more. The total amount of incomes being unaffected by the duty,
the total amount of expenditure may be the same, not only in the aggre­
gate, but in each particular commodity. Thus, suppose the importation
of foreign merchandise into the United States in a year to be 100 millions,
on which a duty of 20 millions is collected, and that the whole national
expenditure is 800 millions, or something less than $50 per head, the
payment of these 20 millions requires a retrenchment of but 2 j per cent
on the whole expenditure of the nation, and of course but 2£ millions on
the amount expended in imported merchandise; but this 2g millions will
be expended by the public creditors and officers of the government, be­
cause that sum bears the same proportion to the 20 millions received by
them, as 100 millions bears to 800 millions. The general account of the
national expenditure will then stand thus:
1. Expended hy those who pay the duties, $780,000,000, to w it:
In imported merchandise, $100,000,000, minus 2£ per cent, $97,500,000
In other things, $700,000,000, same deduction,
682,500,000
2. Expended by those who receive the duties, $20,000,000,
to w it:
In imported merchandise, one eighth,
2,500,000
In other things, seven eighths,
17,500,000
$800,000,000
Though the above amounts have been assumed merely for the pur­
pose of illustration, any variation of them would be attended with the same
result. They are, however, believed not to be materially different from
the state of things last year, when the imports were 104 millions ; and
thus we see that a duty of 25 per cent does not necessarily diminish the
consumption of the goods on which it is laid more than 2J per cent, and
that this is balanced by the consumption of the tax-receiving class.
In the preceding view, it is supposed that all the enhancement of price
occasioned by the duty is paid into the treasury, and consequently, that
they have been laid solely on articles of the third class, which are supplied
wholly from abroad. If, however, they consist partly or wholly of duties
for protection, and thus cause the silent unseen tax before mentioned,
then the reduction of consumption may be much greater than has been
mentioned, and for such further reduction the tax-receiving class afford no
additional consumption.
On this account, and because duties have been excessive, the tariff has
no doubt diminished the consumption, and consequently the importation
of some articles of foreign merchandise; and when this is the case, the
effect may be, either the substitution of other articles of import; second,
the payment of the balance thus occasioned in specie; or, third, a lessen­
ing of the exports. It is manifest that if we refuse to buy of other nations,
and they will not or cannot pay us in money, they must cease to buy of us.
Of these three correctives of a favorable balance, caused by the tariff,
the first has more operation than has been generally supposed. No sooner
than a heavy protecting duty is laid on any particular European fabric,
the manufacturers are very fertile in inventing some new fabric that will
escape the new duty, or if that cannot be done, some that will prove so
tempting to our beaux and belles as to make them willing to incur the duty.




Duties on Imports Considered.

521

Thus a new shawl, or manufacture of silk and worsted, or fancy cloth for
pantaloons, may fill up a chasm made by a duty on flannels or coarse
cotton goods. The single article of mousselaine de laine was probably im­
ported to the amount of several millions in the year 1839. Besides, we
have now so large a list of free goods, that there is no difficulty in mer­
chants getting returns for their exports in some of them.
As a proof of the efficacy of these expedients, we find that in the two
years succeeding the tariff of 1824, the exports were not quite equal to
the imports at home; neither were they in the two years succeeding the
tariff of 1828, though they were very nearly equal—enough so to show,
that on the just principles of comparison, we had sold to a greater amount
than we bought. This effect, however, was but tem porary; for in the
years immediately ensuing, the imports regained their wonted ascendancy,
in spite of the tariff, and have kept it ever since, with the exception of
last year.
But whenever, from the effect of high duties, or an increased demand
for our great staples, or any other cause, our exports to any country ex­
ceed in value the imports from thence, there seems to have been no diffi­
culty in paying the balance, either in specie or by credits in other coun­
tries. Formerly we were regularly in the habit of receiving specie from
France, though for several years she has had a heavy annual balance against
us. As to her, then, there is no danger of our export trade being affected
by reducing the consumption of her products. Nor is there any danger
of losing Great Britain as a customer for such of our staples as she is in
the habit of receiving; she has never taken them but because it was her
interest to do so, and because, indeed, she could not be supplied with them
elsewhere. On the American tobacco, for which she could not find a
substitute, she raises a tax of about ten times the original cost of the com­
modity; which, though it falls on her own consumers, is a great financial
convenience. On our cotton, the largest article of her export, she makes a
profit by manufacturing it far greater than the cost; and she would cheer­
fully pay her sovereigns for it if it were necessary, but it is not. The
skill and capital of her manufacturers always contrive to sell to us as much
as she buys of us—sometimes more; and were this not the case, she
could easily pay us any balance she may owe, by drafts on almost every
country of Europe, or every part of the West Indies, or East Indies, with
which we trade. Upon the whole, then, it seems that duties on imports,
if prudently and fairly laid, do not diminish the amount of those imports;
and that even where they do not answer that condition, and consequently
tend to diminish the imports, that tendency is in a great degree counter­
acted ; and where it is not entirely so, at particular times, or with particu­
lar countries, the equilibrium between what we buy and sell can be without
difficulty restored by gold and silver, so that I am not able to consider
that our import duties, whatever other sins they have to answer for, have
had any effect in lessening our exports or lowering their price.
If these theoretical views required confirmation, it may be found in the
fact, that our imports have exceeded our exports in a yet greater proportion
since the tariff than before ; the excess for the last ten years having been
200 millions, and this, too, though the exports exceeded the imports last year,
(when the duties were greatly reduced,) near 27 millions ; and also in the
fact, that exchange, which is a good barometer of the balance of imports and
exports, has generally been at par, or near it, and this, too, notwithstandv o l . iv.— n o . vi.
66




522

Duties on Imports Considered.

ing the large loans we have contracted in Europe. But for these loans,
we may fairly presume that exchange would have been unfavorable, which
would at once have afforded a small encouragement to exports, and indi­
cated that we had, maugre the tariff, bought more than we sold.
Having thus considered the subject of the tariff, as it affects equal jus­
tice among the states, let us now inquire into its operation on the national
wealth.
Y. How do duties on imports affect the wealth o f the nation ?
The opposers of a protecting tariff, in their strong sense of its injustice,
and in their zeal to excite local indignation against it, have often over­
looked its injurious influence on the national wealth. They have com­
monly regarded it as merely transferring a portion of the earnings of one
class of men into the pockets of another. This effect is indeed sufficient
for its condemnation; but in the eyes of the mere political economist,
who considers all the states as forming one whole, it is responsible for the
yet greater mischief of annihilating the national wealth.
This is the necessary effect of all those duties which induce our citizens
to buy at home what, but for the duty, they would buy cheaper from
abroad. • Let us again take the example of the hat, which we will suppose
to cost in the United States $5, and that exclusive of the duty, we could
import a foreign hat, of equal goodness, for $4. If such a duty be laid
that it will be cheaper to buy the hat made at home than abroad, one dol­
lar has been drawn from the pocket of the producer, to encourage the do­
mestic manufacture ; and if the hatter has made a profit of a dollar on the
hat, it has been a simple transfer of value from the wearer of hats to the
m aker: but if his profit should be but half a dollar, then the other half
which has been taken from the purchaser, is transferred to no one, but is
as effectually destroyed as if it were sunk in the ocean. In like manner,
let us suppose that English iron could be imported here and sold at $60
per ton, but that by the duty of $30 per ton, the price is raised to at least
$90. Let us further suppose that American iron can be sold at $85 per
ton, (the present price in New York,) and of this $85, ten dollars is profit
to the iron-master, and the actual cost is $75. It is clear that of the $25
per ton which the home consumer of iron is made to pay beyond the price
at which he could have bought the English iron, $10 of which he has been
thus taxed is given to the home producer, and $15 is annihilated by the
operation of the duty : for it has compelled him to use that which has cost
the country $75, when it might have been procured for $60. If a given
quantity of labor and provisions are thus expended on what four fifths of
the same labor and provisions (-££) could procure, where is the difference
between this blunder in legislation and the destruction of the proceeds of
one fifth by the flames ?
But in point of fact the loss to the whole nation is yet greater than has
been stated. First, because it is not the whole profit made by the domestic
producer which is a fair set-off against the tax paid by the consumer, but
only the extra profit—that much which he makes beyond what he would
have made if there had been no protecting duty. Now, as his industry and
capital would have yielded a profit in some other business, that must be
deducted from the profit he actually makes. I lay no stress on the further
fact that domestic competition will soon reduce his extra profit to the general
level, because it effects that reduction by lowering the price of the com­




Duties on Imports Considered.

523

modity, and what would be thus lost by the class of producers would he
gained by that of the consumers.
Secondly, because the profits which would be made by the merchant
and ship-owner in supplying foreign iron, are a set-off, and may be equiva­
lent to the profit of the home producer.
Whenever, then, duties on imports have the effect of occasioning the con­
sumption of an article which is produced at home at a higher cost than it
could be procured from abroad, a large part of the difference of cost always,
and sometimes the whole of it, is so much of the national capital destroyed.
There is another mischievous consequence of diverting industry and
capital into artificial channels by means of duties, which, though of too
varying and indeterminate a character to be estimated with any approach
to exactness, must often be considerable : and that is, the strong tempta­
tion which the exclusion of foreign competition holds out to rash adventur­
ers to engage in the production of the protected commodity, when they
may not have the requisite capital, skill, or judgment. The consequence
is, that they injure their competitors and ruin themselves. And though
the consumers may sometimes have a temporary benefit from the exces­
sive competition thus produced, in most instances it does not requite for the
fluctuations of price which such a state of things gives rise to, or for its
check to the progressive increase of capital, practical skill, and judicious
management—so that the loss sustained by these adventurers is an uncom­
pensated waste of the national capital. A great deal of capital has thus
been destroyed in New England under the strong stimulus of the tariff of
1828, and I apprehend that a good deal has been misdirected in New Jer­
sey in the iron business, under the present heavy duty on bar iron.
It must also be remembered that the losses here spoken of apply to the
consumers in the manufacturing states, as well as to all others, and that
they are injured to the same extent by the protecting duties as the con­
sumers in other states, except that they are not also burdened with the
cost of transportation and the profits of successive dealers.
I forbear to add here the arguments urged by Adam Smith in favor of
free trade. They are familiar to a ll; and to those on whom they have not
already produced conviction, they would be to no purpose again addressed.
I have confined myself to such views as were peculiarly applicable to the
United States, and of course, though in accordance with his principles, are
not stated by him.
These show us that in the United States, as well as in the country for
which Smith wrote, protecting duties impair the national wealth, as well as
unjustly affect its distribution.
YI. What considerations o f public policy recommend protecting duties to
a nation, notwithstanding their diminution o f its wealth ?
In making this inquiry, I shall not notice the several arguments by
which a high tariff has been defended. Most of them, so far as they have
not been already answered in the discussion of the preceding question,
scarcely deserve the attention of a rational mind. They have been either
urged in the heat of disputation, or because it was known that their sound­
ness would not be rigidly scanned by those whose interests they professed
to espouse. Thus, to give a single instance, the greater cheapness of labor
in England, and the greater abundance of capital, have been frequently
urged as a reason why manufacturing industry in the United States should
be protected by a tariff, as if it did not furnish a strong argument against




524

Duties on Imports Considered.

such protection, by its preventing us from sharing in those advantages of
Great Britain ; and as if the same argument would not make it better for
us to raise oranges and pine-apples in hot-houses, than to import them
from-countries where they are matured by natural heat.
The only cases in which protecting duties, when not wanted for revenue,
are consistent with national policy, are these. 1st. Where they are im­
portant to the national security or defence. 2d. Where the greater cheap­
ness of the foreign commodity is owing to causes which the protection
would remove. 3d. For the purpose of retaliating on foreign nations their
restrictions on our commerce.*
As to the first, little need be said. Ever since Adam Smith demonstra­
ted with a pencil of light the benefits of trade, the expediency of this ex­
ception has been admitted. Every wise nation will endeavor to supply,
from its own resources, all that is necessary to its defence, such as arms
and ammunition; and one of the most effectual modes of doing this, is to
encourage the home production of such articles by excluding foreign com­
petition. In some cases it will make the government itself the producer,
though it scarcely ever can produce as cheaply as private individuals. It
is to this consideration that the establishments at Harper’s Ferry, in Vir­
ginia, and Springfield, in Massachusetts, for the manufacture of arms, owe
their origin. A petty saving in the cost of procuring these is properly
deemed insignificant compared with the national security. The establish­
ment at West Point, without which we could not be secure of an adequate
supply of military science, and should at all events be dependent for it on
foreign countries, may be defended on the same grounds. So also the
laws for the protection of navigation.
The second exception presents, as it seems to me, in its practical appli­
cation, the most difficult problem-connected with duties for protection. It
sometimes happens that the circumstances of a country may be suited to
the production of a commodity, provided difficulties of an accidental and
temporary character were removed, and which would be removed by the
increased competition at home consequent on the excluded or diminished
foreign competition. Impediments of this character are, the caution and
hesitation with which capitalists engage in new enterprises ; the difficulty
of turning trade into new and unaccustomed channels ; the prejudices which
often exist against new manufactures ; and lastly, the' practical adroitness
and skill which nothing but actual experiment will give.
That a country does not always engage in that species of industry which
would prove the most profitable, we have proofs in the cultivation of sugar
in Louisiana, and even that of the cotton of the southern states, where those
commodities were not produced when the prices were much higher than
at the present, and when of course their profits would have been propor­
tionally greater. The manufactures of wool in England, and of silk in
France, both introduced long after they would have been profitable, and
owing their success in part to the fostering care of government, are exam­
ples of the same fact. It seems probable, too, that the manufacture of
coarse cotton fabrics in the United States, which can now support them­
selves without protection, (as it appears that they can successfully com­
* In omitting two of the exceptions to the rule of free trade, admitted by Smith, I did
not mean to express any dissent from him on these points, but left them out because
they were of minor importance, and their propriety sufficiently obvious.




Duties on Imports Considered.

525

pete with other nations in foreign markets,) has been greatly advanced by
the extraordinary encouragement they received under the tariff of 1816,
which was supported, and 1 believe suggested, by members of South Caro­
lina, for the purpose of excluding East India coarse cotton fabrics, and
thus increasing the demand for the raw material made at home.
There is, we know, a certain degree of manual skill and expertness, as
well as of practical knowledge, essential to the success of many manufactures,
which must be furnished either by being imported from abroad, or be the
slow growth of time at home. The first source of supply has its difficul­
ties. The best workmen in any species of manufacture are too well re­
warded at home to be likely to migrate ; and sometimes, where the man­
ufactured article requires several successive operations, all performed by
different workmen, it would be of little avail if only a part of them could
be procured. The want of the remainder would infallibly prevent com­
plete success. The difficulties of procuring skilful workmen from abroad
in such manufactures will therefore be proportionally increased.
The other mode of obtaining an adequate supply of practical skill at
home, is to encourage the domestic manufacture by lessening foreign com­
petition—not so entirely as to secure the sale of bad fabrics at home as
well as good ones, and thus destroy competition—but enough so, to enable
the home producer to compete with the foreign. Both extremes would
prevent the gradual and steady improvement in practical skill, one by
making competition useless, and the other by making it hopeless. Dis­
coveries in science or art can indeed be readily transmitted from one
country to another, merely by the ordinary vehicles of communication by
ships and the printing-press ; but practical skill is less easily transferred,
and often rests in the same spot for ages. Thus one country will make the
best black cloth, and another the best blue. The dyes even of the cotton
fabrics of one country will be more brilliant and lasting, and their patterns
have more taste and elegance, than those of another. Particular towns and
villages—nay, particular individuals— will excel in particular fabrics, and
from the monopoly which is owing solely to their superior skill, derive large
profits. The penknives of Rogers, a cutler in Sheffield, are probably found
in every city and town in the world.
If, however, a domestic manufacturer can be secure of the home market,
or even of a large part of it, he is thus induced to engage in the business
with spirit and confidence. Practice will naturally give improvement,
which will be further augmented by domestic rivals ; and thus the price of
the home-made article gradually falls, until it is sold cheaper than the for­
eign article can be imported. Such has been the history of some fabrics of
cotton, and of cotton and worsted, in the United States. Chaptel, in an
elaborate report made by him to the French government, -mentions a
striking instance of the same effect of protection in the manufacture of
soda. It was once wholly supplied to. France from Germany, at I think
about one hundred francs the quintal. Encouraged by a heavy duty, the
manufacture was undertaken in France, and in a few years it was sold at
nine francs a quintal.
It may then be laid down as a sound principle in political economy, that
wherever, by reason of a temporary encouragement of any manufacture,
whether by protecting duties or bounties, they may eventually be sold
cheaper than they can be imported from abroad, it is wise thus to encour­
age them, and the preceding facts show that such cases may exist; but




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Duties on Imports Considered.

the great difficulty is in making an application of this principle of policy.
The sagacity and the enterprise of self-interest are in general so ready to
engage in any kind of business which eventually promises success, that
legislatures ought to exercise this power of temporary protection with
extreme caution. They ought to be well satisfied of the circumstances in
favor of the manufacture seeking protection, and that its impediments to
success would finally yield to encouragement, though they would endure
for an indefinite length of time without it, and that the manufactures would
be at length able to flourish without the aid of protection.
No stress ought to be laid on the fact that this exception to the principle
of free trade is not mentioned by Adam Sm ith; for in a country abound­
ing in capita], manufacturing enterprise, and above all, practical skill, it
was not likely to have occurred to him that any branch of manufacture or
trade would require temporary protection for its success. Her circum­
stances are somewhat peculiar, in her ability to engage in any branch of
manufacture or trade which would eventually prove profitable, and an ex­
ception, scarcely deserving notice in that country, may well deserve con­
sideration in others.
The third exception is, where impositions or restrictions are laid on
our ships or products, it may be advisable to lay correspondent imposi­
tions or restrictions on theirs. This is one of the exceptions to free trade
acknowledged by Adam Smith, but he qualifies his admission by limiting
retaliation to those cases in which “ there is a probability that it will pro­
cure the repeal of the high duties or prohibitions complained of.” Though
we must assent to his reasoning, as to those reciprocal restrictions on the
different products of different countries, it has no application to those on
our ships; for when an imposition is laid on them by foreign nations,
whether in the form of tonnage duty, or of additional duties on their car­
goes, or of port charges, if we did not retaliate by correspondent restric­
tions, our ships may be excluded from all share of our foreign commerce;
whereas, by subjecting their ships to the same burdens as those to which
they subjected ours,
are likely to regain the same proportion of trade
which we should have if it were free; and although commerce would no
doubt be more flourishing and considerable if it were altogether exempted
from these fetters, yet, by the system of mutual and equal restrictions, the
nation which can transport the cheapest, would thus secure to itself the
chief part of this advantage, which, without such retaliation, it might lose
altogether.
But whenever a foreign nation imposes a duty on such products of ours
as we can supply on better terms than she can produce them, by laying a
retaliatory duty on some of her products, we aggravate the evil. Thus,
while we are losers by the exclusion of our grain and flour from the
British markets, we are no less losers by our protecting duties on such
articles as we could buy of her cheaper than we could make them.
The only ground on which this policy can be justified, is, as Smith pro­
perly observes, when there is a probability of success ; that is, when the
foreign nation, whose restrictions we would retaliate, being thus made to
feel the inconvenience of its own policy, would be induced to retrace its
steps ; and also, when all nations, seeing that if we had received an injury,
of whatever kind, we would retaliate it, even though we also inflicted
injury on ourselves, would be induced to abstain from a course so likely
to prove injurious as well as illiberal.




Duties on Imports Considered.

5-27

There are two of our great staples which are materially affected by
such restrictions. These are, bread-stuffs and tobacco. As England is
the only part of Europe that, in ordinary years, would furnish a market
for our flour, her system of corn laws, by which our provisions are
excluded, except when she has a dearth, alone call for any retaliation on
our p a rt; and we might easily subject such of her manufactures as would
be most affected by it, to a heavy duty, so long as she excluded or heavily
burdened our flour. The policy would certainly be advisable, and might,
eventually, be productive of benefit to indemnify us for the cost in the
mean while, but for one consideration. It so happens, that the landed
proprietors, who have a direct interest in keeping up the corn monopoly,
have a predominant weight in the legislature. This class compose the
whole of one branch of the legislature, and the greater part of the other.
But it is the manufacturing classes, on whom our retaliations would directly
and principally operate, and not upon those who at once profit by the
corn laws, and have the power of repealing them. It is, therefore, not
likely that our retaliation would be attended with the desired effect, so
long as the great mass, both of the consuming and the industrious classes,
constituting a majority of the nation, have not their fair weight in the
legislature.
This view derives strong confirmation from the fact, that when there
were two successive short crops, in 1838 and 1839, and when nearly the
whole weight of the ministry was in favor of the repeal of the corn laws,
they were not able to get a majority, even of the house of commons, to vote
for their repeal.
Our tobacco is subjected to a very heavy internal duty, in every part of
Europe where it is extensively consumed. In England, the duty is about
$70 per hundred pounds, (three shillings sterling per pound,) which is, on
an average, about ten times the price we get for it, and the consumption
is no doubt greatly diminished by so high a tax. As this also favors
smuggling, and as the landed proprietors have no particular interest in
supporting this tax, the government may be induced to moderate it, though
probably no further than it could be done without sensibly diminishing the
revenue. Both with Great Britain and France, and some other parts of
Europe, these restrictions seem to present fit subjects either for negotiation
or counter legislation.
Besides these cases in which protecting duties may be justified on their
own account, they may sometimes become necessary, because the third
class of articles (those furnished wholly from abroad) may not afford a
sufficient revenue. In that case, it may be better to supply the deficiency
on articles of the second class, than to resort to direct taxes ; and in this
case, as well as the three other cases of justifiable protecting duties, every
enlightened and patriotic mind will recollect that the manufacturing skill of
the country will be increased by the further employment given to i t ; and
that an increase of such skill as effectually adds to the sources of the
national wealth, as any improvement in its agriculture, or any extension
of its commerce.
In considering the subject of import duties, with reference to the United
States, the principal points which I have endeavored to establish, because
they are the conclusions to which my mind has been irresistibly led, are
as follows :
1. That a revenue raised by duties on imports, properly selected,




528

P lan o f a National Bank.

would be far more economical, as well as convenient and easy to the peo­
ple, than one raised by direct taxes.
2. That for such duties to fall equally on the different states, they
must be laid exclusively on such commodities as are wholly supplied from
abroad.
3. That protecting duties do not merely transfer money from the class
of the consumers to that of the manufacturers, but annihilate a part of the
money drawn from the first class.
4. That such duties injure the citizens of the agricultural states, only
as consumers, and not as the producers of the exports— the fallacy of the
“ forty bale theory” exposed.
5. That duties confined to articles supplied wholly from abroad, and
laid with moderation, do not diminish the national consumption.
6. That duties on imports do not necessarily diminish, or tend to di­
minish exports.
7. That protecting duties may sometimes be justified for the purpose
of aiding new branches of trade or manufactures, to overcome their first
difficulties.
8. But that they ought never to he resorted to for such purpose, except
when the legislature has a confident expectation, that by reason of such
protection, commodities will be furnished at a lower price than they would
have been without such protection.
9. The reasons against the policy of retaliatory restrictions, do not
apply to foreign restrictions in our navigation.
In the preceding views of the effects of duties on imports, in all their
important hearings, I have endeavored to keep myself above all local inte­
rests ; but though decidedly an advocate for free trade, as a general prin­
ciple, I have not sought to support it by fallacious arguments, and have
endeavored to do justice to those qualifications of the principle which
seemed to be entitled to respect. A more undistinguishing support of the
principles maintained by one side or the other, might be received with
more favor; but truth, and truth alone, should be the object of the scientific
inquirer.

A rt.

III.— PLAN OF A NATIONAL BANK.*

T h e bank proposed by the writer of this article, if adopted, would doubt­
less have the ability to equalize the exchanges, restore the public confi­
dence, and the metallic currency to the country. It would, by its legiti­
mate action, necessarily prevent overtrading by the merchants, the manu­
facturers, and all other classes of citizens, and prevent the state hanks
from issuing more paper than they could redeem in legal coin; it would,
moreover, give to all classes confidence and stability in their respective
* The plan of a national bank proposed in this article, was drawn up by a highly
respectable and influential merchant of New York, who has beemextensively engaged
in foreign trade and exchanges, and has resided in several of the principal commercial
cities of Europe. W e are authorized to state that the writer is prepared to meet any
objections which may be offered, having carefully investigated and considered the sub­
jec t in all its bearings.— E d .




Plan o f a National Bank.

529

pursuits, and it would insure to them the profits of their industry and
economy ; and it would enable the general government (if they should
deem proper to make the bank its fiscal agent) to collect its revenues, and
disburse them at home and abroad, free of all risk and expense. Besides
these very important benefits to the people and government, it would es­
tablish a general credit for the merchants, and particularly for such of
them as are engaged in foreign commerce—to them and to the people of
this country, in every point of view, of vital importance ; indeed, it would
place the credit of the American government, and its merchants, on a par
with that of the British government, in all parts of the commercial world.
The gain in the exchanges, and the facility of negotiation, would be, in a
pecuniary point of view, a saving in process of time of hundreds of thou­
sands, if not millions of dollars annually, to the American government and
people ; and it would enable the agriculturists, the manufacturers, the
mechanics, and merchants of this country, to compete successfully at home
and abroad with the same classes of other nations ; and it would give,
particularly to the commerce of this country, a decided advantage over
that of every other nation; and this is, decidedly, what ought not to be
overlooked or neglected. It is well known to the practical merchant, that
the smallest per centage will turn the scales of the commercial world in
favor or against this country. This bank might, likewise, be made very
serviceable to the general government, (if deemed advisable,) by making it
obligatory on the hank to provide bills of exchange on foreign cities, to be
negotiated by the diplomatic corps and navy agents, when on foreign ser­
vice. A bank in this country, to be popular, must necessarily be a bank
of the people, devoted to their interest; and the gains, if any, over a just
remuneration to the stockholders, for the risk and use of their capital,
should go to them.
This principle, if kept in view and acted upon with fidelity, will keep
this bank always solvent, trustworthy, and serviceable to the whole coun­
try ; and this fidelity to the trust reposed, would shield it in a great degree
from the malignant influence of parties, corporations, money brokers, and
individuals.
The following are the outlines of the proposed national bank :
1. The capital of the bank should at the commencement be, nominally,
100.000,000 dollars, and the stock divided into shares of 100 dollars each,
of which 50,000,000 dollars shall be called deposit stock, 30,000,000 dol­
lars transferable stock, and 20,000,000 dollars government stock.
2. The proposed bank to guaranty to the holders of the deposit stock,
the principal, and an interest of five per cent per annum on the amount
deposited by them, payable semi-annually. The deposit stock to be for
the exclusive benefit of widows, unmarried females of twenty-one years
and upwards, and orphans of both sexes. Every $100 deposited by them,
or their guardians, shall entitle them to one share of the deposit stock,
and shall be by them held until the demise or marriage of the females ;
and by the males, until they become of age. Either of these events occur­
ring, the certificate of the stock shall be surrendered to the bank on the
first dividend day thereafter, at which time the bank shall repay to them
in coin, or to their legal representatives, the amount of principal and un­
paid dividends. All such certificates thus surrendered and cancelled, shall
be immediately open to similar depositors, and thus to continue, until the
expiration of the bank charter.
VOL. i v . — NO. VI.




67

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P lan o f a National Bank.

3. The transferable stock shall be open to the public, citizens of the
United States, and may be obtained on payment in coin, at the time of
subscription, of one hundred dollars for each share of stock. Subscription
books shall be kept open until the full amount of stock is subscribed.
4. The government of the United States shall have $20,000,000 of
stock issued to them for their bonds of an equal amount, payable at the
expiration of the bank charter, and to bear an interest of five per cent per
annum. The difference between the interest on the bonds, and the divi­
dends of the bank, shall be paid into the treasury of the United States in
lieu of a bonus for the charter.
5. The president, directors, and all the officers of the bank, and
branches that may be established by the bank, shall be remunerated for
their services, but they shall be prohibited from all trading or dealing in
the stock of this bank, (either buying or selling,) after acceptance of
office ; nor shall they ever while in office, as principals, endorsers, or
otherwise, become in any way obligated or indebted to the bank.
6. Each state of the Union may, where the bank or branches are loca­
ted, appoint one director to represent the interests of the deposit stock­
holders within their respective states. The collectors of the customs of
the United States shall be directors ex-officio of the bank and branches in
their districts, provided the bank have the public funds deposited with
them. If at any place there should be a branch bank established, where
no collector resides, then the marshals of the districts shall be ex-officio
directors. If collectors and marshals should be objectionable, then con­
gress may appoint four directors for the bank, and one for each of the
branches.
The transferable stockholders shall elect eleven directors of the bank,
and three for each of the branches. The directors shall elect a president of
the bank, and a president for each of the branch banks; the president always
to have a vote upon any question submitted to the board of directors.
7. The government of the United States, should they deposit the reve­
nues of the country in the bank and branches, it shall then be obligatory
on the bank to make payments at the bank and branches, and provide for
the disbursements of the navy, and salaries of the diplomatic agents abroad,
free of charge or expense, when so required by the departments of the
government.
8. The bank shall be located at New York, and branch or branches
shall be established in any of the states of the Union, whenever required
by the state authorities ; not, however, more than two branches in any
one state. The bank shall, on the first Monday of every month, announce
in the public papers the amount of specie in its vaults, and amount of bills
in circulation.
9. It shall be the duty of the president of the bank, every three months,
and of the presidents of the branches, to forward to the honorable secretary
of the treasury a faithful and true account of the situation of the bank and
branches, with such remarks attached as shall enable the honorable secre­
tary to see the true position of the bank and branches.
These statements shall be signed by the presidents, and countersigned
by the cashiers, bookkeepers, tellers, discount and deposit clerks of the
bank and branches, in testimony that the items that have relation to their
respective departments are correctly stated. It shall likewise be the duty
of the president of the bank, at the opening of every session of congress,




P lan o f a National Bank.

531

to submit to them, through the president of the United States, a lucid state­
ment of the situation of the bank in every particular, with such observa­
tions and recommendations as shall appear to him necessary and important
to protect the interests of the public, the government, and the bank; and
accompanying it shall be given the items of both sides of the profit and
loss account, as recorded in the books of the bank and branches.
10.
Congress shall reserve to itself the authority to make such laws,
from time to time, as may appear to them necessary for the safety and
better management of the bank, and to protect the interests of the people.
11 The bank may grant bills of exchange, bonds, or letters of credit,
for negotiation in foreign countries, to enable the merchants to carry on
their foreign commerce without the necessity of relying on foreign bank­
ers and capitalists, as heretofore, for facilities of this kind; the same to
be paid for on delivery in cash, or in lieu thereof, to be deposited satisfac­
tory collateral security in addition to one surety at least.
The collateral security required from merchants shall be the deposit of
stock or treasury notes of the government of the United States, and trans­
ferable stock of the bank at par value. The stocks of the different states
may likewise be received, if deemed advisable by the directors, and
may be estimated at not over eighty dollars the hundred dollars of stock,
besides which a bond shall be signed, with one surety at least; and in ad­
dition, policies of insurance shall be deposited with the bank, to cover the
merchandise purchased with the proceeds of the bills or credits; the pro­
perty itself and its proceeds to be likewise assigned to the bank in the bond.
Real estate, productive only, shall be taken as collateral, and at one half
of its certified value, by appraisers to be appointed by the bank. The
bank shall charge not exceeding one per cent, as compensation for perform­
ing this duty, over and above the expenses of placing funds in Europe to
meet the said bills, bonds, or credits.
The bank shall be permitted to purchase bills of exchange on Europe
to the extent of the bills, bonds, or letters of credit she may from time to
time grant to the commercial community; but not beyond this sum, and
for no other purpose whatever.
12. The bank shall have no power to sell the bonds of the government of
the United States, but may pledge them at home or abroad for a limited
period, (first obtaining the sanction of the president of the United States,
and the unanimous vote of the president and board of directors.) whenever
the interests of the country and bank may require i t ; if negotiated abroad,
the bank may value for the amount or import specie, as may be most for
the interest of the nation and bank.
13. The bank will issue, at the commencement of its operations, two class­
es of bills, one payable at New York and the other at New Orleans, and
afterward other bills will be issued, made payable at the other branches in
the Union, whenever deemed expedient and necessary. The bills of the
bank, no matter where payable, will always be received from the state
banks in payment of the bills that the bank may have against them, in lieu
of specie.
14. Bullion deposited at the mint, or at any of its branches, shall, on
presentation of the certificate of the mint, or branch mints, be paid for on
demand by the bank or its branches, the full value thereof, as ascertained
by the mint.
15. The bank and the branches shall grant checks at par upon any of




532

P lan o f a National Bank.

the branches in the Union, or may receive any sums tendered, and have
the amount placed at the credit of any person designated by the depositor,
at the bank or any of its branches in the Union free of charge.
16. The bank and branches shall pay in specie on demand all bills is­
sued by them, at the point designated in the body of the bill, without
demur or defalcation. No bill shall be issued by the bank for a less sum
than ten dollars, nor by the branches for a less sum than five dollars.
17. The bank shall never make a dividend exceeding six per cent per
annum, payable semi-annually to the stockholders. The surplus gains
shall form a contingent fund, until this surplus amounts, to $20,000,000 ;
when this is the case, the bank shall ever after make loans and discounts
at not over five per cent per annum ; any further surplus accruing shall
be paid annually into the treasury of the United States for the benefit of
the people.
18. The government shall guaranty the payment of all bills, bonds, or
letters of credit, negotiated abroad, that the bank may issue by virtue of
article the 11th. The amount so issued shall never exceed (unredeemed)
twentry millions of dollars.
19. Congress shall appoint commissioners, whose salaries shall be fixed
by law, and whose duty it shall be, when called upon by the government
or any stockholders, to examine into the affairs of the bank, or any of its
branches; and when completed they shall make a public report: a copy of
it shall be forwarded to the secretary of the treasury, and another copy
shall be furnished to the public prints, for the information of the public.
And the said commissioners may, if they deem it advisable, make a further
report to congress, containing any information and recommendations they
may deem important for the better management of the bank, and safety of
the public.
20. No bank or incorporated company holding stock of this bank, shall
be permitted to vote at any election of the officers of this institution.
21. Should any of the deposit stock be proved to belong bona fide to
other parties than widows, unmarried females, and orphan children, all
stock thus held, the future and antecedent dividends shall be deducted from
the stock, and be declared forfeited to the bank, and the balance shall be
paid to the holder thereof.
22. The president, directors, and cashier of the bank, and of the
branches, shall all be stockholders in the bank, and no stock held by them
shall be sold or transferred from the date of acceptance of office, nor for
one year after retirement from office. The president of the bank shall
have not less than $20,000 of stock, directors not less than $10,000 each,
and the cashier not less than $5,000 of stock. The presidents of the
branches not less than $10,000 of stock, the directors not less than $5,000
each, and the cashier not less than $2,000. The presidents, directors, and
cashiers, shall give bonds for the faithful performance of their duties, and
their salaries shall be fixed by law.
23. The by-laws of the bank and branches shall be forwarded to the
secretary of the treasury, and shall be signed by the president of the
bank.
24. The transferable stock shall be owned exclusively by citizens of the
United States, and the deposit stock likewise.
25. The gain to the bank on the deposit stock, growing out of the
guaranty, shall be divided semi-annually pro rata between the general gov­




P lan o f a National Bank.

533

ernment and transferable stockholders, independent of any dividends they
may from time to time receive.
26. The bank shall be permitted to receive from time to time from the
savings banks in the United States to the extent of ten millions dollars,
and for which they shall allow an interest at the rate of five per cent, pay­
able semi-annually.
27. No officer of the hank shall be allowed to vote at any election of
directors or for other officers of the bank, by virtue of any power of attor­
ney they may hold from the stockholders.
28. The directors appointed by the state and by congress shall have no
salary for their services.
29. The paid directors shall be in regular attendance at the bank and
branches daily, and no business shall be transacted unless a majority of
them be present.
30. The bank and branches shall daily, at the places of their respective
location, settle the balances that may be due from the state banks, by re­
ceiving from them the specie, or by making payment to them when the
balances are against the bank or branches ; and once a week, at least,
with such banks as are of distant location in the same state.
31. Any bill of exchange, note, or obligation of any kind, not paid
punctually, or satisfactorily secured to the bank within ten days after pro­
test, shall be put into the hands of the bank’s attorney for collection. All
such obligations shall, in the reports of the bank, be called “ suspended
debt,” and a list of this suspended debt shall be included in the annual
report to congress by the president of the bank, specifying the names of
all parties and the particulars of security obtained.
The public may deem it necessary that the cities of Philadelphia and
Charleston should be added to New York and New Orleans, as places of
payment of bills in specie. This might probably be safely granted, but
not to a greater number at the commencement of the operations of the
bank. In the course of time, all the branches should each have assigned
them a certain amount of bills, say $50,000, to be issued for local circu­
lation, and to be paid for at their respective locations in specie on demand.
The principal payments of specie would have to be made at New York
and New Orleans ; and at these points the largest amount ought always to
be deposited, to meet any foreign demand that may occur.
In settling balances with the state banks, the bills of the bank of the
United States, no matter where payable, are always to be received from
them in lieu of specie.
The. bank should set apart a portion of its capital, say $20,000,000 at
least, to carry on foreign commerce ; and all its bills of exchange, drawn
for negotiation in India or South America, should be at thirty days sight,
and made payable in London. If any bonds were required by merchants
in the European trade, the bank might issue them payable at six, eight,
ten, or twelve months date, at the option of the applicants, they depositing
collaterals as mentioned in article 11 ; this would enable all the mer­
chants engaged in the European trade to purchase merchandise on the
most favorable terms, and they would be benefited by the low rate of in­
terest in Europe from time to time, and this would enable them to transact
their business in every respect on as favorable terms as houses in England,
or on the continent, that enjoy the most approved credit.
The security required from the merchants by the bank, before issuing




534

P lan o f a National B ank.

any bills or bonds would be such, added to the guaranty of the general
government, as to make them the best negotiable paper in existence, or
possible to be made ; hence they would have a preference over all other
bills or bonds, and would command a better price in every part of the
world, to the decided advantage of our commerce, merchants, and country.
The granting of bills and bonds, on the conditions expressed in article
number eleven, would prevent all overtrading; and if specie answered
better than the bills or bonds of the bank for remittances, specie would
then have the preference, and merchants would find no difficulty in ob­
taining it, on the deposit of the same securities that the bank demands
from them.
The bank granting bills or letters of credit to the diplomatic corps and
navy agents in foreign countries, will be of immense advantage to the ge­
neral government; these bills or credits to be granted only at the requi­
sition of the secretaries of the different departments of the general govern­
ment, and to the extent of the appropriations made by congress: aryd in
addition the bank might, if thought advisable, at the suggestion of either
of the secretaries, grant an additional bill or credit to the disbursing offi­
cers abroad, to the extent of their respective bonds given for the perform­
ance of their duties, which bill or credit may be availed of temporarily, to
be repaid by them to the bank, out of the first annual appropriations of
the following year. This would supply any money that might be neces­
sary to meet any unexpected demand for a specific and necessary dis­
bursement occurring during the recess of congress.
An arrangement of this kind effectualy prevents the credit of the gene­
ral government ever being called in question, by allowing bills drawn by
authorized agents to remain in abeyance for months, as has frequently oc­
curred of late years, greatly to the injury of the credit of the government,
and distress to the holders of the hills. The present proposed plan would
give a currency to the bills, bonds, and credits of the bank equal to, if not
better, than is now enjoyed by the English government—an advantage up
to this period never possessed by this government in the negotiation of
bills by their agents abroad ; the pecuniary advantages would be very
great to the general government and to the merchants- All concerned
in the prosperity of this country would likewise be greatly benefited by it.
Indeed the advantages that would result, are incalculable.
This bank ought not to discount any paper but commercial, and inland
bills of exchange, and they should all be of short date, say sixty days and
less, but in no instance ought they ever to exceed ninety days.
This would keep the bank in a healthy state, and would effectually pre­
vent merchants, manufacturers, and others from overtrading. The bank
adhering to the plan of discounting short-timed paper only, would build
up all the interior cities of any magnitude or importance in this country,
and they would soon be filled with wealthy merchants, able and willing
to carry on the inland trade of the country, and they would necessarily
collect the produce and forward it to the best market, and the proceeds they
would invest to the very best advantage in such articles as their district of
country most required. The merchants from the interior cities could
always, with the proceeds of the products of the country, and with assist­
ance from the banks in their immediate neighborhood, purchase all articles
required for the consumption of the people, at cash prices, and thus be
enabled to supply the small retailing traders in their vicinity with all that




P lan o f a National Bank.

535

they require, cheaper than they now or ever have obtained them by visit­
ing the seaport towns to make their purchases. The merchants residing
in the cities of the interior would soon have customers within a circuit of
fifty or more miles, and could keep them within safe limits by making
them punctual in their payments, and which could easily be accomplished
as their stocks of merchandise need never be large, as they could always,
within a day, have what further supplies they stood in need of. This
would serve to make prices uniform throughout each state ; profits would
be moderate, but secure ; and the people of the country would obtain their
supplies always at cash prices in place of credit, as in times past.
The reduction of the rate of interest to five per cent per annum, after
the bank having obtained a surplus of $20,000,000 of capital, will insure
to the bank the very best paper for discount, and render very essential and
important benefits to the agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing in­
terests of this country, and enable them the more easily to compete with
Great Britain, and other European nations, as money will be obtainable
by them in this country on the same terms as is current in Europe.
The gain that will arise out of the deposit stock, to the transferable
stockholders and to the general government, will be equal to one per cent
per annum, if not more ; this will give the transferable stockholders with­
out doubt seven per cent per annum for their investments, and the govern­
ment will gain two per cent per annum, or $400,000 per annum on their
$20,000,000 of stock.
Whenever the government think proper not to renew the bank charter,
the 20,000,000 of surplus money ought to be divided, after every engage­
ment of the bank has been fulfilled, pro rata between the transferable
stockholders and the general government, in proportion to the stock held
by each.
This division of the surplus gains of the bank, added to the gains likely
to result on the deposit stock, will always make the transferable stock very
profitable to the holders and desirable : every year it would increase in
value and public estimation.
The principal object for taking the $20,000,000 of bonds from tbe gen­
eral government, is to have at the command of the bank a reserved fund,
and thus prevent the possibility of suspension of specie payments ever
again occurring in this country.
Had a bank of the United States been established on the principles of the
present proposed bank, no suspension of specie would have occurred in
1837. Having this capital in reserve, whenever it is deemed necessary
to stop the export of bullion from this country, caused by the failure of our
crops or other causes, the bank has only to borrow abroad what it may
require, which could readily be obtained on favorable terms, by pledging
as security the government stock, and thus $20,000,000 of bullion would
at once be at the disposal of the bank in England, and subject to their order.
If more capital is ever required than is now assigned to the bank, con­
gress might authorize the bank to take money from the savings banks of
the country, or increase the deposit stock, if the wants of the country
demanded it, to the extent deemed safe and necessary ; the savings banks’
money to be placed on a footing with the deposit stockholders, as regards
guaranty and interest.
This description of money is the surplus capital of the country, and hav­
ing it, the bank has an ability, not calculable, growing out of legitimate




536

P lan o f a National Bank.

capital and the public confidence. These causes would sustain it and
keep it always in its legitimate sphere.
It is recommended that the mother bank should issue no bills of less
magnitude than $10, but the branches ought to be allowed to issue bills
of $5 each, to the extent of $50,000 each. The issue of one dollar bills
is considered necessary in this country ; and it is believed, had the banks
in the several states in 1837 been permitted to issue such bills, no suspen­
sion of specie payments would have taken place. The issue of one dollar
bills may therefore be left to the state banks, which would be an advantage
to them and the community.
The old bank of the United States deducted half per cent to cash a mint
certificate : this acted as a direct tax upon the importation of bullion, and
prevented in some degree its importation into this country on foreign account,
much to the injury of our shipping, the merchants, and people generally.
The salaries of the president and directors of the bank and its branches,
appointed by the transferable stockholders, should be fixed and limited in
the charter.
To show the decided gain that would accrue to the people of this coun­
try by the establishment of a national bank, and by having a portion of its
capital set apart expressly to carry on the foreign trade of the country, it
may be stated, estimating the pound sterling to be $4 80, the great advan­
tages to be derived by the bank drawing its-bills at thirty days sight on
London, to be used by its merchants in India and South America, and
which would, under the guaranty of the general government, and the col­
lateral deposited with the bank, make them, if possible, more desirable in
every part of the world, and much more secure than a British government
bill, and consequently would, in process of time, command a preference
and a better rate of exchange.
Bills drawn for the last fifteen years by officers of the British govern­
ment on the home treasury, at thirty days sight, have sold in China, and
other ports of India, at 4s. to 4s. 6d. the dollar ; at the same time Bank
of Scotland bills, at sixty days sight, have sold at 4s. 2d. to 4s. lOd. per
dollar ; and of the Bank of the United States, when in good credit, and
bills on the best London commercial houses, under credits at six months
sight, have sold at 4s. 4d. to 5s., in some instances5s. Id. to5s. 2d. per dollar.
This is satisfactory evidence that a British government bill has produced
to the British treasury from five to ten per cent more than the best com­
mercial bills offered in the India markets. This saving may be made by
our merchants by the establishment of the present proposed bank, and
would secure to them the foreign carrying trade, and make us independent
of the London merchants, and make the American merchants the principal
factors for the whole world. All the operations of the American mer­
chants would not then become known, as is now the case, to their London
agents, who, it is feared, frequently take advantage of information from
their American constituents, to derive advantage to themselves, prejudicial
to the interesls of their American friends and correspondents.
By taking bills from the bank, instead of opening credits with London
merchants, enables the American merchants to purchase foreign produce
much less than they could with the best credit procurable from London
merchants, and which must necessarily fluctuate according to the prudence
or known business engagements of such a concern. Another very impor­
tant point is gained—the American merchant is enabled to transact all his




P lan o f a N ational B ank.

537

foreign business, without its ever coming to the knowledge of British mer­
chants ; which of itself would frequently insure success to an expedition,
and perhaps save the property in cases where a war ensues, and prevent
effectually the English merchant from speculating upon advices received
through American houses, as has been done probably, much to the injury
of American interests.
It is dangerous for an American merchant to open a credit with a Lon­
don house. Take for example, supposing an American merchant in 1837
had property, say real estate, that cost him $100,000, merchandise
$400,000, and bills receivable $400,000—grand total $900,000: now sup­
pose that he owed £60,000 sterling in London, his assets in America would
not be satisfactory to the London merchant, and he must therefore sell
them for cash, in order to meet his engagements; the consequence would
be, that all his property would scarcely realize sufficient, at 22 per cent
premium, (paid for bills on London, in 1837,) to pay the £60,000 ster­
ling. His real estate, if sold in 1837, would not have produced over 33
or $35,000 ; and his merchandise and bills receivable, not over 290 or
$300,000 more in cash—say in all, $325,000 ; an amount just sufficient to
pay the £60,000. Now if this debt had been contracted at home, the
collaterals being ample, time would have been given, the merchant would
have paid his debt, and would have had an independency of some 4 or
$500,000 left for himself and family.
It may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that there is no interest
in this country but what would be benefited by the establishment of a na­
tional bank on the plan now proposed, and that this country would soon
have the safest and most beneficial currency in the world.
A bank of this kind would soon render it unnecessary for states to grant
any more charters to state institutions ; it would keep the state banks in
constant check, and prevent them effectually from overissuing. Conse­
quently, we should soon have no more state banks than the wants of the
community required, and they would be kept always safe for the stock­
holders and people.
The bank of the United States would soon supply the country with a
sound circulation, and after awhile, the state banks would prefer issuing
bills of the Bank of the United States to their own ; and many state banks
would find banking unprofitable, and some would surrender their char­
ters, and we should then have a good currency on sound principles.
This bank having the money of widows, unmarried females, and orphan
children, and perhaps of the savings banks, makes it a bank of the peo­
ple, and no demagogue could attack it injuriously to the public interest.
The very severe losses and distress which the unprotected portions of so­
ciety have recently suffered, such as widows, unmarried females, and or­
phans, by failures of state banks and want of punctuality in payment of
interest on state loans by some of the states, calls loudly upon the public
for redress. This bank offers them every guaranty, insures to them their
capital and a fixed interest, to be paid punctually semi-annually. And
another great benefit to be derived by this class of our community is, it
will make them cheerful and happy, and they will of necessity regulate
their expenses according to their incomes: this, in a moral point of view,
will be productive of great good to the country.
The faithful management of the bank would be secured, as the public
would themselves be watchful of their interests; and members of congress
VOL. iv.— no. vi.
68




Imprisonment f o r Debt.

538

would be compelled to be vigilant and have the affairs of the bank wisely
administered, liberally supported, and impartially judged.
The bank would in a measure, if not effectually, prevent peculation on
the part of public servants, as all payments would be made direct by
the bank to the party interested, and without interference of sub-agents,
and would do much to make simple all receipts and disbursements at the
different departments at Washington.
As soon as this bank is firmly established, it would be good policy in
the bank to issue about $50,000 of bills of $5 each, made payable at each
of the branches; this would give a local circulation, and be of advantage
to the public. Besides redeeming these bills, the branches ought always
to pay specie, if they have it, for such bills as are made payable in New
York and New Orleans, whenever presented to them by the community.
The planters and merchants of the south would have a constant buyer
of bills on London, in the bank, to the extent required to carry on the
foreign commerce of the country, and to answer the wants of the general
government.
Let this bank be established when stock to the extent of $5,000,000 is
subscribed, and then no further legislation will be required to give the
country the best circulating medium and the safest in the world.

A rt.

IV.—IM PRISONM ENT FO R DEBT.

I t is with some mortification that a writer on this remnant of barbarism,
finds himself under the necessity of treating it as an American subject'.
A citizen of the United States approaches such a discussion in a spirit
and with a feeling such as, we venture to say, no other member of civil­
ized society would do. W e call ourselves a free people, and are some­
times egotistical and vain-glorious enough to say, the only free people on
earth. Satisfied and complacent as the people of this country may be in
the general liberty they enjoy, and proud as the writer of these remarks
is of our glorious form of government, of our excellent constitution and
the noble institutions which it establishes and guaranties, it must be ac­
knowledged, because the fact is too palpable for denial, that there is a
feature in our national policy, grossly disgraceful enough of our system,
to humble all our boasting, and almost enough so to neutralize our par­
tialities for the patrimony which we inherit from our fathers. The truth
is, our fathers left us free in form, but slaves in fact. They gave us a
beautiful theory, but left it open at the same time to an almost unmitigated
practical oppression. They left a legacy of liberty to the fortunate, but
bequeathed a bitter bondage to the unfortunate ! It is because it is thus
free in all its other phases, that an American is unwilling to meet this
feature of it. He can scarcely bring himself to believe even the evidence
of his own senses—it is almost impossible to realzie a palpable fact.
Priding himself, as he has good right to do, in the superiority of his theo­
retical freedom, it is very difficult for him to recognise the local disease
which renders the whole system unhealthy. Satisfied with the soundness
of the general health, he would gladly disregard the local ulceration that
is upon the body politic. Proud of the plumage which beautifies and




Imprisonment f o r Debt.

539

adorns the national peacock, it looks like that gorgeous bird upon its
blemishes. It is ashamed, o f its feet. Every citizen of the United States
is free in every thing but his thraldom to his fellow citizen. His govern,
ment. cannot oppress or imprison him but for crime. No foreigner can
attack his personal freedom with impunity; and there is no power on earth
that can curtail one of his privileges, but the man to whom he happens to
owe two and sixpence. To that potent functionary of American society,
he is a slave—as much a slave as the blackest and most abject cultivator
of cotton in South Carolina or Georgia. He is worse ; for while he can
be shut up at any moment, at the will of the master who who has bought
him; by giving a little earnest money in advance, that very master or mon­
ster, no matter by which name he be called, is in many states under no
obligations to feed him. He has full authority for incarceration, but may
let his victim starve to death if he pleases. Even in our own city and
state, where we profess to have abolished imprisonment for debt, unfor­
tunate men may, and many of them actually are entombed, literally en­
tombed in living cemeteries, scarcely more ample in dimensions than the
sepulchre of Napoleon at St. Helena, and in no respect more comfortable
than the cell of the convict about to take his departure for Sing Sing or
Blackwell’s Island; and this imprisonment too, without any obligation on
the part of the creditor to furnish him with food or firing, without which,
in the winter especially, he must of course perish from frost or famine ;
and from which fate he is only preserved in any season, by the mush and
molasses which the city furnishes alike to the felon who has committed
a murder, and to the civil delinquent who has been guilty of misfortune !
It is from this general view of the case, strengthened by the particular
hardships and enormities of individual circumstances, which led us to the
remark with which we commenced these strictures, that a citizen of the
United States is naturally unwilling to look upon the Vandalism as Ame­
rican. It is certainly more germane to Algiers, and it would certainly
be more American to combat it as a despotic feature in the monarchical
governments which do not even pretend to “ democratic freedom,” than to
bear our testimony against its iniquity, as a part of our own idolized sys­
tem of human rights and human freedom.
It is our present purpose to “ say our say,” without regard to country,
and “ irrespective,” as the abolitionists say, of our professions or our the­
ories. Our theory of freedom in this respect is a farce, and our practice
under it is a tragedy.
We are as well aware as others of the importance of the interests which
it is the province of our journal to protect, of the great principles which it
is its duty to develope and to advocate, and it is our intention in this arti­
cle to keep them both in view. Our purpose is not particular, but gene­
ral ; and in urging the interests of the debtor, it is no part of it to deny
the rights of the creditor. Our humanity shall by no means be inconsist­
ent with the elevated philosophy which looks alike to the sufferings of
the individual and the great interests of the mass. So far from entertain­
ing this narrow notion of the case, we intend to make it apparent before we
close our remarks, that while we point out the sufferings of one class, the
actual disadvantages to the other are none the less obvious, and that our
present system is equally deleterious to both; in itself alike dishonorable
to human nature, and to our national professions of freedom and philan­
thropy. The case presents no complicated questions of private right or




540

Imprisonment f o r Debt.

civil polity, and its whole bearings may be fully considered, by looking a
little into three simple points.
1. The rights and interests of the creditor.
2. The situation and rights of the debtor; and,
3. The grand principle on which these rights are founded in the great
law of nature, as recognised in our system of government: let us look at
them in this way.
First, the rights and interests of the creditor.
These rights are sacred, and we would be among the last to impair or
disturb them. He who intrusts his property with another, has the right
to reclaim it in any form that can reach it. He who receives that pro­
perty, pledges not only what he thus receives, but all his own estate, to
make it good; and the law should lend its aid in enforcing payment;
should make the debtor’s property, to the last cent, the property of the
creditor. W e would not leave even the necessaries of life exempt from
the operation of this sacred pledge. A, in getting possession of what be­
fore belonged to B, transfers by that very act his own property to that
amount to B, and B has, and should have full right to repossess himself of
his own, according to the terms of the contract. There is no legitimate
qualification of this right. He should have the privilege, if he choose to
exercise it, of taking the debtor’s bed from under him, and of seizing the
last meal provided for his family, while the contract remained unannulled
by personal compromise, or by the salutary interposition of a bankrupt
law, with provisions humanely guarding the rights and interests of all
parties. Such, in our opinion, are the rights of the creditor. W hat are
his interests ?
It is his interest, undoubtedly, to obtain the whole amount of his due, i f
he can ; and failing in that, it is his interest to pursue the course that
seems likeliest to realize the largest possible portion of that claim, under
the circumstances of the case. Does it strike any unstultified mind that
it is a very eligible mode of doing this, to shut the debtor up in prison ?
Is he very likely to improve his prospect of payment, by taking from the
man who owes him, all chance of doing so ? Would he urge payment,
and secure its probability, by rendering it impossible 1 What man, pos­
sessed of even half a share of common sense, would think of getting more
manual labor out of his servant, by tying his hands behind him 1 To
force money from a man unable to pay it at the moment, by putting him
in prison, and thereby taking even the attempt to do it out of his power,
is about upon a par with the wisdom that would draw a loaded wagon up
hill by hamstringing the horses that had faltered under the burden.
The act, in either case, might minister to the malicious feelings of the
moment, and seem to sweeten the disappointment of the man who deemed
himself injured by the failure, but it would go very little way towards
attaining the end in view, or rather, it would totally defeat it. The
man and the horse, would merely furnish proof to the driver, that he was
himself little better than an ass.
The interests of the creditor will always be best subserved, by leaving
his debtor at liberty to exert himself in making good his obligations, and
instead of crippling those exertions, to assist him in making them. If the
debtor be an honest one, his efforts will all be for the advantage of the
creditor, and in favor of eventual payment; if a dishonest one, the chance
of such a result is not merely lessened, but annihilated. A knave will




Imprisonment f o r Debt.

541

never pay the man who has imprisoned him, even if he should have it in
his power. Dishonesty itself will make its discrimination in that behalf!
The lenient creditor has two chances to one in all such cases. In short, we
fully recognise the rights of the creditor over the property of his debtor;
but in denying him jurisdiction over his person, we not only place the one
in a more eligible position, but we redeem the other from a bondage that
renders both conditions hopeless— the creditor of ali prospect, the debtor of
all incentive.
2d. Of the rights and situation of the debtor.
The rights of every American citizen are liberty and locomotion, until
he forfeits the franchise by crime. This right is perfect and unqualified;
and until it is removed by the violation of the condition on which it
rests, we hold that it is not competent in any merely legal power to wrest it
from him. The national bill of rights, and the principles engrafted in our
constitution protect him. A beautiful commentary is it on the boast that
British and American freedom makes every man’s house his castle, to de­
clare that his domicil is too sacred to be entered without the consent of
the occupant—while his person has no such immunity—whose soul and
body may be incarcerated at the will of him with whom he has made a
contract which the act of providence has rendered it impossible to fulfil.
To say that you shall not open the door of the house, into which innocent
misfortune has forced a man to retire, but may catch the man himself if
walking at large, and shut him up in a cell, as you would catch and im­
pound his cow convicted of damage feasant in your cabbage-yard, is very
much the same benevolence, and very much the same sublimation of
liberty, that sings hosannas to the patriotism that is successful in its efforts,
but which exults over the hanging of the adventurer who chances to be
unlucky in attaining it. W e are taught especial reverence for that bright
feature of our system, which presumes every one accused of crime, inno­
cent until it is proved against him before a ju ry ; and we glory in that
“ humane provision of the law,” that ne plus ultra of republican freedom,
which protects every one from thraldom but for lawful cause ; and yet we
permit our best citizens, men perfectly unblemished in all their acts,
moral and social, to be made felons o f just as often as adverse fortune
overtakes them, and whenever those whom the incertitudes of trade and a
luckier concurrence of fortuitous circumstances place in power in the
premises, take it into their heads.
The humanity of our criminal code professes to consider every murderer
an innocent man until the verdict of a juiy has pronounced him guilty; but
whenever it suits the purpose of an inexorable creditor to state in his writ
that a fellow-citizen is a felon, inasmuch as he has failed to pay him fifty
dollars, the law recognises the charge at a moment’s warning, and imprieons the culprit without further ceremony, and thus acts upon that branch
of the code lynch, which first hangs the presumed delinquent and puts him
on trial afterward. This is literally the operation of the law in most of
the states of the Union, and, we are mortified to acknowledge, in many
instances in our own empire dominion, where we profess to have abolished
this worse than Cossack barbarism.
W e repeat, that the man who becomes another’s debtor pledges all his
property for the payment. It is not in human power to do more. The
compact by which Doctor Faustus bound himself to the devil, might, with
just as much propriety, be legally enforced in our courts of justice, as the




542

Imprisonment fo r B elt.

kindred stipulation supposed to make the debtor a felon in the hands of the
creditor, until the demand of the said creditor is liquidated to his entire
satisfaction. Shakspeare’s Shylock had much more plausible right to de­
mand Antonio’s pound of flesh than our modern “ Anglo Saxon” philanthro­
pists have to make perpetual prisoners of those who happen to be indebted
to them ; for the Jew had “ black and white” to show for it. He only
exacted a literal compliance with the contract. Our Jews merely have to
produce the promise to pay money, and the mild laws of the republic hu­
manely step in and tell them that they may, if they choose, put their debt­
or into prison during life, or what in many cases is equivalent to it, until
he, the prisoner, can do in prison what was out of his power while at
liberty—pay the debt.
This is the practical liberty enjoyed under the beautiful theory of which
we boast so much ! This is a part of the “ march of mind and humanity,”
so rife in our penny literature, and which dances so glibly over the pages
of the “ tract writers,” and comes with such oily eloquence from the
tongues of peripatetic lecturers !
We are no apologists for dishonest debtors. So far from it, we would
imprison them without mercy, for fraud in even its most mitigated form.
That is, we would afford them no immunity in such a case, even though
circumstances might make it imperative on the conscience of the creditor
to do so. We would leave the law to punish criminal indebtedness with
the utmost rigor consistent with the degree of its enormity ; but we would
make no American freeman the slave of the American freeman, for the
time being ; and in saying this, we think we manifest an equal philanthropy
to both classes. W e know of no American citizen who can consider himself
entitled to any exception. The rich creditor of to-day may be the impov­
erished debtor of to-morrow. The fluctuations in our condition are per­
petual. The nabob of the afternoon may he the pauper of to-morrow
morning, and in urging the propriety of our principles upon the public, we
consider ourselves as subserving alike the interest of the one and the other.
If we thought for a moment that the ground we take could be considered as
in any, the slightest measure, trenching upon the rights of the rich, or in
any remote degree giving countenance to the miserable doctrine of the
demagogue that would array classes of our community against each other,
we would burn this manuscript, and almost agree to kindle fagots about
the being who would thus pervert its purposes. W e disclaim, with the
indignation it deserves, the paltry spirit which would attempt so degrading
a classification of interest. There is no antagonist interest, in this coun­
try, founded on the absurdity that the poor must necessarily be at war
with the wealthy. It is the primal object of the poor to become wealthy,
and it is in keeping open this road from poverty to riches, that we are to
look for the prosperity of the republic. The man who would attempt to
disparage the advantages of wealth, and endeavor to incite the prejudices
of those who have not reached it against those who have, is a fool or a
knave—certainly no philosopher. It is impossible that he can have looked
with any clearness into the nature of the position the people occupy in
this country.
But, all we have said on these two points is merely preliminary to the
main position which we propose to maintain in this article. The rights
and interests of individuals, or of particular classes, are of minor consider­
ation. Debtor and creditor are in themselves of secondary consequence




Imprisonment,for B e lt.

543

a question like this. The creditor may be a Caligula in his tyranny,
and the debtor may, for ought we care in considering such a subject, be
the veriest villain that ever cheated a creditor out of his dues by the chi­
canery of deception, or defrauded him of payment by a profligate negli­
gence. In the latter case, we give the debtor up. He may, and he
ought to be, punished according to the enormity of the offence he has com­
mitted, not only against his creditor, but against the community. All we
have to do in this article, is to decry the savagism which would immolate
an innocent debtor at the shrine where the inexorable creditor worships
his gold and silver, and offers up the unfortunate as the sacrifices due to
the Moloch of his mercenary idolatry.
As between those who owe money and those to whom money is owed,
we have no very fervid feelings—no feeling at all, in fact, any further than
the feeling that every personal contract should be faithfully fulfilled to the
utmost extent of the ability of the parties to it. Any failure not unavoidable
and involuntary, constitutes a crime that should be expiated by imprison­
ment, we care not how long. It is not as between individuals that we
deprecate this species of slavery—not at any rate, that we deprecate it
mainly; but it is as a desecration of our professions—as a disgrace to our
system, which pretends to be free, and which in all its other features is
free—that we urge the absurdity of giving to an individual the power o f
making a slave o f a fellow-citizen, while the constitution withholds from the
government itself any such frightful prerogative. Until an American citi­
zen commits actual crime, it is out of the power of his government, national,
state, or municipal, to curtail his freedom of thought, speech, or locomotion.
By the laws of the land, the man to whom he is indebted a dollar has that
power. Under our present economy, the individual who has a legal claim
of a single shilling against his fellow-citizen, has more power over him than
the seventeen millions that constitute the nation 1
It is to this frightful phase of American law that we would call the
public attention. It is this Saracenic feature of it, that we would call
upon all Christians to consider. It is our duty, however, to beg pardon
for the last remark. No Saracen, no Moor, and no Turk, ever thought of
such a barbarism. They are more merciful to the delinquent, for they
bastinado him into payment, if he be ab le; and if he be unable, they
would much sooner apply the bowstring to the speculator who entrapped
the debtor into indebtedness, than they would send the debtor to prison.
The system of imprisonment for debt is so odious, that it is perfectly
wonderful that it has been half so long endured. The abolitionists are rampant
in their deprecation of negro slavery, and it is no part of our present pur­
pose to quarrel with the abstraction upon which that feeling is founded.
Negro slavery is to be deplored, but it has always been matter of marvel
with us that sympathy should so long have expended its activity upon one
color. It has seemed to us that its exercise is as strong in its claims when
the sufferer happens to have a white skin, as when it so chances that the
cuticle bears a darker shade. Slavery looks as Hack to us in an “ AngloSaxon” countenance, as it does in the dusky features of a bona fide Congo ;
and we know of no call there is upon us to shower our sympathies so ex­
clusively upon the bondage of the Ethiop, as to disregard entirely the kin­
dred, the worse than kindred thraldom of people who have all the claims
to a similar sensibility, save the simple misfortune of being born white !
In few words we close for the present; leaving till another time a more
in




544

Mercantile Biography.

specific enumeration of the enormities of the system of imprisonment for
honest debt, and a more regular argument against it. W e will only say
now, that the laws of the states in which the barbarism—we ought to say
the barbarity, for the nations which we denominate barbarians have never
disgraced themselves by adopting them—still obtains, are a disgrace to our
country, and a living libel on all our professions. It is a proud fact that
our own state has nearly wiped away the shame, and we trust will fully
do so before long. Would to heaven that we could realize the manly re­
marks of an able journal of this city ; a paper that has done itself infinite
honor in two articles recently published on this subject. The ground is
there boldly taken, that the constitution should be so amended as to take
from legislation the power to imprison any citizen of the United States
but for crime ! Would that such provision had been originally engrafted
upon the national charter. It would have been its proudest feature, and
well might we have pointed to it in proof of our real regard for liberty.
Then could we well boast of our government as the best and freest ever
devised, and worthy of being looked up to as a perfect example for all
others, and for all time ! Such a provision, however, was not incorpora­
ted in the constitution, and all we have to remedy it, is the right and the
power to shape our legislation, state and national, to the principle. Legal
enactments are abundantly capable of reaching the case, and such enact­
ments must be made by congress, and by the legislatures of every state in
the Union, if we would show the slightest regard for freedom, or reverence
for the system under which we live.

A rt.

V.— M ERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY.

T H E ROTHSCHILDS.—ISAAC DE BU IR E T TE AND H IS SONS.
THE ROTHSCHILDS.

the mercantile houses of Europe, which succeeded and became
rich and flourishing by a judicious use of the means equally within tne
grasp of many others, by a spirit of enterprise, by a right estimation of
men and circumstances, and especially by a certain justness in the interest
of its immense business, the house of R o t h s c h il d now ranks the first. Its
property is estimated from fifty to eighty millions of florins, or from
twenty-five to forty millions of dollars; and besides this capital, it is able
to command about one hundred and fifty millions of florins (nearly seventyfive millions of dollars.) The founder of this house, Mager Amschel
Rothschild, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the year 1743. He
left his parents in his eleventh year. Without any fortune, he was, as is
still customary in Germany with poor Jews, destined for the business of a
teacher. He left this occupation, after having taught some years, and
commenced a small trade. The passion manifested by the rich and great
for collections of ancient coinage, offered to the connoisseur at that time a
productive source of acquisition. Rothschild abandoned, therefore, his
other trade. He cultivated especially dealings in ancient coinage, and
made in his pursuit not only many respectable acquaintances, but derived
a considerable profit from this speculation. Having become at the same
A

mong




The Rothschilds.

545

time a proficient in the mercantile and exchange business, he obtained a
most lucrative situation in a house of exchange in Hanover, where he remained several years, and by industry and economy acquired a fortune.
When he returned to Frankfort he got married, and founded the still ex­
isting banking-house. By perseverance, talents, and honesty, he secured
for himself in a short time credit and confidence, and his business was
greatly enlarged, when the Landgrave of Ilaissia, who dealt often with
him in the purchase of ancient coinage, from a knowledge of his talents
and abilities, appointed him in the year 1801 agent of his court, in which
situation he performed for this prince (being then Elector of Hsessia) many
useful services. In the year 1806 the French army approached the coun­
try of this prince. He was obliged to flee ; and his immense private for­
tune would have been the booty of Napoleon, bad not Rothschild succeeded
in saving, by courage and prudence, and even not without personal danger,
a considerable part of it, which he conscientiously administered for the
benefit of the elector. At that time commenced also the first great extension
of the business of Rothschild, by a loan of ten millions of florins (about five
millions of dollars) which he made to the royal court of Denmark. The
founder of the house of Rothschild died in the year 1812, in the 69th year
of his age. Foreseeing his death, he called his ten children to his sick-bed,
blessed them, and took the promise of them never to change their religion;
and he inculcated especially to his sons the command of inviolable concord.
No paternal legacy has ever been executed more conscientiously, and in
a more rewarding manner. It is a characteristic of the family of Roths­
child, that all the members consult as it were the shadow of their deceased
father in every important occurrence of their life, remembering literally
his wise and judicious precepts, and do not pronounce his name without
veneration. In the year 1813 happened those particular political circum­
stances, which by an uninterrupted series of operations of money and credit,
elevated the house of Rothschild to its present high station in European
affairs of commerce and finance. To pursue the single steps in this career
would be unnecessary and even impossible. W e only attempt to give a
general view of the extent of the business of this house by observing, that
through its mediation, in a space of twelve years, about twelve hun­
dred millions of florins were accepted upon account of the European sove­
reigns,—partly as a loan, partly as a payment of subsidy ; of which five
hundred millions for England, one hundred and twenty millions, for Aus­
tria, one hundred millions for Prussia, two hundred millions for France,
one hundred and twenty millions for Naples, eighty millions for Russia,
thirty millions for Brazil, and twelve millions for some small German
courts. Besides these enormous sums, the house of Rothschild procured
several hundred millions of French indemnifications of war, and made
many transient operations on commission for different governments, whose
total amount perhaps may surpass the above-mentioned sums. The ques­
tion, how the house of Rothschild could undertake and perform all this in
so short a time, must doubtless have occupied more than one mercantile
and political head. He who does not delay for casualties, and has know­
ledge enough to conceive that, in all great affairs the success not only
depends on the choice and use of the favorable moment, but especially on
the pursuit of an acknowledged fundamental maxim, will soon percive that
particularly, two principles were never neglected by this banking-house ;
to which, besides to a prudent performance of its business and to advantavol. xv.— no. vi.
69




546

Mercantile Biography.

geous conjunctures, it owes the greatest part of its present wealth and
respectability. The first of these principles was that which caused the
five brothers to carry on their business in a perpetual and uninterrupted
communion. This was the golden rule bequeathed to them by their dying
father. Since the death of him every proposition, let it come from whom
it would, was the object of their common deliberations. Every important
undertaking was carried on by a combined effort after a plan agreed upon,
and all had an equal share in the result. Though, for several years, their
customary residences were very remote, this circumstance could never in­
terrupt their harmony ; ,it rather gave them this advantage, that they were
always perfectly well instructed of the condition of things in the different,
capitals, and that each of them on his part could the better prepare and
initiate the affairs to be undertaken by the firm. The second principle in
perpetual view of this house, is not to seek an excessive profit in any un­
dertaking, to assign certain limits to every enterprise, and as much as
human caution and prudence can do, to make themselves independent of
the play of accidents. In strict obedience to both of these principles is to
be found one of the principal secrets of their success. The merits of the
masters of Rothschild are publicly acknowledged by several courts.
Besides the badges of honor bestowed upon them, all the brothers were
made in 1813 royal Prussian counsellors of commerce ; in 1815 counsel­
lors of finance of the Elector of Hsessia, and afterward secret counsellors
of finance of the present elector. The Emperor of Austria granted them,
in the year 1815, hereditary nobility, and in 1822, the baronage. Besides,
the brother residing at London was made in 1820, imperial and royal
consul, and two years afterward, consul-general. In the year 1822, the
brother directing the Parisian house, was made consul-general in Paris.
The residence of the brothers Rothschild is now in the following cities :
Amschel or Atnsel, the eldest, bom the 12th of June, 1773, resides as chief
of the original house, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, (he died in the year 1840.)
Solomon., the second brother, born the 9th of September, 1774, lived since
1816 alternately at Berlin and Vienna, but for the greatest part in the
last capital. Nathan, the third brother, bom the 16th September, 1777, a
man who, by his penetration in affairs, and by the important services he
performed, obtained the confidence of the first British statesmen, lived
since the year 1798 at London. Charles, the fourth brother, born the
24th of April, 1788, has his residence since 1821, at Naples. Jacob, the
youngest brother, born the 15th of May, 1792, married to a daughter of
the second brother, one of the most amiable women of her time, lived
since 1812, in Paris.
ISAAC DE BUIRETTE AND HIS SONS.

The mercantile house of De Buirette was, in the seventeenth and in the
beginning of the eighteenth century, one of the most renowned of the con­
tinent of Europe. Its name, its influence, extended over the whole com­
mercial world, and its credit was unlimited: having therefore regarded
the mercantile house which now ranks the first, it cannot be without inter­
est to cast a comparing glance upon a firm which occupied about the same
station in an earlier age, when commerce was indeed still in its infancy,
when its impediments were innumerable, and its enterprises even dan­
gerous.
The De Buirette’s originated from an old, noble, reformed family of the




Isaac de Buirette and his Sons.

547

county Hennegan on the Rhine, who, till the Duke Alba of Spain tyrannized
over the Netherlands, were in possession of a large property, which they
were obliged to leave. A part of them went to England, and some to
Aix-la-Chapelle on the Rhine, in order to make their escape from the cruel
and bloody persecutor of Protestants. They saved nothing but their ready
money, their property being instantly confiscated. The father of the
family, Isaac de Buirette, obtained in England the considerable place of a
director of the Company of Guinea, an employment of great importance,
not only by its respectability, but also by its revenues. He did not long
enjoy it, but died young, and only a short time after the birth of his son
Isaac. His wife followed him soon, and their son was educated by his
near relatives, who sent him, in the year 1050, to Rouen in France, to ac­
quire commercial knowledge. The young De Buirette remained in this
city till the year 1660, accepting at this time an invitation of his sister,
Sara de Brassery, to visit her at Nuremberg in Germany. He settled
there, and married two years afterward, the only daughter of a respecta­
ble merchant, Blumart, whose associate in business he became. Isaac
de Buirette was in his time, perhaps, the most accomplished merchant in
Germany. The mercantile firm Blumart and De Buirette, performed,
principally under his guidance, the most important exchange business, and
entered largely into great undertakings and bold speculations. The intel­
ligence and industry of the new associate increased the affairs of the house
so considerably, that it soon became necessary to establish a second house
at Vienna in Austria, which acquired in a short time a great reputation,
and was the most important ware-emporium of this famed commercial
town. The immense business of the firm, the great talents and inflexible
honesty of De Buirette, gained him great respect and confidence; so
much so, that the king of Prussia made him his counsellor and resident.
His open and virtuous character secured for him moreover the esteem and
affection of all his fellow-citizens. He was for forty years the chief trustee
of the reformed congregation in Nuremberg, and acquired by his manage­
ment of the ecclesiastical affairs the general gratitude and love of his reli­
gious sect. Plis learning was extensive, and embraced many objects
besides his department. He spoke and wrote several foreign languages
with an extraordinary facility, and was acquainted with the customs and
manners of most of the European nations. His correspondence was very
large ; it extended to all places of trade in his part of the world, and even
beyond, in all of which his reputation was proverbial, and an unlimited
confidence and credit in the mercantile world was his reward. He died
in 1708, in the seventieth year of his age, greatly mourned by his contem­
poraries. He had been married three times, and seventeen children arose
out of the two first matrimonies. Three of his sons, Daniel, John W il­
liam, and John Noah, devoted themselves successfully to their paternal
business.
Daniel de Buirette, born in the year 1665, went, in 1677, in order to
study, to the famous gymnasium of Heidelberg, on the Rhine. He returned
in 1681 to Nuremberg, completing the study of history and geography as
a pupil of the celebrated Professor Arnold. Notwithstanding his love of
science, he became, in the office of his father, a proficient in the mercan­
tile business ; and, as the latter left to his son the choice between scien­
tific or commercial pursuits, he chose commerce for his future vocation.
His father employed him then in his affairs, took him along with himself




548

Mercantile Biography.

to Laibach, near the Mediterranean, and let him make a journey to Venice
and through the whole of Italy. Returning to this city, after having visit­
ed the southern part of Italy, and being already in its vicinity, he was
surprised by highwaymen, and saved his life only by abandoning his
effects, and with a wound in one of his arms. He went to France, re­
mained there some time, travelled through the Netherlands to England,
and returned from this country, through Holland, to his native town.
Having thus, by travelling, increased his knowledge and experience, he
aided his father with great activity in his affairs, and undertook many and
very troublesome journeys of mercantile concerns to Austria, Hungary,
Bohemia, Corinth, and Stiermark, and behaved in all operations as a
prudent and intelligent merchant. He finally made a journey to Vienna,
Breslaw, Dresden, Leipsic, Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen, and entered
then as associate in the mercantile house of his father, which from this
time took the firm of “ Do Buirette and Son.” Daniel de Buirette was
married in the year 1695, but he died in 1699, in the flower of his age.
His loss was deeply lamented by all his acquaintances, who knew him as
a most talented and honest man.
John William de Buirette, his junior brother, was born in the year 1668.
His father destined him immediately for mercantile pursuits, but gave him
notwithstanding a scientific education. He sent him to the gymnasium of
Heidelberg, where he remained some years, and was afterward employed
in the trade of his paternal firm, in which he distinguished himself by in­
dustry and talents, and, being so well prepared, he soon made great pro­
ficiency in the mercantile department. In the year 1687 he went to
Holland, in that time the most distinguished country for commerce ; he
finished there, during four years, in the offices of the most celebrated
Dutch merchants, his commercial education. Returned to his home, he
undertook, in company of one of his relatives, a journey to Italy, remained
there two years in the most distinguished towns, and went back to his
paternal house. He made then several tours for his firm, whose affairs he
succeeded to increase. In the year 1693 he married Miss Campoing, a
young lady of one of the most respectable families of Frankfort. The
king of Prussia made him, in the year 1707, his agent, and, in 1708, after
the death of his father, his counsellor and resident in Nuremberg. He
died in 1722, in the fifty-third year of his age. His industry and zeal
\fere too great, and his efforts prejudicial to his health; so much so, that
he became a sacrifice to his vocation. His character was like that of his
father and his brother, open, honest, and virtuous ; he enjoyed, therefore,
an equal reputation, and general esteem and love.
John Noah de Buirette, a half-brother of the former, was born 1682,
and educated in Erlangen, by a minister of the reformed congregation.
His father sent him afterward to Geneva, where he became a pupil of the
learned and famous Pictet. The time he spent there was not without
profit. After a sojourn of some years in Geneva, he went to France, and
visited the most distinguished places of trade. From France he travelled
to Holland, and remained four years in the celebrated mercantile house
of his uncle, Francis d’Orville. He went then to England, and visited
principally those cities which were famed for their great cloth and woollen
manufactories, in order to acquire all the knowledge that might be obtain­
ed relative to the value and sales of such goods,—his house being in that
time extensively engaged in the cloth-trade, and sending large quantities




Laws relating to Debtor and Creditor.

549

lo Austria and Stiermark. Having attained his purpose, he returned
through Holland to his native city. He took a part in the business of his
father, was not less lucky in his enterprises than his brothers, and greatly
advanced the interests of his house. He died a bachelor, being only fortysix years of age—too early for his friends, who lost an honest and warm
companion, and for his native city, which lost in him an active and useful
citizen.
After the death of this last of the brothers who devoted themselves to
commercial pursuits, this house, from the beginning to the end the pride
and the example of the mercantile world of that time, disappeared sud­
denly from the stage of commercial life, only twenty years after the death
of its founder : but it never will be blotted out in the annals of commerce;
just as the firm of Rothschild in the present century will always be a
striking example, that not only knowledge and industry, but principally
integrity and honesty, are the bases of all mercantile success and grandeur
in every clime and in every age.

A rt.

VI.— LAW S R E L A T IN G TO DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.*
OF MASSACHUSETTS.
ATTACHMENT.

T he following articles are exempt from attachment, and from being
taken in execution, viz : the necessary wearing apparel of the debtor and
of his wife and children, one bedstead, bed and the necessary bedding for
every two persons of the family, one iron stove used for warming the
dwelling-house, and fuel, not exceeding the value of ten dollars, procured
for the use of the family, other household furniture necessary for the debtor
and his family, not exceeding fifty dollars in value, the bibles and school
books used in the family, one cow, six sheep, one swine, and two tons of
hay ; the six sheep not to exceed thirty dollars in value ; the tools and
implements of the debtor necessary for carrying on his business, not ex­
ceeding fifty dollars in value; the debtor’s military uniform and equip­
ments—also, his burial rights and tombs in use as repositories for the
dead. All property, with the above exceptions, which at common law
might be taken in execution, is liable to attachment.
The attachment continues for thirty days after rendition of judgment
for plaintiff.
Plaintiffs residing out of the commonwealth must procure competent en­
dorsers of their writs before entry, as security for costs, which endorsers
must reside in the state.
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

No person can be imprisoned on mesne process or execution for any
debt less than five dollars, nor for any debt less than ten dollars founded
on a contract made after July 1st, 1831.
No female can be imprisoned for any debt originating since July 1,
* Prepared for the Merchants’ Mag., by A. C. Spooner, Esq., Counsellor at law, Boston.




650

Laws relating to Debtor and Creditor.

1831, except on judgment against her as a trustee, in a process of foreign
attachment.
On contracts made after 4th of July, 1834, no person can be arrested
on mesne process for debt, unless on affidavit by the plaintiff or some one
in his behalf, that the debt is justly due, that he expects to recover the
sum of ten dollars or upwards, and that he has reasonable cause to believe
that the debtor is about to depart beyond the jurisdiction of the court to
which the writ is returnable, and not to return until after judgment may
probably be rendered in the suit.
Any person committed on execution in any civil action, is entitled to the
prison limits, on giving bond with sufficient sureties, to continue a true
prisoner within those limits for ninety days, and then surrender himself
to go into close confinement, unless previously discharged by order of the
creditor, or by operation of law.
These limits, in all actions upon contracts made after April 30tli, 1836,
are the limits of the county within which the action is brought.
DISCHARGE OF THE DEBTOR.

Any person held to trial in an action founded on contract made after
July 4th, 1834, may have the poor debtor’s oath administered to him by
the court, if qualified, provided the debt amounts-to ten dollars or upwards,
on giving notice to the creditor or his attorney seven days before the re­
turn day of the writ.
Or if arrested on execution in any civil action, he shall represent to the
jailer that he is unable to pay the debt, and desires to take the benefit of
the laws for the relief of poor debtors, it becomes the duty of the jailer to
make the same known to some justice of the peace for the county, whose
duty it is to issue a citation to the creditor, or his attorney, to appear at a
time and place appointed, and examine the debtor, if he sees fit, before two
justices of the peace and of the quorum, relative to his property and his
disposal of it. The citation must be served at least thirty days before the
time of the examination.
p o o r d e b t o r ’s o a t h .

If the examination before the justices seem to them to warrant it, the
debtor is allowed to take and subscribe the oath that he has not any estate,
real or personal, to the amount of twenty dollars, except the goods and
chattels by law exempted from attachment, and that he has not conveyed
or concealed any property with design to secure the same to his own use,
or to defraud his creditors.
EFFECT OF THE OATH.

The oath entitles the debtor to a certificate discharging him from all
liability to arrest for the same cause of action. The judgment, however,
remains good against his estate. Swearing falsely before the magistrates,
avoids the discharge, and subjects the debtor to the pains and penalties of
perjury.
CHARGES OF FRAUD.

The creditor may also, if he can, substantiate charges of fraud against
the debtor, any one of which will prevent his discharge, and subject him
to imprisonment to hard labor, for a term not exceeding one year. The
fraudulent acts charged, must be,




Laws relating to Debtor and Creditor.

551

1st, That since the debt was contracted, or the cause of action accrued,
the debtor has fraudulently concealed or disposed of some part of his es­
tate, with design to secure it to his own use, or to defraud his creditors ; or,
2d, That since the debt was contracted, &c., he has hazarded and paid
money or property to the value of one hundred dollars o r more at gam­
ing 5 or,
3d, That hft has wilfully expended his estate for the purpose of enabling
himself to take the oath ; or,
4th, That he contracted the debt with an intention not to pay it.
TRUSTEE PROCESS ON FOREIGN ATTACHMENT.

Every person having any goods, effects, or credits of a debtor intrusted
to them, or deposited in their hands or possession, may be summoned as
the trustee of such debtor, and such goods, effects, or credits, will be held
to respond to the judgment in the suit, precisely as if attached by the ordi­
nary process. Whether the person so summoned be trustee or not, is de­
termined by his own answer, under oath.
It is, however, expressly provided that no person shall be adjudged a
trustee—
1st. By reason of having drawn, accepted, made, or endorsed any nego­
tiable bill, draft, note, or other security.
2d. By reason of money, or any other thing collected by him as a she­
riff or other officer, upon execution or other process, in favor of the prin­
cipal defendant.
3d. By reason of any money in his hands as a public officer, and for
which he is accountable, as such officer, to the principal defendant.
4th. By reason of any money or other thing due from him to the prin­
cipal defendant, unless the same is due absolutely, and not upon any con­
tingency.
5t,h. By reason of any debt due from him on a judgment, so long as he
is liable to an execution on the judgment.
INSOLVENT LAW.

This law took effect on the 1st day of August, 1838. Its object is to
provide for the discharge of an honest debtor from his liabilities, upon his
making an entire surrender of his property for the benefit of his creditors.
By the law, as originally passed, any person owing five hundred dollars,
which he was unable to pay and satisfy in full, might avail himself of the
privileges of the a c t; and by an amendment, which went into operation
on the 18th of April, 1841, its privileges were extended to persons owing
two hundred dollars.
KINDS OF INSOLVENCY.

An insolvency may be either voluntary, upon the petition of the debtor
himself, or compulsory, upon a petition by any creditor having a demand
of one hundred dollars, provable against the debtor’s estate; which peti­
tion must set forth, either,
1st, That the debtor has been arrested on mesne process, on a demand
of one hundred dollars or upwards, provable against his estate, and that he
did not give bail according to law before the return day of said process; or,
2d, That he has actually been in prison for more than thirty days,
either on mesne process, or execution issuing upon a debt of one hundred
dollars or upwards, provable as aforesaid; or,




652

Laws relating to Debtor and Creditor,

3d, That his -goods or estate have been attached on mesne process, for
a debt of one hundred dollars or upwards, provable as aforesaid, and that
he did not give bond with sufficient sureties, before the end of the term at
which such process was returnable, to pay the plaintiff such sum as he
might recover against him, within thirty days after final judgment.
• .

EFFECT OF PETITION.

If the facts set forth in the petition, whether of the debtor or creditor,
appear to the master in chancery, or judge of probate, to be true, such
master or judge forthwith issues his warrant, commanding some person to
take possession of all the property of the debtor, (except such as is by law
exempt from attachment,) and to give public notice of the issuing of the
warrant, and also of the time and place for the first meeting of the credit­
ors, for the purpose of proving their debts, and making choice of an as­
signee. From the first publication of the warrant, all control by the
debtor over his property is taken entirely away.
CHOICE OF ASSIGNEE.

The choice is to be made at the first meeting, by the greater part in
value of the creditors according to the debts then proved—provided, that
when there are as many as five creditors, and less than ten, two votes shall
be required to elect the assignee ; and if there are ten or more creditors
present, three votes. If no choice is made, the master appoints the as­
signee.
THE ASSIGNMENT

Vests in the assignee all the property of the debtor, real and personal,
which he could have lawfully sold, assigned, or conveyed, “ at the time o f
the first publication o f the notice o f issuing the warrant, and also all debts
due the debtor, and all liens, securities, rights of action, rights of redemp­
tion, &c ; in short, puts the assignee precisely in the condition occupied
by the debtor himself before the assignment, as to all his property and
estate.
DUTY OF ASSIGNEE.

Thereupon, it becomes the duty of the assignee to convert the estate of
the debtor into money, and collect the debts due it, as soon as he reason­
ably may, and after deducting the fees of the master, messenger, and clerk,
and his own reasonable compensation, distribute the balance, upon the
order of the master, to those creditors who have proved their claims.
DEBTS PROVABLE.

1st. All debts due and payable from the debtor, at the date of the first
publication of the notice of issuing the warrant.
2d. All debts then due, though not then payable, with a rebate or
deduction of interest, in case interest be not payable until the debt becomes
so.
3d. All moneys due on any bottomry or respendentia bond or policy of
insurance, in case the contingency or loss should happen before payment
of the first dividend.
4th. If any debtor has made or endorsed any bill or note, or if any
person has paid any sum for him as endorser or surety, after the first
publication of the notice and before the payment of the first dividend, such




Laws relating to Debtor and Creditor.

553

debt may be proved precisely as if due and payable previous to such first
publication.
5th. All demands against the debtor for any goods or chattels wrong,
fully taken or withheld by him.
MEETINGS OF CREDITORS.

The first meeting is called by the messenger, in his notice of the insol­
vency, and must be not less than ten nor more than thirty days after the
issuing of the warrant. At this meeting the assignee or assignees must be
chosen.
The second meeting is called by tbe assignee, on the order of the mas­
ter, and must be within three months after the issuing of the warrant. At
this meeting, the debtor, if entitled, may take the oath and receive his dis­
charge.
The third meeting must be within six months from the appointment of
the assignee, at which he submits his account, and a dividend of the balance
in bis hands is ordered by the master among the creditors who have
proved their claims.
The fourth meeting is called by the assignees, on the order of the mas­
ter, and must be within eighteen months after their appointment. At this
meeting the remainder of the estate (if any) is distributed. And the divi­
dend is final, unless any suit relating to the estate, or some part of the
estate be outstanding, or some further property come to the possession of
the assignee ; in either of which cases further dividends may be made.
SECURED DEBTS.

Any creditor who has a lien or mortgage upon the property of the debt­
or, may cause the same to be sold, and the proceeds applied to his debt,
so far as they will go, and may prove the balance against the debtor’s estate,
or he may give up the property and prove his whole claim, or he may re­
tain the property without a sale in full satisfaction of the debt.
PREFERRED CREDITOR?.

But it is provided by the amendment passed at the last session of our
legislature, that all mortgages, liens, sales, and transfers of any part of his
property, made by the debtor within s i x m o n th s previous to the filing of the
petition by or against him, w i t h d e s i g n to p r e f e r any creditor, shall be void,
provided the debtor were then actually insolvent or contemplated insol­
vency, and provided the creditor had reasonable cause to believe him in­
solvent ; and the assignee may recover such property or the value of it
from such preferred creditor, and the debtor shall not receive his discharge,
or if he do, it shall be void.
EFFECT OF DISCHARGE.

If the master in chancery is satisfied that the debtor has given up all his
property, and made a full disclosure of his affairs, and conformed himself
fully to the provisions of the act, and no legal objection is offered, a certi­
ficate is thereupon given to the debtor, signed by the master, which certi­
fies that such debtor is absolutely and wholly discharged from all his debts
which have been or shall be proved against his estate; and from all debts'
which are provable under the act, and founded on any contract made or
to be performed within this commonwealth, and made since August 1,
1838; and from all debts provable as aforesaid, and founded on any convol. iv.— no. vi.
70




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tract made since August 1, 1838, and due to persons who were resident
within this commonwealth at the date of. the first publication of the notice
of the insolvency; and from all demands for or on account of any goods
or chattels wrongfully taken or withheld by the debtor; and also, from arrest
or imprisonment in any suit, or on any proceeding for or on account of any
debt which might have been proved against his estate.
OBJECTION TO THE DISCHARGE.

The master is hound to refuse the discharge, if one half in number or
value .of the creditors, who are creditors respectively for not less than fifty
dollars, and who have proved their debts, shall signify under their
hands their dissent to such discharge. In this case the debtor may appeal
to the supreme judicial court, who will grant him his discharge, if, on in­
vestigation, he be entitled to it.
PARTNERS, ENDORSERS, OR SURETIES,

Are not discharged by a discharge of the debtor.
The certificate granted to the debtor is rendered void if he shall have
wilfully sworn falsely to any material point in the course of the proceed­
in g s; or made any fraudulent concealment of property or papers; or, in
contemplation of insolvency, preferred any creditor; and such preferred
creditor, if he knew of the insolvency of the debtor, is not allowed to
prove any portion of his debt against the estate.
DEBTS FOR LABOR PRIVILEGED.

Any person who has performed labor as an operative for the insolvent,
within sixty-five days of his insolvency, is entitled to payment in full, to
the amount of twenty-five dollars, provided there is sufficient estate after
payment of debts due the United States and the Commonwealth.
PROMISSORY NOTE.

In order to charge the endorser of a promissory note payable o n d e m a n d ,
a demand must be made upon the promiser within s i x t y d a y s from the
date of the note, without grace, and due notice must be given to the en­
dorser ; and such note is held to be a dishonored note after sixty days from
its date.

THE

BOOK

TRADE.

1.—

A M e m o ir o f the V e r y R e v e r e n d T h e o b o ld M a t h e w ; w ith o n a c c o u n t o f the
R i s e a n d P r o g r e s s o f T e m p e r a n c e i n Ire la n d . By the Reverend J am es B e r -

of Borisokane. Edited by P. H. Morris, M. D., and by whom is
added the Evil Effects of Drunkenness—Physiologically Explained. New
York: Alexander Y. Blake. 12mo. 216. 1841.
We have the testimony of Father Mathew, the Apostle of Temperance, that
Mr. Bermingham has, in this volume, presented a correct and faithful detail of
the progress of the temperance reform in Ireland. The essay appended to the
American edition greatly enhances its value. If the duty of temperance be im­
perative on men in other pursuits, it is particularly so on the merchant, since
an undue excitement, such as that produced by stimulating liquors, may, in
some particular emergencies, be attended by very serious consequences. Many
an imprudent contract, formed under the enlivening and hope-exciting influ­
ence of a glass of champaign, has occasioned losses which required years of
toil to repair.
m ingham ,




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555

2.—M is c e lla n ie s o f L ite r a tu r e . By J. D ’I s k a e l i , Esq., author of “ Curiosities
of Literature
a new edition, revised and corrected by the author. 3 vols.
J. & H. G. Langley, New York. 1841.
Few writers of the present age have contributed more largely to the stock of
our common literature, or rendered more essential service to its interests, than
D’Israeli, while none may be said to have labored so industriously in the fields
of historical research, or accumulated such an amount of m a te r ie l for reflection,
interest, and instruction. To a zealous enthusiasm and energy of- character,
equalled only by his untiring perseverance throughout a long life devoted to
literary pursuits, he has united a richness and vigor of style, which, for its ela­
borate finish and excellence, may be regarded as among the most elegant to be
found in our language. To those, at least, who may be familiar with his former
production, “ T h e C u r io s itie s o f L i t e r a t u r e ,” our high estimate of this author
will not be deemed unmerited; and there is no other work of its class with
which we are acquainted, possessing more i n t r i n s i c value than that under re­
view. It forms a complete text book on all matters connected with the secret
history of literature and literary m en; discoursing, as it does, on the eccentri­
cities of their genius, their peculiarities of temperament, their infirmities and
calamities, as well as their distinguished excellences and characteristic great­
ness. The subjects of which it treats, therefore, are of a class the most inte­
resting of any that can court our observation or enlist our' sympathies. The
study of the characters of the men of genius, existing as they have ever done,
apart from the rest of mankind, peculiar in their habits, tastes, and feelings, and
surrounded as it were by an ideal world of their own peopling, they exhibit
phenomena which must ever be regarded with a peculiar and exciting interest.
The immense collection of historical and characteristic anecdote comprised in
these delightful volumes, could only have been the product of a mind imbued
with an ardent passion for literature, and of one who must in an extraordinary
degree have given diligent investigation of the past. While, 'however, the
writings of D’lsraeli possess great value in their vast collection of curious his­
torical illustration, they acquire additional excellence in the philosophical re­
flection and deep poetical feeling with which they are invested. This is espe­
cially true with respect to the volumes before us, and which are now for the
first time republished in this country. Such works as these, to those whose
minds have not become vitiated by the diseased taste for the mawkish senti­
mentalism of our modern novelists, they must come with a peculiar charm.
Our author has thus supplied a desideratum in English literature, which has
been as much needed as it is valuable and important. For our own part, we
would rather be closeted with the volumes of this amusing and instructive wri­
ter than any other, for his variety of anecdote, united wiih his critical acumen,
is imparted to us in a manner so felicitous and delightful, and at the same time
with such a raciness, freshness, and power, that we become perfectly en­
chanted. In a word, it is a work that enchains you from beginning to end, in
the perusal of which you feel reluctant to pause, till you find yourself com­
pelled by the unwelcome “f i n i s . ”
3.— T h e

P r in c ip le s a n d P r a c tic e o f B o o k k e e p in g ; e m b r a c in g a n e n tire ly n e w a n d
im p ro v e d m eth o d o f im p a r lin g the sc ie n c e : w ith e x e m p lific a tio n s o f the m o s t con­
cise a n d a p p ro v ed f o r m s o f a r r a n g in g m e r c h a n ts’ a c c o u n ts. By T hom as J ones ,

Accountant, Principal of the New fork Commercial Academy. New York:
Wiley & Putnam. 8vo. pp. 140. 1841.
Mr. Jones is unquestionably one of our most popular and talented accountants,
and he appears to have laid down in this treatise nothing but what has with­
stood the test of long experience. He is quite confident that the student who
faithfully performs the exercises according to the order marked out, will acquire
a knowledge of the subject, such as is seldom possessed even by those who
are deemed proficient. We shall probably have occasion hereafter to speak of
this work in more decided terms.




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— In tr o d u c tio n to th e L ite r a tu r e o f the F ifte e n th , S ix te e n th , a n d S e v e n te e n th
C e n tu r ie s . By H e n r y H a l l a m , F. R. S. A. 2 vols. 8vo. Harper & Bro­

thers. pp. 416, 462. 1841.
This is a very interesting and able work. Whatever Mr. Ilallam undertakes
to do, is done well. In the higher departments of literature, he is, perhaps, the
most popular writer of the present day ; for, though deeply philosophical, he is
never obscure; and his style is distinguished by purity, force, and elegance.
Such a history of letters was greatly wanted, not only for the use of scholars,
hut for the instruction of every class of readers. Every intelligent person must
experience a lively satisfaction in tracing the progress of the human mind
through the successive steps by which it has strengthened its powers, and en­
larged its field of vision.
Mr. Hallam not only notices all the literary and scientific publications of any
importance during the three centuries embraced within the limits of his work,
but also the political events, the civil and social institutions, the religious opin­
ions, and, in a word, whatever had any bearing, directly or remotely, upon the
cultivation of learning; so that the reader has a complete view of the subject
in all its relations. The history of literature may, in one sense, be said to lie
at the foundation of all history ; for it is increase of knowledge which has given
an impulse to all the movements of society, and has acted, and will continue to'
act, more powerfully than any thing else upon all its institutions. Arts, agri­
culture, commerce, are all indebted to this progressive enlightenment of the
human mind for their rapid extension and improvement; and it is this conside­
ration which gives to Mr. Hallam’s work a universal interest.
We hope that the publishers of these volumes will continue to render such
substantial services to the cause of sound literature, not only by reprints of
the best English books, but by seeking to obtain wrorks of sterling merit from
our own authors. The admirable Classical Dictionary of Dr. Anthon, recently
from their press, would confer honor on any country.
5. — U n iv e r s a l

H is to r y Illu s tr a te d . A c h a r t o f u n iv e r s a l h is to r y , re p re se n te d u n ­
d e r th e i m a g e o f the s tr e a m o f tim e , f o r m i n g a v is ib le re p r e s e n ta tio n o f th e r is e
a n d p r o g r e s s o f a ll n a t i o n s ; th e f o u n d i n g o f c o u n tr ie s , sta te s, c itie s , to w n s,
etc., w ith a c h r o n o lo g ic a l se lectio n o f r e m a r k a b le a n d in te r e s tin g e v en ts, im p o r ­
ta n t in v e n tio n s a n d d isc o v e rie s , a n d celeb ra ted p e r s o n s , f r o m the c r e a tio n to the
p r e s e n t tim e , o n the b a s is o f the o r i g i n a l w o r k . By Professor S t r a s s , of Ger­

many. Revised and enlarged, with numerous American additions, and an
illustrative key, by S. G. Goodrich, of Boston. New York : D. Appleton &. Co.
It affords us pleasure to call attention to a work calculated to aid the study
of history. It unfolds before our eyes a living image of the whole field of his­
tory, with all its nations, events, and distinguished men, and permits us to see,
with one glance, what our mind perceives only by degrees. It deepens the
impression by occupying at the same time the sense of seeing, and supports in
this manner our memory. Even by reading the best works on history, it is a
very difficult matter to put together in fancy the different contemporaries of
the remote countries and their facts, and requires often more imagination and
reflection than the young are able to call into activity. The present work re­
lieves us of these difficulties, and is moreover an admirable assistant to a treach­
erous memory. The best praise of this work may be found in the success of
the original, which is the result of a life of study and reflection of an aged and
talented professor of a most famous college. It scarcely had appeared, when
its usefulness was publicly acknowledged, by its general adoption for a base of
the instruction of history, and by translation into almost all living languages.
The work of Mr. S. G. Goodrich is, by no means, inferior to the original; it
contains on the contrary, besides the numerous American additions, a great
many others, and the chart itself is a masterpiece of the art. The accompa­
nying key is an addition, especially useful for youth, for which, however, we
claim the attention of the editor to an arrangement more careful and more in
conformation to the valuable chart.




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5 .7

6. —N e w C o m m e n ta rie s o n th e L a w s o f E n g la n d , (partly founded on Blackstone.)
By H en r y J ohn S t e p h e n s , Sergeant at Law, author o f the Treatise on Plead­
ing, &c. & c . First American edition, vol. 1. New York: Halstead and
Voorhies, Law Booksellers. 1841.
From the examination we have been able to bestow upon this work, it ap­
pears to us to be one peculiarly valuable to every lawyer. Only the first vol­
ume has yet been published, and it is from this, and the brief analysis it con­
tains of the work as it will appear when completed, that we form our opinion
of its utility.
As the title imports, this book will embrace the whole scope of the English
Law as it now exists, furnishing a comprehensive commentary upon its provi­
sions—the author taking for his text the commentaries of Blackstone, and to a
great extent copying the very language of that distinguished writer. In some
respects, too, he has adopted the plan of Blackstone, although in many important
portions of its general arrangement, he proposes to depart widely from what
has hitherto been deemed a model for elementary legal writers.
In this it must be confessed he has taken a bold step, for the whole plan,
framework, and structure of these celebrated commentaries, are held in the
highest esteem and veneration by all lawyers, who, in some instances, might
entertain prejudices against a treatise in which the system of their favorite au­
thor is departed from or censured. That a work, embracing the matter which
will be contained in these new commentaries, is needed by the legal profession,
there can be no doubt; for from them the student may not only learn the com­
mon law as it anciently stood, but the alterations since introduced by the Eng­
lish statutes, without referring to marginal notes, or to the cumbersome statute
books themselves. The reputation of Mr. Stephens as a lawyer and writer, is
a sufficient guaranty that this work, when completed, will be one of no ordi­
nary value ; for, apart from the distinguished rank he occupies at the English
bar, his treatise on tha Science of Pleading, found in almost every law library,
alone entitles him to a stand among the first in his profession.
Of the mechanical execution of the volume before us, we need hardly speak.
The names of the publishers alone indicate its superiority in this respect.
7. — T h e L i f e a n d T im e s o f M a r t i n L u th e r . By the author of “ Three Experiments
of Living,” “ Sketches of the Old Painters,” &e. Boston : Hilliard, Gray
& Co. 12mo pp. 324. 1840.
Few female writers have ever done better, or more modestly won themselves
a high place amongst a nation’s permanent literature, than Mrs. Lee. By the
“ Three experiments,” and its sweetly-given lesson of economy, foresight, and
domestic wisdom, she became a great public benefactor. By her partly ficti­
tious biography of Luther, she has given to the reader of popular literature, the
master-mind of his age, in a drapery suited to ours. She has clothed his
character in the glow of a rich imagination, and invested his life 'with the thrilling
interest of romance, and made his fireside very dear to our hearts. And, while
we lose nothing of the facts belonging to his eventful career, while his history
is taken by this graceful hand from the lumber of stupid folios, and made almost
a living, present reality, the private relations and tender affections of this
Thunderer of the Reformation make our thoughts happy and holy. Some chap­
ters of the book, particularly the introduction of Leo X . in the troubled musings
of his study, are admirably done: and we predict for the whole a growing and
permanent popularity of the best kind.
8.

— S e r m o n s o n R e v iv a ls .

By A l b e r t B a r n e s . W ith an in tro d u c tio n , by J oel

D. D. New York: John S. Taylor & Co. 18mo. pp. 210.
Mr. Barnes is undoubtedly one of the most able advocates of modern Calvanism, and he has employed his rich resources and various learning in illustrating
his topics, and overcoming what he conceives the prejudices which spring up
from misapprehensions of disorder and extravagance and fanaticism in con­
nection with every thing like a revival of religion.
P arker,




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— T e x a s a n d the T e x a n s ; or, A d v a n c e o f the A n g lo - A m e r ic a n s to the S o u th w e s t;
in c lu d in g a h is to r y o f le a d in g e v e n ts i n M e x ic o , f r o m the co n q u est by F e r n a n d o
C o rtes to the te r m in a tio n o f the T e x a n R e v o lu tio n . By H en r y S t u a r t F oote .

Philadelphia : Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 414, 503.
1841.
For several years past the attention of the civilized world has been directed,
in a remarkable degree, towards the contest which was understood to be in
progress between Texas and Mexico. This contest has awakened a livelier
and more general sympathy, and has called into exercise a greater and more
eager curiosity in regard to its probable result than would seem, at first view,
to be entertained, either by the magnitude of the interests involved in it, or the
amount of physical energy which it was likely to bring into action. It is only
by taking a more deliberate and scrutinizing survey of this imposing struggle of
arms, that we are able clearly to descry the grand moral bearings which ap­
pertain to it. It is not the successful battles which have been fought in Texas
tor national liberty ; it is not the effusion of heroic blood, which, streaming
along her fertile plains, has endued them with a deathless immortality ; nor yet
is it the barbaric gold so profusely lavished by the hands of a murderous and
unprincipled despot, in maintaining the hideous ranks of his mercenary armies ;
but it is that sublime collision of moral influence, for the first time now met in
dread encounter, which has gathered, as it were, the chivalrous and freeminded
of all nations around the outspread arena of conflict, as anxious spectators of
the solemn exhibition going on within it, and which has, to some extent, bound
up the fate of countless generations yet unborn, of all people, and tongues, and
countries, in the grand catastrophe.
It is with these views that an attempt has been made by the author of the
present work, to go somewhat beyond the accustomed limits of historic narra­
tive ; and, not content with delineating the current of physical events along its
whole visible course, to ascend that current likewise, and trace it out, as far as
practicable, up even to those remote fountains now overshadowed by the um­
brage of ages.
10. — T h e H is to r y o f the A n g lo - S a x o n s , f r o m the ea rlie st p e r io d to th e N o r m a n C o n ­
q u est. By S h a r o n T u r n e r , F. A. S., R. A. S. L., author of “ The Sacred His­
tory of the World.” 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 560, 619. Philadelphia: Carey and
Hart. 1841.
This work is one of the most interesting of modern times, of which no other
proof is necessary but the eagerness with which it has been received, having
reached its sixth edition. The author presents an elaborate, accurate, and ex­
tensive history of a nation, of whom Americans as well as English may justly
be proud. Their social and political principles should alike be respected in
both nations, as both speak a language which is undoubtedly of Saxon origin.
Nothwithstanding the ingrafting, first of Danish, and then of Norman laws,
customs, and language, fortunately, the Saxon has finally prevailed over them,
and the former are now hardly discernible. The most learned historians con­
sider the Saxons to have been the founders of Englisji liberty, which calls forth
respect and gratitude from all who claim to be of English descent; nor from
these only, but from all American citizens, as all enjoy the benefit of Saxon free­
dom, modified and improved under our republican institutions.
11.—E liz a b e th T h o r n to n ; o r the F lo w e r a n d F r u i t o f F e m a le P ie ty . With other
Sketches. New York : M. W. Dodd. 18mo. pp. 213.
Under the impression that religious biography fails of its appropriate useful­
ness, from the tact that only the bright and shining lights of the world are made
the theme of the biographer, the writer of this has chosen one who never rose
above the humbler walks of life ; one who never dreamed that a memorial of her
labors of love would live after her; one quite content to be unknown, who
went about doing good, and whose story is told for the simple purpose of
showing how easy it is for any one to be useful.




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559

12.

— C o m m e n ta rie s o n the L a w s o f E n g la n d , i n f o u r B o o k s, w ith a n a n a ly s is o f
the w o rk. By Sir W il l ia m B la c k st on e , Knt., one of the justices of the Court

of Common Pleas: in two volumes, from the nineteenth London edition;
with a life of the author, and notes by Christian, Chitty, Lee, Hovendon,
and Ryland; and also, references to American cases, by a member of the
New York Bar. New York : W. E. Dean, and Collins, Keese & Co. 1841.
Any notice we could give of a work so celebrated as this, would be super­
fluous and unnecessary, were it not that the edition before us contains many
valuable notes, marking the changes recently effected in the English law, besides
copious references to the statutes of the state of New York, some of which
have not appeared in the previous editions. As is well known, an authority so
comprehensive and unrivalled as Blackstone is not limited to the meridian of
Great Britain only, but is almost equally applicable to this country, where the
common law still prevails in much of its original force; and not only is this
work, which so justly ranks as the first on elementary law, indispensably neces­
sary to the American practitioner, but an acquaintance with its principles is of
the utmost importance to the scholar and statesman.
To the members of the New York bar in particular, this edition must be
highly valuable, for the alterations from the text introduced by the statutes of
that state are traced at a glance, by marginal notes, or may be readily ascer­
tained by an examination of the statutes to which they refer.
13. — T a le s

o f th e O cea n , a n d E s s a y s f o r the F o r e c a s tle ; c o n ta in in g M a t te r s a n d
I n c id e n ts , H u m o r o u s , P a th e tic , R o m a n tic , a n d S e n tim e n ta l.
By H a w s e r

Illustrated with numerous engravings. Boston : S. N. Dick­
inson. 12mo. pp. 432. 1841.
The author of this work is J. S. Sleeper, Esq., at present the editor of the
“ Boston Mercantile Journal,” who pursued for more than twenty years the oc­
cupation of a mariner. He made his first voyage as cabin-boy, at the age of
fifteen, and has passed through every grade of a sea-faring life, and is, of course,
well qualified for the performance of a task like the one before us. The book
is intended to impress on the mind of the reader the duties of a seaman, both
on land and on the ocean, and to inculcate principles of sound morality. It
abounds in graphic narratives incident to a nautical life, chiefly founded on fact,
and we believe contains nothing which can be reasonably objected to on the
score of propriety or virtue. Among the tales which are too often realized in
a sailor’s life, are interwoven chapters of a different character ; essays which,
prompted by a sincere wish to promote the welfare of seamen, are designed
to awaken in their bosoms a sense of their moral duties. The author enters
into the feelings of the sailor, and lays before him scenes with which he is fa­
miliar, expressed in a language that he can understand. If our various socie­
ties who are so laudably and zealously engaged in improving the condition of
seamen, would provide means to circulate this work among this useful and neg­
lected class of men, we sincerely believe that much more good would be derived
from it than there would be from books of a graver character.
M a r t in g a l e .

14. — T h e

L o o k in g - G la s s f o r the M i n d ; o r In te lle c tu a l M ir r o r . B e i n g a n e le g a n t
collection o f the m o s t d e lig h tfu l little S to r ie s a n d in te r e s tin g T a le s : chiefly tr a n s ­
la ted f r o m th a t m u c h a d m ire d w o rk, L ’A m i des E n fa n s . With numerous wood

cuts, engraved by John Thompson. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 18mo.
This book has already passed through twenty editions, and may be considered
rather as a collection of the beauties of M. Berquin’s “ Children’s Friend,” than
as a literal abridged translation of that work. Nothing extravagant or romantic
will be found in these tales, neither enchanted castles nor supernatural agents,
but such scenes are exhibited as come within the reach of the observations of
young people in common life, made familiar by an innocent turn of thought and
expression, and applied to describe their amusements, their pursuits, and their
necessities. It is the only neat edition of Berquin that we have yet seen from
the American press.




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15. —The Theory of Horticulture: or, an attempt to explain the principal opera­
tio n s o f G a r d e n in g u p o n p h ilo so p h ic a l p r in c ip le s . By J ohn L in d l e y , P h . D.
F. R. S. First American edition, with notes, etc. By A. J. D o w nin g and
A. G r a y . New York: Wiley and Putnam. 12mo. pp. 346. 1841.
When we consider the fertility of our soil, the ease and abundance in which
all the finer fruits of temperate climates may be produced, and the comparative
facility with which almost any one may become a landholder, it is a matter of
surprise how few there are among our cultivators who understand the ra tio n a le
of the operations they pursue. But when we reflect that they are unable to
improve or modify their methods so as to insure full success under varying
circumstances, for the want of suitable instructions from books or otherwise,
the reason will appear obvious. From an examination of the work above
referred to, we are constrained to believe that it will provide the intelligent
gardener and the scientific amateur with a correct means of learning the more
important operations of horticulture, which, of necessity, depend on physiologi­
cal principles. And if these principles were properly appreciated by the great
mass of active-minded persons now engaged in horticultural pursuits in this
country, the grounds of their practice would be settled at once upon a more
satisfactory basis.
16. —H e le n F le etw o o d . By C h a r l o t t e E l iz a b e t h . New York : John S. Tay­
lor & Co. 12ino. pp. 390. 1841.
17. —A lic e B e n d e n , o r the B o w e d S h illin g , a n d other T a le s . By C h a r l o t t e E l iz a ­
b e t h . New York : John S. Taylor & Co.
18mo. pp. 177. 1841.
18. — T h e F lo w e r o f In n o cen ce, o r R a c h e l, a tr u e n a r r a tiv e ; w ith other T a le s . By
C h a r l o t t e E l iz a b e t h , author o f the Flower Garden, Floral Biography, etc.
New York : John S. Taylor. 18mo. pp. 189. 1841.
It is now about two years since this writer was introduced to the American
public through the agency of Mr. Taylor, and the rapid sale of large editions of
the various productions of her pen, is pretty conclusive evidence of the estimation
in which they are held by a numerous class of readers. Fictitious narrative is
perhaps the most attractive method of conveying what the writer may deem the
doctrines and duties of Christianity. The stories of Charlotte Elizabeth will, in
their religious tendency, compare with the earlier productions of Mrs. Sher­
wood, although the style of the former is, in our judgment, more graceful and
captivating. “ Helen Fleetwood,” the most voluminous of those named at the
head of this notice, portrays some of the abuses and evils of the English factory
system, interwoven with affecting scenes in humble life, designed to show the
power of religious faith on the mind in poverty, servitude, sickness, and death.
19. —P le a f o r the In te m p e ra te . By D a v id M. R e e s e , A. M., M. D . Late Pro­
fessor of the Theory and Practice of Physic in the Albany Medical College.
New York : John S. Taylor & Co. 18mo. pp. 86. 1841.
This essay commends itself to the notice of the enlightened philanthropist,
and to those who have fallen a prey to the influence of intoxicating drinks.
The writer would reclaim the inebriate by mild and gentle treatment. View­
ing intemperance as a physical malady, brought on by the moderate use of
alcoholic drinks, he enforces the only certain cure for the disease, a removal of
the cause, or total abstinence. The parable of the good Samaritan is introduced
as an illustration of the treatment that should be extended to this unfortunate
class of persons, and the writer bespeaks for them precisely similar treatment.
20. —F a lseh o o d a n d T r u t h . By C h a r l o t t e E l iz a b e t h . New York : M. W.
Dodd : 18mo. pp. 209. 1841.
The writer of this tale is a member of the Church of England, and belongs to
that portion of it denominated “ Low Church.” The object of the volume before
us is, through the medium of fiction, to oppose the progress of w.hat the writer
is pleased to term the “ insidious poison of Popery.” The book is neatly
printed.




Commercial Regulations.

561

COMMERCI A L REGULATI ONS.
COM M ERCIAL REGULATION S O F M OBILE.
TARIFF OF CHARGES, AGREED UPON AND ADOPTED BY THE MOBILE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

G e n e ra l T a r if f o f C o m m is sio n s , a p p lic a b le
to F o r e ig n , W e s te r n , a n d C o u n tr y b u si­
n e ss :—
p er ct.

On sales of cotton, hides, bees’-wax,
and other articles, the products of the
state,...................................................... 2 £
All other produce or merchandise,....... 5
Guarantee of
do. if not exceeding
six months,........................................... 2 £
And for each month additional, over
six months,...........................................
Purchase and shipment of merchandise
or produce,............................................. 2 £
Sales and purchase of stock and bullion, 1
Collecting and remitting dividends,...... 1
i f with guarantee of bills,...................... 2 ^
Selling vessels or steamboats,................ 5
Purchasing do.
do......................... 5
Procuring freights,.................................. 5
For delivery of cargo and collecting
freights,................................................. 5
On outfits and disbursements, when in
funds,..................................................... 2 £
Do.
do. when not in funds,........... 5
Effecting marine insurance, when the
premium does not exceed 10 per cent
on the amount insured,....................... 0 ^
If the premium exceeds 10 per cent,
then on the amount of the premium, 5
Adjusting and collecting insurance on
other claims, without litigation,....... 2 ^
Do.
do.
with litigation,........ 5
Purchasing and remitting drafts, or re­
ceiving and paying money, on which
no other commis’n has been charged, 1
If the bills remitted are guarantied,... 2£
If bills or notes remitted for collection
are protested and returned,................. 1
Landing and reshipping, and custody
of merchandise or produce from ves­
sels in distress,..................................... 2 £
Bullion or specie,.....................................
On general average,................................ 5
Consignment of merchandise withdrawn,
to pay full commission on amount of ad­
vances and responsibilities, and one-half
commission on the invoice value of goods
withdrawn.
03- The above rates to be exclusive of
brokerage, and other charges actually in­
curred.
T h e f o ll o w in g R a te s to be e sp e c ia lly a p ­
p lic a b le to E u r o p e a n a n d o th er F o r e ig n
B u s in e s s — a n y th in g in th e p r e c e d in g
G e n e ra l T a r if f to th e c o n tr a r y n o tw ith ­
s ta n d in g :—

VOL. IV.— NO. V I.




71

On remitting proceeds of sales in bills,
without guarantee,..............................
Guarantee of such bills,.........................
Drawing, endorsing, or negotiating bills
in payment for produce, if on Europe,
Drawing, endorsing, or negotiating bills
in payment for produce, if on Atlan­
tic states,...............................................
Receiving, entering, and re-shipping
goods to a foreign port, on amount
of invoice,.............................................
And on advances and responsibilities,
in addition,............................................

1

2£
2£
2£

1
2£

T h e f o ll o w in g R a te s in lik e m a n n e r to be
e s p e c ia lly a p p lic a b le to W e s te r n a n d
L o c a l B u s in e s s :—

Accepting drafts, or endorsing notes,
without funds, produce, or bills of
lading in hand,.................................... 2 £
On cash advances, either with bills of
lading or produce in hand, and when
the same is ordered to be held under
limits a certain period before selling, 2 £
For shipping to another market pro­
duce or merchandise, upon which ad­
vances have been made,..................... 2 £
Effecting insurance, except when the
commissions for buying or selling
have been charged on the amount of
insurance,...............
"i
If the premium exceeds 10 per cent,
then on the amount of premium,..... 5
Negotiating drafts or notes, either as
drawer or endorser,............................. 2 £
Collecting steamboat freights................. 5
Entering and bonding goods for the in­
terior, on am’nt of duties and ch’ges, 2 £
Besides the regular charge per package
for forwarding.
AGENCY FOR STEAMBOATS.

P e r tr ip .

Under 120 tons,................................. $20 00
Above 120 to 200,............................. 30 00
Above 200 to 300,............................. 40 00
Above 300 to 400,............................. 50 00
Besides charges actually incurred, and
the regular commissions for particular ser­
vices, such as collecting freight, paying
disbursements, &c.
Loss by fire, (unless insurance has been
ordered,) robbers, thieves, and all unavoid­
able accidents, (if usual care has been
taken to secure the property,) to be borne
by the owners of the goods.

562

Commercial Regulations.

R a l e s f o r R e c e iv in g a n d F o r w a r d in g
G o o d s , e x c lu s iv e o f c h a r g e s a c tu a lly in ­
c u r r e d :—

For barrels of 5 cubic feet, and on goods
that are carried by weight, (200 lbs. shall
be considered a barrel,) per bbl..........20

W hen molasses is shipped by the hogshead,
without any special agreement, it shall
be taken at 110 gallons, estimated on the
full capacity of the cask.
WHARF RATES.

O n V e s s e ls —

Under 20 tons, per day,..............
RATES OF STORAGE PER MONTH.
From 20 to 501tons, per day,....... ....
Cotton, hay, and peltries, per bale,..$>0 25
371
75 From 50 to 100 tons, per day,.... ...
Hogsheads and pipes,...........................
50
Bbls. of pork, beef, whiskey, sugar,
From 100 to 150 tons, per day,... ...
62J
From 150 tons: and upwards,...........
and other wet barrels,...................
20
75
Oyster boats—-1st class,.............. ..... 1 00
Do. of floor, potatoes, and other
do.
light articles,.....................................
15
2 d class,............... ....
75
Castings, per ton,.............................. 2 50
do.
3d class,............... ....
50
Iron, per ton,...................................... 1 00
Vessels in the second or third tier, half
10 the above rates.
Sacks of salt, per sack,........................
Sacks of coffee, do...............................
12£ Vessels having their fasts to the wharf,
Spice, per sack,.................................
12£ or within the distance of 50 feet, are sub­
Bagging, per piece,................................
8 ject to wharfage.
Coils of Rope,........................................
6
On G oods an d P ro d u ce—
Kegs of nails,..........................................
6 Ballast, per ton,................................. $ 0 25
All drygoods for the whole time they
Barrels and quarter casks, each,.......
04
may be on hand, on amount of
Bags salt, 4 bushels each,................
04
sales,.....................................................
1
do.
2 do. each,................
02
On drygoods received for forward­
Bags coffee, pimento, pepper, &c.,
04
ing, per cubic foot,............................
5 Beeves,................................................
12£
Crates and casks of crockery-ware, 75
Boxes sugar, each,............................
08
Boxes, bales, and other packages,
FREIGHTS.
per five feet,...................................
04
W h e n V e s s e ls a re c h a r te r e d , o r G o o d s
Boxes soap, each,...............................
02
s h ip p e d b y th e to n , a n d no s p e c ia l a g r e e ­ Boxes candles, each,.........................
02
m e n t r e s p e c tin g th e p r o p o rtio n o f to n ­ Boxes chocolate,................................
01 £
n a g e w h ic h each a r tic le s h a ll be com ­ Boxes herring, window glass, and
p u te d , a t, th e f o ll o w in g r e g u la tio n s s h a ll
oil, each,......................................
01£
be th e s ta n d a r d :—
Boxes cordial, wine, cider, &c., of
T hat the articles, the bulk of which shall
1 doz. bottles, each,........................
02
compose a ton, to equal a ton of heavy Bolts of bagging, duck, & c.,...........
03
materials, shall be on weight as follows: Bottles, per gross,.............................
10
62£
Coffee, in casks, 1568 lbs.; do. in bags, Brick, per 1000,................................
Cables and cordage, per ton,...........
50
1850 lbs.
Carriages and wagons, each,............ 1 00
Cocoa, in casks, 1120 lbs.; in bags, 1300.
03
Pimento, in casks, 950 lbs.; in bags, 1100. Cedar logs, each,................................
Carts, gigs, and drays, each,...........
50
Flour, 8 bbls. of 196 lbs. each.
01
Beef, Pork, Tallow, Pickled Fish, and na- Chairs, each,......................................
Coils bale rope, each,........................
03
val stores, 6 bbls.
03
Pig and bar-iron, lead, and other metals or Corn, per sack,..................................
10
ore, heavy dyewoods, sugar, rice, honey, Cotton, per bale,......................... .
and other heavy articles, 2240 lbs., Crates and tierces of crockery, per
five feet,.........................................
04
gross.
30
Ship-bread, in casks, 672 lbs.; in bags, 684 Coal, per ton,.....................................
Cotton
gins,........................................
25
lb s.; in bulk, 896 lbs.
1 50
Wines, brandy, spirits, and liquids gene­ Coaches,.................
01
rally, reckoning the full capacity of the Demijohns, each,...............................
Deer skins, per bundle,.....................
06
cask, wine measure, 200 gallons.
10
Grain, Peas, and Beans, in casks, 22 bush­ Fodder, per bale,................................
Furniture, per five feet,...................
04
els ; in bulk, 36 bushels.
01
Salt, European, in bulk, 36 bushels; West Grindstones, each,.............................
Hogsheads and pipes, each,............
16
India, 31 bushels.
02
Half barrels, each,............................
Stone coal, 28 bushels.
10
Timber, plank, furs, peltry, in bales or Half pipes and tierces, each,...........
10
boxes, cotton, wool, or other measure­ Hay, per bale,....................................
Hides, each,.......................................
01
ment goods, 40 cubic feet.
Hoop-poles, per thousand,................
37£
Dry Hides, 1120 lbs.




Commercial Regulations.

563

Salt, per bushel,................................
01
Hogs, per head,.......................... ......
6i
064
Sheep, per head,................................
30
Iron and castings, per to n ,...... .....
Shingles and laths, per 1000,.........
12£
03
Kegs of shot and lead,.............. ......
Staves,
do.
do.
............
62 £
oa
do. Nails,............................. ......
Shells, each flat load,.......................10 00
02
do. Butter and Lard,........ ......
00 £
Segars, per 1000,..............................
03
do. Tobacco,....................... ......
Twine, per bale,................................
03
01
do. Paint, biscuit, &c........ ......
04
62i Wheelbarrows,..................................
Lumber, per 1000 feet,.............. .....
Wood, per cord,................................
30
Millstones, large, per pair,....... ...... 1 00
Flats, broken up in the slips, will be
Oranges, per 1000,.....................
charged, each,................................ 2 00
Onions, per 1U0 bunches..........
Ploughs,.......................................
( A l l g o o d s n o t e n u m e r a te d w i l l be c h a r­
Pumpkins, per 100,...........................
10
g e d in p r o p o r tio n to th e above r a te s .)
Slate, per 1000....................................
40
The above rates will be charged for landing, and also for shipping. Goods or countryproduce discharged from a vessel, barge, or flat, lying at a wharf, or in the second or
third tier, into another vessel, barge, or flat, will be charged to the owner of such pro­
duce or goods, one wharfage. Also, goods or cotton landed on one wharf, and taken
from the same wharf, into another vessel, barge, or flat, will be charged two wharfages;
one to the owner or consignee, and one to the shipper.
No cotton allowed to be picked on the wharves, on any consideration.
All rubbish, bricks, sweepings from vessels, &c., will be removed at the expense of
whatever vessel, barge, or flat may have deposited the same on the wharves.
Cotton, firewood, lumber, brick, staves, &c., will be entitled to remain on the wharf
twenty-four hours after landing ; after which time, if not removed, an additional wharf­
age will be made for each and every day remaining.
All vessels loading with cotton will be required to take their cargo on board as fast
as it is sent to them, or tier it in such manner as not to lumber the wharves.
All goods other than cotton must be removed on the same day on which they are
landed, or they will be liable for an additional wharfage for every day they remain.
Flats will be allowed to remain at the wharves two days after discharging, unless
their place is particularly wanted. No flats will be permitted to be broken up in the
slips without leave.
TARIFF OF CHARGES ADOPTED BY THE STEAM COTTON-PRESSES, AT MOBILE.

C o m p r e s s in g —Cotton,

per bale, 75 c en ts; cotton intended to be compressed, 12£
cents for the first month, and 64 cents for each subseqent week thereafter. Time com­
puted from date of press receipt, until delivered to lighter or vessel.
Cotton brought from warehouses not attached to press, if ship-marked and compressed
immediately, no charge for storage. Shippers will be charged 8 cents per bale drayage,
for cotton delivered at the wharf attached to the press.
S to r a g e —Cotton, per bale, for the first two weeks, 25 c en ts; for each subsequent
week, 64 cents. Cotton changing hands will in all cases be liable to new storage from
date of order inclusive. Draymen who bring cotton into the yard are required to head
the bales. Turning out for sampling or weighing, and restoring the same-, 8 cents per
bale. Turning out and arranging all cotton not intended to be compressed, 64 cents
per bale.
W antages to be assessed by press when the cotton comes in, and the amount assessed
endorsed on the face of receipt. Any objection for overcharges to be made at the lime.
G r a s s , to w , b a rk , or ta r r e d ropes will be considered unmerchantable and deficient. All
deficient ropes will be charged at the rate of 12 4 cents per rope. All bagging used
will be charged at 25 cents per yard.
All cotton sent to press must be accompanied by a memorandum, specifying marks
and number of bales, and whether for storage or compressing, for whose account, and
for what vessel. The receipts then given will be considered as a voucher that the cot­




564

Commercial Regulations.

tons are received in good order, unless expressly specified to the contrary on the face
of the receipt, and to be delivered in like good order by the press.
Compressing bills payable in cash when cargo is complete. Storage and other bills
payable monthly or upon delivery of cotton.
T A R IF F O F T H E REPUBLIC O F TEX AS,
A s f i x e d b y th e F i f t h C o n g r e s s , a n d w h ic h to o k effe c t f r o m a n d a f te r A p r i l

1, 1841.

P e r c e n t , a d va l.

Ale, and all other kinds of malt liquor,............................................................... 45
“
Books,................................................................................................................... free.
Calicoes, and all articles of which cotton forms a component part,........ 45
“
Cider, in cask or bottle,........................................................................................ 45
“
Coffee,.................................................................................................................... 15
“
Farm ing utensils, implements of husbandry, and furniture, the property
of emigrants, in actual use, not exceeding in value $500,.................... free.
Iron, pig, bar, or rod,............................................................................................ 15
“
“ All manufactured articles of which it forms a component part,....... 45
“
Linen, all articles of which it forms a component part,................................ 45
“
Liquors, brandy, gin, rum, cordials, and other liquors, 1st and 2d proof, $1 00 per gal.
“
“
“
“
3d and 4th “
1 25
“
44
“
“
*•
over 4th
“
1 50
“
W hiskey,............................................................................. 1st and 2d proof,
50
u
“
............................................................................. 3d
“
75
“
“
............................................................................. 4th
“
1 00
“
44
............................................................................over 4th,
“
1 25
“
S a lt,......................................................................................................................15 per ct. ad v.
“
Silk, all articles of which it forms a component part,................................... 45
Steel, bar or rod,.................................................................................................. 15
“
Sugar,..................................................................................................................... 15
“
T e a ,........................................................................................................................ 45
“
Tobacco.................................................................................................................. 45
“
Tools and implements of trade in actual use, the property of emigrants, free.
Wines, Burgundy, Hermitage, Chambertin, and all other varieties of
Burgundy, except Champagne,....................................................... 45
“
“ Champagne,............................................................................................ $ 5 per doz.
44 Claret, in cases,....................................................................................45 per ct. ad v.
44
44 in casks,........................................... ....................................... 20 cts. per gal.
44 M adeira,.................................................................................................. $1 50 per gal.
“ Port,.........................................................................................................
75
“
“
Rhenish, all kinds,............................................................................... 1 00
“
“ Spanish, Red, and W hite,..................................................................
50
“
44 Sherry,..................................................................................................... 1 50
“
“ Teneriffe,................................................................................................
50
“
Wearing apparel, the personal property of emigrants,.................................
free.
Woollens, and all articles of which wool forms a component part,........... 45 per ct. ad v.
All articles not otherwise enumerated,........................................................... 45
“
M ETH O D O F SE N D IN G L E T T E R S FO R T H E N E W YORK STEA M ERS.
Postmasters having applications to forward letters to New York, to be sent by the
steamships to Europe, can do so by collecting both the U. S. inland postage, and the
ship’s charges. The letters should then be made up in a separate bundle, with two
bills ; one, as usual, for the inland postage, and another showing ihe amount of ship’s
postage, marked “ steamer freight b i llw r a p p in g the money for the ship’s postage se­
curely in the same bundle with the letters and “ freight bill,” and sealing and directing
the bundle to the “ Post Office, New York, for Steamer.”
S h ip 's P o s ta g e . —Single Letter, 25 cents; double, 50 cents; triple, 75 cents; quad­
ruple, 1 dollar; and 1 dollar per ounce for packets or letters, composed of one or more
other articles. Newspapers, 2 cents eac h ; periodicals, magazines, and pamphlets, 2
cents per sheet.
F o r e ig n P o s ta g e . —Letters for places out of the United Kingdom and France where
the inland English postage has to be paid by the steamship company, are charged 1 dol­
lar per single sheet, and in proportion for all others as above.




Commercial Regulations.

565

R A T E S O F TO LL ON T H E N E W YORK CANALS, 1841.
At a meeting of the Canal Board, at the Canal Room, in the city of Albany, on tne
13th April, 1841, the following rates of toll were established on persons and property
transported on all the canals of the state, excepting the Genesee Valley, for the year 1841.
ARTICLES.

$c.
cts_ m. / r .
1. On flour, salted beef and pork, butter, cheese, tallow, lard, beer and cider,
per 1000 pounds per mile,................................................................................. 0 4 5
2. On bran and ship-stuff’s in bulk, per 1000 pounds per mile,............................ 0 4 5
I r o n , M in e r a ls , Ores,
3. On salt manufactured in this state, per 1000 pounds permile,...................... 0 2 3
4. On foreign salt, per 1000 pounds per mile,....................................................... 3 0 0
5. 1st. On gypsum, the product of this state, per 1000poundsper mile,.............. 0 2 3
2d. On foreign gypsum, per 1000 pounds per mile,......................................... 0 4 5
6 . On brick, sand, lime, clay, earth, leached ashes, manure, and iron ore, per
1000 pounds per mile,........................................................................................ 0 2 3
7. On pot and pearl ashes, kelp, charcoal, pig iron, broken castings and scrap
iron, per 1000 pounds per mile,....................................................................... 0 4 5
8 . 1st. On mineral coal going towards tide water, or going north on the
Champlain canal, having come from the west, or going west, from Utica
or from any point west thereof, or going upon any lateral c an a l; and on
anthracite coal going from tide water, per 1000 pounds per mile,............. 0 2 0
2d. On all other mineral coal than such as above specified, per 1000 pounds
per mile,............................................................................................................... 0 4 5
9. On stove and all other iron castings, per 1000 pounds per mile,.................. 0 4 5
10. On copperas and manganese, going towards tide water, per 1000 pounds
per m ile,.............................................................................................................. 0 4 5
11. On bar and pig lead, going towards tide water, per 1000 pounds per mile, 0 2 0
F u r s , P e l t r y , S k in s , fyc.
12. On furs and peltry, (except deer, buffalo, and moose skins,) per 1000
pounds per mde,.................................................................................................. 1 0 0
13. On deer, buffalo, and moose skins, per 1000 pounds per mile,..................... 0 5 0
14. On sheep skins, and other raw hides of domestic animals of the United
States, per 1000 pounds per mile,................................................................... 0 4 5
15. On imported raw hides, of domestic and other animals, per 1000 pounds
per mile,.............................................................................................................. 0 5 0
F u r n itu r e , $ c .
16. On household furniture, accompanied by, and actually belonging to, families
emigrating, per 1000 pounds per mile,..................
0 4 5
17. On carts, wagons, sleighs, ploughs, and mechanics’ tools, necessary for the
owners’ individual use, when accompanied by the owner, emigrating for
the purpose of settlement, per 1000 pounds per mile,.................................. 0 4 5
S to n e , S l a t e , tyc.
18. On slate and tile for roofing, and stone ware, per 1000 pounds per mile,... 0 4 5
19. On all stone, wrought or unwrought, per 1000 pounds per mile,................. 0 2 3
L u m b e r , W o o d , ty c .
20. On timber, squared and round, per 100 cubic feet per mile, if carried in
boats,.................................................................................................................... 0 5 0
21. On the same, if carried in rafts, (except docksticks, as in next item,) per
100 cubic feet per m ile,.................................................................................... 1 5 0
22. On round dock-sticks, passing in cribs separate from every other kind of
timber, per 100 cubic feet per mile,................................................................. 1 0
0
23. On blocks of timber for paving streets, per 1000 pounds per mile,............... 0 1 0
24. 1st. On boards, plank, scantling, and sawed timber, reduced to inch mea­
sure, and all siding, lath, and other sawed stuff, less than one inch thick,
carried in boats, (except such as is enumerated in regulations No. 26
and 35,) per 1000 feet per m ile,...................................................................... 0 5 0
2d. On the same, if transported in rafts, per 1000 feet per mile,................. 2 0 0
25. On mahogany, (except veneering,) reduced to inch measure, per 1000 feet
per mile,............................................................................................................... 1 5
0




P r o v is io n s ,

566

Commercial Regulations.
CIS.

26. On sawed lath, of less than five feet in length, split lath, hoop-poles, hand­
spikes, rowing oars, broom-handles, spokes, hubs, tree-nails, felloes, and
“ boat knees,” per 1000 pounds per mile,...................................................... 0
27. On staves and heading, transported in boats, per 1000 pounds per mile,... 0
28. On the same, if transported in rafts, per 1000 pounds per mile,................... 0
29. On shingles per M. per mile, carried in boats,................................................ 0
30. On the same, if conveyed in rafts, per M. per mile,........................................ 0
31. On split posts, (not exceeding 10 feet in length,) and rails for fencing, (not
exceeding 14 feet in length,) per M. per mile, carried in boats,............... 2
32. On the same, if conveyed in rafts, per M. per mile,........................................ 8
33. On wood for fuel, (except such as may be used in the manufacture of salt,
which shall be exempt from toll,) and tan bark, per cord, per mile,........ 1
34. On the same, if transported in rafts, per cord per mile,................................. 2
35. On sawed stuff for window blinds, not exceeding one fourth of an inch in
thickness, and window sashes, per 1000 pounds per mile,.......................... 0
A g r ic u l tu r a l P r o d u c tio n s , tf c .
36. On cotton and wool, per 1000 pounds per mile,................................................ 0
37. On live cattle, sheep and hogs, per 1000 pounds per mile,.......................... 0
38. On horses, (and each horse, when not weighed, to be computed at 900
pounds,) per 1000 pounds per mile,................................................................. 0
39. On rags, per 1000 pounds per mile,................................................................... 0
40. On hemp, Manilla and unmanufactured tobacco, per1000 pounds per mile, 0
41. On pressed hay, per 1000 pounds per mile,......................................................... 0
42. On wheat and all other agricultural productions of the United States, not
particularly specified, and not being merchandise, per 1000lbs. permile, 0
43. On merchandise, per 1000 pounds per mile,.................................................. 0

2

0

2
0
5
0
1 0
4 0
0
0

0
0

0

0

0 0
5 0
4
4

5
5

5
4
4
2

0
5
5
3

4
9

5
0

A r t i c l e s n o t e n u m e r a te d .

44. On all articles
1000 pounds
45. On all articles
per thousand

not enumerated or excepted, passing from tide water, per
per mile,.............................
0 9
not enumerated or excepted, passing towards tide water,
pounds per mile,......................................................................... 0 4

0
5

B o a ts a n d P a s s e n g e r s .

46. On boats used chiefly for the transportation of persons, navigating any of
the canals, except the Junction canal, per mile,.......................
5 0 0
47. On boats, used chiefly for the transportation of persons, navigating the
Junction canal, and not connected with regular lines of boats for the
transportation of persons on the Erie or Champlain canals, per mile,.... 50 0 0
48. On boats, used chiefly for the transportation of property, per mile,........... 2 0 0
49. On all persons over ten years of age, per mile,............................................. 0 1 0
50. On articles of the manufacture of the United States, going towards tide
water, although they may be enumerated in the foregoing list, per 1000
pounds per mile,.................................................................................................. 0 4 5
During the present year, there shall be allowed a drawback of seventy-three per cent
on the amount of tolls paid on the transportation of mineral coal from the west to tide
water or to the Junction canal, provided such coal shall be delivered at tide water, or
at some point on the Junction canal or on the Champlain canal; and the like drawback
shall be allowed of seventy-three per cent on the amount of tolls paid on the transporta­
tion of anthracite coal from tide water to Utica, which shall be delivered at that place,
or at any point west thereof; the amount of such drawback to be refunded to the per­
sons paying the said tolls, under the direction of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund,
on the production of such evidence as they shall prescribe, of the said tolls having been
paid, and of the delivery of such coal as herein provided.
It will be perceived from the above that the rates of toll on “ coal,” “ pressed hay,”
“ split posts and rails for fencing,” packet boats and passengers, have been modified.
The former regulations of the board in relation to monthly statements and commuta­
tion toll on passengers have been repealed, and hereafter all boats running night and
day will be required to pay the toll on passengers at the termination of each trip.
V. T E N EYCK, Clerk.




Railroad and Canal Statistics.

567

RAI LROAD AND CANAL S T A T I S T I C S .
TA BU LA R ST A T E M E N T
OF THE COST, TOTAL REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES, FOR TIIE LAST ELEVEN YEARS, OF THE
__________ SEVERAL FINISHED LINES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CANALS AND RAILROADS.

60
C a n a ls a n d R a ilr o a d s .

E a s te r n D iv is io n —P a . C a n a l.

Columbia to Duncan’s Island,__
J u n ia ta D iv is io n — P a . C a n a l.
Duncan’s Island to Hollidaysb’g,
W e s te r n D iv is io n — P a . C a n a l.
Johnstown to Pittsburg,................
D e la w a r e D iv is io n —P a . C a n a l.
Bristol to Easton,.........................
S u sq u e h a n n a D iv . — P a . C a n a l.
Duncan’s I. to Northumberland,
N o r. B ra n c h D iv . — P a . C a n a l.
Northumberl. to Lackawannock,
W e s t B ra n c h D iv . —P a . C a n a l.
Northumberland to Dunnsburg,.
F ren ch C re e k D io . — P a . C a n a l.
Franklin to Conneaut Lake,.......
B e a v e r D iv is io n — P a . C a n a l.
Beaver to Newcastle,....................
C o lu m b ia a n d P h ila d . R a ilw a y .

Columbia to Philadelphia,...........
Railroad tolls,........................
Motive power,........................
A lle g h a n y P o r ta g e R a ilw a y .

Hollidaysburg to Johnstown,.......
Railroad tolls,........................
Motive power,........................
Locomotives, ropes, &-c.......

TOTAL
C o st.

£ *2
43

R evenue.

E x p e n d itu r e s .

$1,734,958 61 1,047,826 08

422,805 20

3,437,334 99

491,104 91

592,180 49

105

2,964,882 67

887,013 65

889,834 46

60

1,374,774 42

586,515 01

638,831 11

39

867,874 37

141,730 05

314,253 69

73

1,491,894 67

63,559 02

390,624 11

72

1,708,579 82

60,859 95

333,738 36

130

45

784,754 61

4,767 42

133,979 26

25

522,258 98

10,924 02

139,082 21

82

36

3,983,302 05 1,205,419 91
824,919 79

585,343 88
862,074 76
436,579 51

1,783,176 45
413,504 71
443,480 29

1#20,653,791

293,135 40
539,507 44
122,236 92

64 6,181,624 81 6,694,206 80

COST O F RAILROADS CO M PLETED IN T H E ST A T E O F N E W YORK.
C o s t p e r m ile .

..54
..26
..30
..23J
. .32
.2 3
..31
Buffalo and Niagara Falls,.. ..23
Utica and Syracuse,..
Svracuse and Auburn
Ithaca and Owego,...

“

...#1,901,785..
1 , 0 0 0 ,0 0 0 ..
460,000..
575,400..
450,000..
400,000..
297^237..
434,000..
110 ,0 0 0 ..

...#24,380
... 18,518
... 17,692
... 19,180
... 20,454
... 12,500
... 12^923
... 14,000
... 4,349

320J
#5,628,422
Average cost per mile, $17,561.
The first four of these roads are graded for a double track. The cost of the Utica
and Schenectady railroad includes all the charges incidental to construction account
from the commencement up to January 1, 1841. In the above table of railroads in
this state, the cost of the Harlem, and the Mohawk and Hudson, are not included. The
former has a very expensive tunnel, and is in every other respect much above the cost
of any other road, completed or in contemplation. The latter was the pioneer road, and
could now be constructed for, at most, one half of its original cost.




568

Nautical Intelligence.

NAUTI CAL I NTELLIGENCE.
R A T E S O F PIL O T A G E FO R T H E PO RT O F BALTIM ORE,
C o n d e n s e d , w i t h o th e r m a tte r a p p e r ta in in g th e r e to , f r o m v a r io u s A c t s o f th e G e n e ra l
A s s e m b ly o f M a r y la n d .

For every vessel, either drawing 9 feet water or upwards, or measuring 75 tons,
customhouse tonnage, coming from the sea to the city of Baltimore, per foot, $ 3 50
For every vessel of like draft, from Baltimore to sea,................................................ 2 50
For the months of December, January, February, and March, in addition to every
foot such vessel draws,................................................................................................
75
Every master or owner of a merchant vessel going to sea, whether sailing under a
coasting license or registered, of the burden of one hundred and twenty tons and up.
wards, shall be obliged to receive the first pilot who offers to conduct or pilot his ves­
sel. and shall continue the same pilot to the capes, or shall pay to him half pilotage;
provided the said pilot shall speak or board said vessel above Fort McHenry, and shall
be duly licensed to act as pilot; and provided further, that the pilot who shall have
conducted any vessel from the capes into port shall be entitled to take charge of the
same vessel as pilot to the capes, on her next voyage.
Any master or owner of a merchant vessel, sailing under a coasting license or regis­
tered, of the burden of one hundred tons and upwards, coming from sea, shall be
obliged to take the first pilot who shall offer to conduct or pilot his vessel, and shall
continue the same to the port of destination, or shall pay to him half pilotage; pro­
vided, said pilot shall speak or board said vessel before Cape Henry lighthouse shall
bear south ; and provided also, the said pilot shall have a branch or license to the
destined port of said vessel.
The owners of all vessels of the burden of seventy-five tons and upwards, not ex­
ceeding one hundred tons, before going to sea, shall apply to the board of pilots for a
license to navigate the Chesapeake Bay, and shall pay to the said board, for such li­
cense, at the rate of six cents per ton, and such license shall be good for twelve months.
The master of any vessel, for which a license is made necessary by the preceding
regulation, who shall navigate the same without such license, shall subject himself to
receive a pilot upon the same terms as is provided for in the first regulation.
L IG H T S IN T H E NEIGH BORHO OD O F GO TTENBURG.
Charles Tottie, Esq., in a communication dated London, (England,) March 5th, 1841,
in a letter to the Swedish and Norwegian General Consulate, gives the following trans­
lation of an ordinance issued by the royal navy board, at Stockholm, on the 12th of
January, 1841.
First—T hat a lighthouse of stone has been erected on the island of Winga, situated
outside the entrance to Gottenburg, in lat. 57° 3 7 ' 30" N., Ion. 29° 46' E. of Ferro, in
which lighthouse will be placed a standing Lentill light, of the third degree, whose
light, when spread around the whole horizon, will be visible at a distance of three geo­
graphical, or German miles.
Secondly—A t the same time as the light at Winga shall be exhibited, auxiliary lights
will be exhibited on the Bush Rock, (Buskaret,) and on the Bott Island, (Botto.)
These two auxiliary lights will serve the navigator for his guidance when coming to an
anchorage during the night in the channel leading to Gottenburg.
Thirdly—Further information will be given when the time for the exhibition of these
lights is definitively settled.
Similar information has been received from our charge d’affaires at Stockholm, and
was published, under the direction of the department of state, April 26,1841.




Commercial Statistics

569

COMMERCI AL S T A T I S T I C S .
FLOUR INSPECTIONS IN BALTIMORE FOR THE LAST FORTY-TWO
YEARS.
A c c o u n t o f F lo u r in s p e c te d in th e c i t y o f B a ltim o r e , p e r th e in s p e c to r's q u a r te r ly r e tu r n s ,
f r o m 1798 to 1840, in c lu siv e .

5 bxi WHEAT FLOUR. TOTAL AMOUNT.
K ,K
a 15
c* s B a r r e ls . i B b ls. B a rr e ls. 4 B b ls.

£

1798 Mar.
“ June

85,377
54,799

5,172
4,870

1798
it
1799
ii

Sept
Dec.
Mar.
June

31,138
75,732
59,825
71,192

3,752
3,818
3,011
5,498

1799
“
1800
“

Sept
Dec.
Mar.
June

43,878
89,316
55,986
70,089

4,270
5,860
3,583
3,277

1800
U
1801
it

Sept
Dec.
Mar.
June

42,693
97,029
90,471
78,109

2,312
6,055
3,333
5,152

1801
a
1803
tl

Sept 63,736
Dec. 108,433
Mar. 64,231
June 96,237

5,628
4,491
2,423
6,394

1802 Sept 71,519
“ Dec. 126,718
1803 Mar. 123,105
ti June 93,403

5,947
7,093
4,282
5,213

1803 Sept 74.474
li
Dec. 105,196
1804 Mar. 76,727
“ June 61,098

5,052
6,513
2,767
2,589

1804 ^Sept
ll Dec.
1805 Mar.
a June

42,250
75,157
64,880
64,176

3,235
2,632
1,93!)
3,330

Sept 83,706
Dec. 114,226
Mar. 84,841
June 48,666

6,026
5,721
3,005
2,371

1806 Sept 82,606
(( Dec. 126,312
1807 Mar. 115,780
ii June 126,181

4,317
7,005
5,759
5,745

1807 Sept 76,762
(i Dec. 130,706

4,649
5,389

WHEAT FLOUR.
s
O* S

B a r r e ls .

1808 Mar.
“ June

54,213
49,845

1,980
1,178

Sept 44,746
Dec. 106,387
Mar. 94,451
June 107,774

919
1,907
2,309
5,750

1809 Sept 78,162
ii
Dec. 132,782
1810 Mar. 83,706
ii June 56,082

5,990
6,170
2,976
3,353

1810 Sept 80,107
ll
Dec. 134,284
1811 Mar. 125,667
“ June 98,644

5,989
7,074
6,795
4,779

1811 Sept 109,100
“ Dec. 182,858
1812 Mar. 159,641
“ June 70,264

7,871
8,121
7,084
2,431

£

4

B b ls. B a r r e ls .

140,176 10,042

350,732 18,489

259,269 16,990

317,032 16,852

438,782 24,637

521,863 25,507
1812 Sept 80,752 5,712
ii
Dec. 227,331 14,196
1813 Mar. 133,472 7,306
“ June 24,860 1,072

414,745 22,535

466,415 28,286
1813 Sept 20,033
(4 Dec. 107,101
1814 Mar. 68,016
ii June 28,971

893
2,583
793
410

Sept
7,104
Dec. 50,725
Mar. 54,544
June 113,247

91
1,405
1,632
3,817

1815 Sept 88,030
ii
Dec. 125,759
1816 Mar. 80,103
ll June 64,336

4,596
3,480
2,266
3,367

1816 Sept 85,665
“ Dec. 157,676
1817 Mar. 93,898
“ June 126,962

3,872
4,887
2,131
3,788

1817 Sept 56,896
tl
Dec. 114,920

1,986
4,310

317,495 16,921
1814
“
1815
ll
216,463 11,127

331,439 17,123




224,121

4,679

225,620

6,945

358,228 13,709

483,879 22,826

V O L . I V .— N O . V I.

B b ls.

353,358 10,885

237,887 16,079

1805
“
1806
ii

^

311,526 13,196
1808
“
1809
(t

332,637 19,636

TOTAL AMOUNT.

464,201 14,678

72

570

Commercial Statistics.

Y ear.

F lour I nspections in B altim ore , e t c .— C o n tin u e d .

fci)
*

W H EA T FLOUR.

B a r r e 1*

i

TO T A L AM OUNT.

B b ls . B a r r e ls .

^

B b ls.

5 ti
5 £

W H EA T FLOUR.

B a rr e ls.

1818 Alar. 124,995 2,915
June 82,939 4,301
1818 Sept 94,221
ii
Dec. 132,710
1819 Mar. 93,597
“ June 73,957
1819 Sept
it
Dec.
1820 Mar.
“ June

102,986
183,929
148,205
108,846

1820 Sept
it
Dec.
1821 Mar.
“ June

118,924
194,576
112,083
122,040

1821 Sept 85,723
it
Dec. 150,074
1822 Alar. 103,450
it
June 130,886

1829 Sepl 79,968
“ Dec. 178,491
379,750 13,542 1831 Mai. 151,928
ii
6,452
June 122,435
5,354
5,268
1839 Sept 115,855
“ Dec 197,657
2,982
394,485 21,056 1831 Alar. 165,625
it
5,512
June 159,181
8,706
6,407
1831 Sept 91,537
“ Dec. 128,030
3.917
543,966 24,542 1832 Alar 145,482
“ June 88,953
5,384
7,296
4,439
1832 Sept 106,643
“ Dec 177,596
5,775
547,623 22,894 1833 Mar. 121,952
it
7,891
June 134,047
9,661
5,969
1833 Sept 112,294
ii
7,922
Dec. 156,327
470,133 31,443 1834 Mar 83,699
ii
8,569
June 107,693

1822 Sept 53,351
Dec. 125,544 11,001
1823 Mar. 73,485 4,294
it
June 92,986 7,456
1823 Sept 89,373
it
Dec. 71,52'1824 Mar. 108,651
ii
June 136,277
1824 Sept
“ Dec.
1825 Mar.
June

113,566
171,064
113,652
110,698

1825 Sept 97,580
it
Dec. 175,741
1826 Mar. 175,671
ii
June 158,703
1826 Sept 94,208
it
Dec. 155,089
1827 Mar. 154,188
ii
June 166,840
1827 Sept 80,142
*’ Dec 160,109
1828 Mar. 136,017
it
J une 117,399
1828 Sept 110,465
ii
Dec. 173,125
1829 Mar 121,648
it
June 89,337




1834 Sept
“ Dec.
345,366 31,320 1835 Mar.
“ June
7,964
10,490
5,167
1835 Sept
it
6,262
Dec.
505,823 29,883 1836 Mar
H
8,866
June
10,269
2,976
1836 Sept
“ Dec.
5,470
1
508,980 27,581 8 3 7 rvf«r
i
t
8,679
June
8,385
5,789
1837 Sept
“ Dec.
7,916
607,695 30,769 1838 Mar
“ June
4,670
6,980
1838 Sepl
5,679
“ Dec.
4,763
570,325 9 9 0 9 9 1839
ti
4,266
June
8,253
4,295
1839 oept
“ Dec
5,302
493,667 22,116 1840 Mar.
it
4,991
June
4,291
1840 Sept
2,449
tl
2,661.
Dec.
494,571 14,394

J

B b ls. B a r r e ls .

J

B b ls.

4,220
5,820
3,404
4,991
532,522 18,435
5,126
6,344
3,702
6,749
638,318 21,921
4,818
6,268
4,539
2,471
454,002 18,096
4,553
5,981
3,706
3,765
540,238 18,005
5,154
5,447
2,295
3,910
460,013 16,806

169,331
129,128
139,938

4,137
6,922
4,202
4,910

92,157
155,377
118,221
126,231

5,787
6,434
4,607
3,421

50,283
99,189
94,954
81,622

.1,741
3,764
3,157
2,093

100,808
114,292
80,887
76,366

4,984
4,543
3,008
5,835

100,944
162,437
138,029
107,665

4,993
5,386
5,224
4,243

110,127
195,171
254,458
174,123

4,091
6,219
7,821
6,665

139,820
198,530

7,575
9,907

120,010

TO TA L AM OUNT.

558,407 20,171

491,986 20,249

326,048 10,755

372,355 18,370

509,075 19,846

733,879 24,796

Commercial Statistics.

571

PRODUCT O F B REA D -STU FFS IN T H E U N IT E D ST A T E S.
We have received, through the politeness of Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary of
State, the returns of the agricultural products of the United States, compiled from the
returns of the U. S. marshals for taking the census, in June, 1840, with the exception
of two states and territories. It exhibits the growing wealth of our wide-spread national
domain. The following tables, mainly constructed from this document, with the re­
marks appended, (with a few slight alterations,) are from the D e tr o it D a i l y A d v e r tis e r .
In this article, we give only the immense amount of b r e a d -stu ffs produced, reserving
the other important articles for a future number :—
B u s h e ls o f
W h e a t.

B u s h e ls o f
o th e r g r a in .

B u s h e ls o f
P o ta to e s .

848,166
442,954
642,963
158,923
3,088
86,980
11,853,907
774,023
13,029,756
215,165
3,511,443
10,066,809
705,925
1,732,956
16,214,260
4,547,372
105
746,106
196,476
940,077
4,154,256
2,740,380
2,189,263

1,630,996
3,084,854
4,051,818
3,604,082
697,408
3,995,175
39,540,501
9,922,044
40,198,521
3,086,705
12,772,280
50,054,336
16,236.512
18,703,310
48,797,112
49,545,443
6,622,398
16,146,577
13,669,940
13,840,190
34,086,545
28,354,932
6,152,273
4,084,712
1,559,230
60,717

10,392,380
6,234,901
8,206,784
5,385,662
904,773
3,414,227
30,058,000
2,074,118
8,626,925
200,712
1,058,919
2,873,447
2,697,713
1,184,386
5,600,586
2,373,034
845,935
1,560,700
1,538,628
684,492
1,548,190
1,956,887
2,051,339
290,887
234,063
12,035

Bushels,................................. 106,089,947 419,776,871

102,459,926

S ta t e s .

Maine,................................................
New Hampshire,..............................
Vermont,...........................................
Massachusetts,.................................
Rhode Island,...................................
Connecticut,.....................................
Now York,........................................
New Jersey,......................................
Pennsylvania,...................................
Delaware,..........................................
M aryland,..........................................
Virginia,.............................................
South Carolina,................................
Georgia,..............................................
Ohio,...................................................
Tennessee,........................................
Louisiana,..........................................
Alabama.............................................
Mississippi,........................................
Missouri,............................................
Indiana,..............................................
Illinois,..............................................
Michigan,...........................................
Arkansas,...........................................
Iowa Territory,................................
District of Columbia,........................

112,200

157,747
12,147

P o p u la tio n .

501,796
281,481
291,848
737,786
108,837
310,831
2,432,835
373,271
1,850,000
78,120
467,567
1,239,227
594,439
1,515,695
683,314
384,000
327,781
683,314
457,447
211,705
95,612
43,712

There are no returns from North Carolina, Kentucky, Florida or Wisconsin. It will
be observed that, in several states the population is not given, as the returns at Washing,
ton were supposed to be so incorrect that they were sent back to the marshals for revision.
RECAPITULATION.

Bushels of wheat,.................................
66,089,947
Other grain,............................................................. 419,776,871
Potatoes,...................................................................102,459,926
Bushels,........................588,326,744
Estimate for Kentucky, North Carolina, &c.... 70,000,000
Bushels,........................658,326,744
Over 38 bushels of bread-stuffs for every inhabitant in the United States ! Of the
various kinds of grain we find the following :—
W heat,............................................................... 66,089,947bushels
C orn,................................................................. 297,562,240 “
R ye,................................................................... 17,082,102 “
Buckwheat,...................................................... 6,930,929 “
Barley,..............................................., ............. 3,840,937
44




572

Commercial Statistics.
Potatoes,.......................................................... 102,459,926 bushels
“
Oats,................................................................. 94,461,363
For Kentucky, North Carolina, Wisconsin
Territory, &c., say................................................ 70,000,000

u

(of all kinds)

658,426,744
During the long discussion in England on the subject of the corn laws, the necessary
quantity of grain required to find an individual with bread, has been closely investigated,
and it is estimated that the average consumption, including young and old, is about j i v e
bushels to each person, including all kinds of grain.
Admitting this estimate to be correct, and putting the population of the United States
at seventeen millions, we have a surplus of 33 bushels to an inhabitant. Perhaps one
half of the corn, most of the wheat and buckwheat, and three quarters of the rye is
used for bread; and the remainder of the rye and a large part of the corn is manufac­
tured into whiskey, or used in fattening pork. W e deduct the barley for the brewers*
and the oats for stock, although in the western counties of England barley is used for
bread, and in Scotland oatmeal is in general use, and we find the resources of the
United States will stand as follows :—
W heat....................................................................... 66,089,947
Buckwheat,............................................................. 6,930,929
Potatoes,..........................................
102,469,926
Corn,..........................................................................148,000,000
Rye............................................................................ 12,500,000
For Kentucky, North Carolina, Wisconsin Ter­
ritory, &c., say................................................... 30,000,000
Bushels............
Being over 22 bushels for each inhabitant!

.365,990,802

In viewing the amount of bread-stuffs raised, the merchant and farmer can draw their
own conclusions, by the foregoing, as to the probability of a rise of prices, or conjecture
as to a still further decline. Unless there is a great demand for it abroad, we fear the
latter. A t present, we see nothing to encourage more than a usual exportation.
In making a calculation, it must be recollected that there are about 4,000,000 of
people in the West Indies and South America who now receive their flour from us, and
have for many years. Our exports to those countries amount to near 800,000 barrels
annually, and the cotton manufactures of our country consume 100,000 barrels for
starch, &c. The past year a new trade has been carried on with the Canadas. We
have taken pains to ascertain the amount, as near as we can, as the western trade with
the British provinces has commenced within a year or two past.
4000 barrels from Detroit, equal to.................. 20,000 bushels
Bushels of wheat from St. Joseph,................... 45,000
70,995 barrels from Cleveland, equal to.......... 354,974
Bushels of wheat from Cleveland,.................... 896,550
From Grand River, Ohio,.................................. 11,000
40,000
barrels of flour from Rochester, N. Y., 200,000
No returns from Buffalo and other ports on the lake,
1527,524

“

Most of this went to England, as after it once got into the provinces, it passed for
colonial wheat, and entered the ports of Great Britain free of duty.
It will be seen from the following table that our exports have diminished yearly from
1790 to this time, with the exception of the years when Europe has been at war. In
1793, we exported equal to 6,828,770 bushels of wheat, and in 1838, only 2,246,769,
although wo produced five times ag much as we did in 1790.




Commercial Statistics.

573

E xports of F lour and W h e a t , from 1790 to 1838.

Year

A verage
■price o f
B u s h e ls o f W h e a t
e x p o r te d .
W h e a t in
E n g la n d .
s.

1790
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840

1,124,458
1,018,339
853,790
1,450,575
698,797
141,273
31,226
15,655
15,021
10,056
26,853
239,929
280,281
686,415
127,024
18,041
86,784
776,814
87,330
393,889
325,924
216,833
53,832
288,535
17,634
62,321
96,407
196,808
82,065
22,137
25,821
4,418
4,272
20,373
17,990
45,166
22,182
8,906
4 007
45,289
408,910
88,304
32,421
36,948
47,762
2,062
17,303
6,201

66 11
110 5
115 11

67 9
57 1
60 5
87 1
76 9
73 1
78 11
94 5
103 3
92 5
8

106 6
72 1
63 8
76 2
94 0
83 8
72 3
65 10
54 5
43 3
51 9
62 0
66

A verage
p r ic e o f
F lo u r a t
F h ila d e l.

V a lu e o f F lo u r
e x p o r te d , a t a ver a g e p r ’c e s in
P h ila d e lp h ia .

d.

53 2
47 2
41 9
47 10
50 8
72 11
76 3
52 2
50 4

122

B a r r e ls o f F lo u r
e x p o r te d .

6

56 11
56 9
60 5
66 3
64 3
66 4
58 8
52 11
46 5
39 4
48 6
55 11
63 4

724,623
619,681
824,464
1,074,639
846,010
687,369
725,194
515,633
567,558
519,265
653,052
1,102,444
1,156,248
1,311,853
810,008
777,513
782,724
1,249,819
263,813
846,247
798,431
1,445,012
1,443,492
1,260,942
193,274
862,739
729,053
1,479,198
1,157,697
750,660
1,177,036
1,056,119
827,865
756,702
996,792
813,906
857,820
868,496
860,809
837,385
1,227,434
1,806,529
864,919
955,768
835,352
779,396
505,400
318,719
448,161
916,161
813,542

$ 5 .5 6
5.22
5.25
5.90
6.90
10.60
12.50
8.91
8 .2 0

9.66
9.86
10.40’
6.90
6.73
8.23
9.70
7.39
7.17
5.69
6.91
9.37
9.95
9.83
8.92
8.60
8.71
9.78
11.69
9.96
7.11
4.72
4.78
6.58
6.82
5.62
5.10
4.65
5.23
5.60
6.33
4.83
5.67
5.72
5.63
5.17
5.88
7.99
9.37
7.79

2,234,735
4,328,436
6,340,370
5,837,469
7,286,111
9,064,955
4,594,190
4,653,975
5,016,099
6,439,092
11,465,417
7,978,111
8,828,771
6,666,3';5
7,541,876
5,713,885
8,961,202
1,501,095
5 847,566
7,481,298
14,377,869
14,189,526
11,147,602
1,662,156
7,514,456
7,130,138
17,291,824
11,530,662
5,337,192
5,555,609
5,048,248
5,447,351
5,160,708
5,601,971
4,150,920
3,988,863
4,542,234
4,820,530
5,300,647
5,928,606
10,243,019
4,947,337
5,380,974
4,318,770
4,582,848
4,038 146
2,986,397
3,491,174
1,670,512

In 1700, the wheat grown in Great Britain was only 14,000 bushels, and barley
27,000. In 1830, wheat over 100,000,000, and barley 37,000.
Notwithstanding the immense increase of production of grain, owing to the oppre*.




Commercial Statistics.

574

sion of the corn laws to the poor, there is more suffering for the want of bread in Great
Britain and Ireland, than in any other part of Europe.
The importation of wheat into England, from her provinces, is free of d uty; that
from the United States is subject to her corn laws, and when scarcity and starvation
stare them in the face, and the price of grain reaches a certain point, she allows her
subjects to partake of foreign bread-stuffs; and America then comes in competition
with grain from Hamburg, Dantzic, Naples, and Odessa. This leads us to say a few
words in respect to the corn laws of England, which bear heavier upon the products
of the mighty west than is generally understood. T hat the reader may understand the
prices of flour in England when he reads the quotations from English papers, we give
the table of duties on the article, graduated by the prices of sacks and quarters of
wheat. He then can make his own calculation in sterling money, (a shilling being 22
cents,) whether it will pay the eastern merchant for shipment to Europe ; and thus he
can determine the prospect of foreign exports, and consequently know the rise or fall in
the New York market.
.

TABLE OF DUTIES.

A sack of flour weighs 240 pounds, a barrel of American flour 196 pounds; thus a
barrel of flour is seven tenths of a sack by weight. W hen he sees in the price current
as follows
D u t i e s on A m e r ic a n F lo u r .
s.
S. d.
S. d.
70 equals a barrel at... ...49 00 ...... ........ 6 07
tt
68
...47 05 ...... ......... 10 004
it
66
...46 03 ...... ........ 12 054
<
«
64
...44 09 ...... ........ 13 0 7 |
ti
62
...43 05
ft
...42 00
60
ft
...40 05
58
ft
...39 08
56
ft
54
...37 09
ft
52
...36 06
ft
...35 00
50
T he present duty in England on American flour is about $ 2 70 per barrel, which
amounts to a prohibition.
Notwithstanding the policy of England has been for years to protect her agricultural
industry, no countervailing protection has been adopted by the United S ta te s; but on
the contrary, duties upon British goods are every year lessening, and many of them are
free of duty. The producers of the west are obliged to pay a bonus to England for the
privilege of trade. If Great Britain would receive the bread-stuffs of our country, on
the payment of the same duties which we pay on her manufactures, then we should
have no just cause for complaint.
The imports of the United States, since 1790 to 1840, have exceeded the
exports................................................................................................................$793,458,635
In the same time, there has been but seven years that we have exported
more than we have imported, which was........................................ ..........
51,931,205
$741,527,430
S e v e n h u n d r e d a n d f o r t y - o n e m il l io n , f iv e h u n d r e d a n d t w e n t y - s e v e n t h o u s a n d ,

which has been paid to foreign nations, in g o l d a n d
over our exports, for articles which could have been manufactured in this coun­
try ; and within the last six years, nearly three hundred millions of this balance has
accrued against u s ; to say nothing of the two hundred millions of state stocks which
have been sold in Europe within the past five years.
In 1833, the total amount of agricultural productions of all descriptions, with the ex­
ception of cotton, exported to all parts of the world, amounted to only $6,048,065, and
the same year s i l k s to the amount of over $25,000,000 were imported, f r e e o f d u t y !

f o u r h u n d r e d a n d t h ir t y d o l l a r s ,

s ilv e r ,




Commercial Statistics.

575

But we find we are deviating from our subject, which was, to ascertain as near as we
can, the amount of breadstuff's now in the country :—
Gone to C anada,......................................... 1,527,425 bushels
To foreign countries, 1840,........................ 4,067,710
“
Used by manufacturers,............................ 100,000
“
Shipped from New York, since Jan. 1, 500,000
“
“
other ports, say................. 500,000
“
Allow for the W est Indies and Mexico, ) . AAA AAA
which we usually supply,................. $ ’ ’
11,095,135 bushels
W heat raised,.............................................. 66,089,947
Exported,......................................................11,095,175
“
W heat,..........................................................54,994,802 bushels
Other kind of breadstuff's,.......................287,773,720
342,768,522 bushels
Allowing 10 bushels to each inhabitant, which is double the average in Europe, and
we have a surplus of 172,000,000 bushels. From which we conclude that unless there is
an increased demand from abroad, present prices of breadstuff’s will not advance during
the present season, whatever change may follow the ingathering of the ensuing crop.
COM M ERCE O F FRA NCE.
The recent French papers contain a summary of the report laid before the Chamber
of Peers by M. Cunin Gridainc, the minister of commerce, by which it appears, that
since the French government reduced the protective duties on foreign produce, the
trade of the country had increased considerably. Thus in the year 1829, the general
trade of France, including the merchandise in tire government stores, amounted to
616,000,000 francs and the exports to 604,000,000 francs; and the foreign produce im­
ported amounted to 483,000,000 francs, an.d the exports to 504,000,000 francs; while in
1839, the general trade amounted to 947,000,000 francs, and the exports to 1,003,000,000
francs; and the amount of foreign produce imported amounted to 650,000,000 francs,
and the exports to 677,000,000 francs. French navigation improved in a similar pro­
portion with that of trade. The French tonnage in the year 1829, amounted to
647.000 to n s; and in the year 1839, to 1,200,000 tons. Domestic produce increased in
a similar proportion. The French coal mines produced but 17,000,000 of metrical
quintals in the year 1829; and in the year 1839, they produced more than 30,000,000.
“ And what is still more remarkable,” observes M. Cunin Gridaine, “ this immense
progress in domestic consumption was realized concurrently with the consumption of
foreign coal, for the quantity of that article imported in the year 1829, amounted only
to 5,000,000 of metrical quintals; and in the year 1839, it amounted to 12,000,000.”
“ If,” continues M. Cunin Gridaine, “ from coal we pass to iron, we find that in the
year 1828, France possessed 393 furnaces, producing 2,000,000 metrical quintals of cast
iron, and 1,295 furnaces for refining, manufacturing annually 1,500,000 metrical quin­
tals of iron. A t present France possesses 475 furnaces, which produce annually
3.477.000 metrical quintals of cast metal, worth 63,000,000 francs, and 1,500 furnaces
for refining, which produce 2,241,000 quintals of iron, worth 93,000,000 francs.” “ Simi­
lar improvement is to be found,” observes M. Cunin Gridaine, “ in most of the domestic
productions. Lyons has increased her silk looms from 27,000 to 40,000, and the ex­
portation of silk stuffs, which in the year 1829, amounted to only 111,000,000, reached,
in the year 1839, to 141,000,000. No less remarkable has been the improvement in the
woollen and cotton manufactures. The exportation of woollen stuff amounted in 1829,
to only 30,000,000 francs, and increased in the year 1839, to 60,000,000 francs. And




576

Commercial Statistics.

the exports of cotton increased from 47,000,000 to 85,000,000 francs, within the same
period.” “ The natural consequence,” concludes M. Cunin Gridaine, “ to be derived
from this increase of manufactures is the diminution in their price, which renders them
more accessible to the mass of consumers. Bar iron, which ten years since sold at from
49 to 68 francs the 100 kilogrammes, according to the quality, now produces not more
than 35 to 50 francs at most. Woollen stuff, which sold at the same period at from 40
to 50 francs the piece, now brings only 25 francs ; and calico, which in 1829 was sold
for 80 centimes, is not now worth more than from 40 to 50 centimes.”
CO N SU M PTIO N O F COAL.
Anthracite coal was first used in Philadelphia. In 1826, the amount had increased
in the United States to 48,000 tons, and in 1840 to 845,000 tons. In England, coal is
the only fuel, and machinery equal to the labor of 40,000,000 of men, is now moved by
the use of coal. In this country it is also applied to a considerable extent for propelling
machinery, and during the past year it has been used to some extent for manufacturing
iron. In 1740, the amount of iron made in England and Wales, was but 17,000 tons.
In 1796, it had increased to 125,000 tons; in 1830, to 700,000 tons; in 1839, it was
the enormous amount of 1,512,000 tons, and within the last nine years, $84,000,000
worth of it was exported to this country. In the United States, the amount made is
250,000 tons, but it is fast increasing; and since the introduction of coal for the furnace
it is hoped that we shall soon be able to supply ourselves. Last year we imported from
England and Russia iron to the amount of $10,000,000.
FO R E IG N COM M ERCE O F CANADA.
The Quebec Gazette gives a full statement of the foreign commerce of Montreal and
Quebec. The arrival of vessels was as follows : from Great Britain, 911 ; Ireland, 198 ;
Gibraltar, 2 ; France, 27; Spain, 4 ; Portugal, 1 ; Hamburg, 4 ; Antwerp, 3 ; Rotter­
dam, 1; Sicily, 1; British North American colonies, 157 ; British West Indies, 5 ; Fo­
reign W est Indies, 10 ; United States, 2 4 ; total, 1,358. Vessels cleared to Great
Britain, 1,079 ; of these 35 were built in the Canadas, carrying 20,624 tons; to Ireland,
199 ; to all other places, 155 ; total clearances, 1,433. The imports from Great Britain
are valued at about nine millions of dollars, and those from other places at about four
hundred thousand dollars. Among the exports from the Canadas are nearly fifty thou­
sand barrels of flour, which we may presume are derived from the United States.
CO N SU M PTIO N O F B R IT IS H GOODS IN IT A L Y .
The average annual value of British produce, colonial and native, exported to Italy,
consisting chiefly of coffee, raw sugar, pimento, and cottons, in twelve years, from 1827
to 1838, was £2,571,119, being a sixteenth of the whole annual amount of export of
that kind during the same period. The numbers for the several years exhibit a rise,
gradual, but a little fluctuating. The lowest amount is that of 1827, being £1,942,752.
The amount for 1834 was £3,282,777; for 1835, £2,486,171; for 1836, £2,921,466;
for 1837, £2,406,066 ; and for 1838, £3,076,231.
COM M ERCE O F E G Y PT.
During the year 1840, the entries of vessels at Alexandria amounted to 6 86 , and the
clearances to 615. Of these there were English—entered 96, cleared 91; Austrian—
entered 90, cleared 90 ; Greek—entered 287, cleared 229; Russia—entered 11, cleared
11 ; Sardinian—entered 22, cleared 22; Tuscan—entered 21, cleared 19 ; Flag of Jeru­
salem—entered 103, cleared 98. Coasters from Syria, Asia Minor, and Barbary, under
the Turkish or Egyptian flag, are not comprised in the above return.




Commercial Statistics.

577

COM M ERCE O F QUEBEC.
C o m p a r a tiv e s ta te m e n t o f a r r iv a ls , to n n a g e , a n d p a s s e n g e r s , a t th e p o r t o f Q u e b e c, f o r
th e y e a r s 1839 a n d 1840; f u r n i s h e d f o r p u b lic a tio n in th e M e r c h a n ts ' M a g a z in e b y
J . I I . J o s e p h s , E s q ., o f Q u e b e c.
Y ea r.

V e s s e ls .

T onnage.

P a ssen g ers.

1839— November 25,...... 1,174
1840— November 25,.... 1,381

363,844
441,437

7,413
22,190

More this year,......... 207

77,593

14,777

C o m p a r a tiv e s ta te m e n t o f lu m b e r s h ip p e d a ■ th e p o r t o f Q u e b e c, in th e y e a r s e n d e d th e
5 th o f J a n u a r y , 1840 a n d i841.

1841.
1840.
A sh,..... ..........tons,
1,730...
3,601
Birch,.............. “
1,872...
1,579
.......... “
28,801... ... 44,152
O ak,..... .......... “
33^225... ... 36/156
Pine,.... .......... “
360,914... ... 382,089
Deals,...
...2,244,961

1840.
1841.
Staves, stand, pcs. 1,421,892.......2,386,059
Do. pun. do. 2,922,322....... 3,645,053
Do. pipe do. 511,283....... 540,740
Do. barrel do. 1,021,827....... 758,349
Oars,..................do.
15,510....... 26,236
Flour barrels,......... 26,586........ 202,728

S ta t e m e n t o f th e n u m b er o f v e s s e ls c le a r e d b y th e u n d e r m e n tio n e d h o u ses, a t th e p o r t
o f Q u e b e c , in 1840.
N u m ber.

T o n s.

A. Gilmour & Co............... 156.... ..61,350
Pemberton, Brothers,......... .115.... ..37,550
W. Price &. Co................... .113.... ..36,000
Atkinson, Usborne & Co... 105.... ..35,350
Lemesurier, Tilstone & Co .103.... ..39,850
G. B. Symes,...................... . 96.... ..26,828
W. Chapman & Co............ 95.... ..31,846
C. E. Levev Sl C o ................... . 55.... . .52,250
R. F. Maitland & Co......... . 54.... ..16,203
H. & E. B urstall,.............. .. 38.... ..13,600
Rodger, Dean & Co............ 38.... ..12,151
Thomas Froste & Co......... . 26.... ..10,724
H. J. Noad,............................ 25.... .. 1,230
Sharpies, W ainwright & Co 24__ ..13,704
J. G. Heath &. Co............... . 20.... .. 5,430
H . W. W elch,...................... 19.... .. 6,707
Gillespie, Jamieson & Co... 1 9 ... .. 6,555
G. H. Parke &. Co............... . 18.... .. 7,531
J. Tibbets,............................. . 18..... ..12,179
H. N. Jones,......................... 18..... .. 7,004
19..... .. 7,482
J. Munn,................................ i i ....... ,. 8^673
T. McCaw & Co................. 12..... .. 4,250
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

N u m ber.

T o n s.

Leaycraft, Dunscombe & Co 17...... . 1,429
Baird & Co.................. ........ 10...... . 3,406
D. Burnet,............................. 9 ...... . 4,561
Laurie & Burns,......... ........ 9...... . 2,792
Rvan, Brothers,........... ....... 9...... . 2,831
........ 9...... . 3,442
T. Curry & Co............ ........ 8 ...... . 2,299
Froste &. W atters,....... ........ 7...... . 3,214
H. J. Caldwell,............ ....... 6...... . 2,349
Thomas Oliver,........... ........ 5......
.1. Riffby,................................ 5...... . 2,687
R. Peniston,..................
. 1.165
James Jeffrey,............. ....... 4 ...... . 2,219
E. Oliver,...................... ........ 4...... . 2,225
G. Black,............................... 4 ...... . 2,867
John Jeffrey,................. ....... 3...... . 2^010
Murison & Tobin,....... ........ 3...... . 374
Creelman & Lepper,... ....... 2 ...... . 460
W. Newton,.................. ........ 2 ...... . 249
T. Jackson,.-......................... 2 ...... . 530
J. Joseph &. Co............ ....... 2 ...... . 646
J. Shaw & Co.............. ....... 2...... . 570
Other houses,................ ....... 17...... . 2,550
V e s s e ls b u ild in g a t or n e a r Q u e b e c, on th e ls i o f J a n u a r y , 1841.
James Jeffrey,................................. 700 18. Thomas Oliver,
do.
................................ 500 19. Mr. Vidall,......
................................ 500 20. Mr. Munn,...... ............................... 600
do.
do.
................................ 450 21.
do................ ............................... GOO
Thomas Lee,................................... 520 22.
do................ ............................... 600
John Jeffrey,................................... 750 23.
do................ ............................... 300
do.
.................................... 550 24. Mr. Nicholson,. ............................... 500
Mr. Nesbit,...................................... 600 25. Mr. Lampson,.. ............................... 600
do.
.................................... 550 26.
do................ ............................... 700
do.
.................................... 550 27. A. Gilmour,..... ............................... 900
do.
.................................... 350 28.
do.
........ ............................... 950
E. Oliver, (for Capt. Bonnyman,) 500 29.
do................ ............................... 450
do. (for Holderness & Chilton,) 500 30. Mr. Muckle,.... ..(at Point Levy,) 600
do.
.................................... 500 31. Mr. Phillips,....
do.
(for J. Wilson Brook,) 765 32. Mr. Dubord,..... (for Pembertons,) 650
Thomas Oliver, (for John Dunn,) 670 33. Mr. W ilson,..... ............................... 300
do.
................................ 670
2 steamboats.

V O L . I V .— N O . V I.




73

578

Commercial Tables.

COMMERCIAL TABLES.
UN IVERSAL IN T E R E S T TA BLES,
F o r c a lc u la tin g in te r e s t on p o u n d s , d o lla r s , f r a n c s , flo r in s , fy c ., f o r a n y n u m b er o f d a y s ,
a n d a t a n y r a te p e r c e n t. C o m p u te d a n d a r r a n g e d f o r th e M e r c h a n ts ' M a g a z in e , b y

D. J.

B row ne.

TENS OF
THOUSANDS.

THOUSANDS.

HUNDREDS.

TENS.

UNITS.

IOths.

HUNDREDS OF
THOUSANDS.

|

Index.

T A B L E FO R POUNDS ST E R LIN G .

£

i
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

273

547
821
1095
1369
1643
1917
2191
2465

s.

19
18
18
17
17
16
16
15
15

d.

£

5 t4o 2 7
54
io a
4-3- 82
9 * 109
Q1
^To 136
8 * 164
2
191
A 4* 2 1 9
° rV 246

d.
d.
d.
d.
s.
d.
£
s.
£
s.
s. d .
7 l l - 3- 2 14 9-JL 0 5 V o 0 6 t6o 0 A o *
15 10 7- 5 9 W 0 10 11 To 1 V o V o ° tV
3 10
8 4 4 3 0 16 5-3- 1 7 -7- 2
0 *
4
11 Q
2 2-3- 2-6- 0 -3y To 10 19 2 -1- 1 1 11
4-r-3_
2 8 -9- 3 -3- 0-319 8 -7- 13 13 11-7- 1 7
u 10
7 8
16 8 9 t2o 1 12 1 0 -5- 3 3 -4- Q _ J L 0-44 - 6- 0-515 7-4- 19 3 <Vo 1 18
3 10
4 4 - 6 - 5 - 3- Ov53 6 A 21 18 4 t3o 2 3 10
H _2_
2 9
11
24 13
UI 0
1-0 0-6Vo
3 t8o 4 A1I0 5U -9

Index.

T A B L E FO R DOLLARS, FRA NCS, FLO RIN S, &c.
HUNDREDS OF
TENS OF
THOUSANDS.
THOUSANDS.

9

c ts. m .

i
2 7 3 97 3
2
5 4 7 94 5
3
821 91 8
4 1095 89 0
5 1369 86 3
6 1643 83 6
7 1917 80 8
8 2191 78 1
9 2465 75 3
F.

C.

771.

9

27
54
82
109
136
164
191
219
246
F.

c ts. m .

39
79
19
58
98
38
78
17
57

7
5
2
9
6
4
1
8
5

c. m .

THOUSANDS.

$
2
5
8
10
13
16
19
21
24
F.

HUNDREDS.

TENS.

TENTHS.

UNITS.

c ts. m .

9

c ts . m .

9 c ts. m .

9 c ts . m.

74
47
21
95
69
43
17
91
65

0
9
9
9
9
8
8
8
8

0
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
2

27
54
82
09
37
64
91
19
46

4
8
2
6
0
4
8
2
6

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

02
05
08
11
13
16
19
21
24

7
5
2
0
7
4
2
9
7

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

00
00
00
01
01
01
01
02
02

$ c ts . m .
3 0 00 0
5 0 00 1
8 0 00 1
1 0 00 1
4 0 00 1
6 0 00 2
9 0 00 2
2 0 00 2
5 0 00 2

c. m .

F.

c.

m.

F.

c.

n.

F.

c.

711.

F.

c. m .

E x p l a n a t i o n s .— The sum opposite 1 in the index under the head of u n its , denotes
the interest on £100, $100, &c., for one day at one per cent, as predicated on 365
days to a year; the sum under te n s , that of £1000, & c .; the sum opposite 2 in the
index under u n its , that of £200, $200 ; the sum under te n s , that of £2000, &c.

R u l e .—Multiply the principal by the rate per cent, and the number of days for which
you wish to know the interest. Point off two figures from the right, when there are
no shillings, cents, nor centimes, and then take from the table the sums corresponding
to the index and the notations at the head, which, being added, will give the interest
required. Should the principal contain cents, or centimes, let it be multiplied by the
rate and time, pointing off four places from the right, and proceed as above directed.
If there are shillings and pence in the principal, reduce them to the decimal of a pound,
and operate as above.




579

Commercial Tables.
PRA CTICA L QU ESTIO N S ON T H E FO REG O IN G T A B L ES.
£1166 10s., f o r 60 d a y s , a t 5 p e r c e n t ?

1.

W h a t i s th e in te r e s t on

1166.5 Sum opposite
5
“
‘
58325
‘
60
‘
3499.500
2.

3 in the index, under the head th o u s a n d s —8
4
«*
u
h u n d red s = 1
9
“
“
te n s
—.0
9
“
“
u n its
=0
5
“
“
te n th s
=0

W h a t i s th e in te r e s t on

1235 Sum
7
____
8645
90
________
7780.50

opposite
«
“
“

W h a t is th e in te r e s t on

3.

9631.69 Sum opposite
(t
6
«(
«(
57790.14
«(
120
U
69348.1680

$1235 f o r 90

s.

d.

4

4_e_
10

1 11

4 U fo
0

5 tV

0 oTv

Answer,........................ £ 9 11
7 p e r cen t ?

9

days, a t

7 in the index, under the head th o u s a n d s = 19 17 8
7
“
“
h u n d re d s =
1 91 8
8
“
“
te n s
= 0 21 9
5
“
“
te n th s
— 0 00 1
-----------Answer,........................ $21 31 6
9631

f lo r in s a n d

69

c e n ts , f o r

120

days, a t

6 per

cen t ?
F . c. m .

6 in the index, under the head te n s o f th o u s a n d s = 164 38 4
“
th o u sa n d s
= 24 65 8
9
= 0 82 2
“
h u n d re d s
3
“
= 0 11 0
“
te n s
4
“
“
u n its
= 0 02 2
8
= 0 00 1
“
te n th s
1
“
Answer,................. ....P.189 99 7

T a b le s f o r r e d u c in g S h illin g s , P e n c e , a n d F a r th in g s to th e d e c im a l o f a p o u n d .
table

d.

0*
04

• Of
l
i*
14
ii
2

24
24
2f
3
34
34

3i
4
44
44
44
5
54
54
5J
6

£

.001042
.002083
.003125
.004167
.005208
.006250
.007292
.008333
.009375
.010417
.011458
.012500
.013542
.014583
.015625
.016667
.017708
.018750
.019792
.020833
.021875
.022917
.023958
.025000

A.
d.

64
64
6|
7
74
74
7|
8

84
84
8|
9
94
94
94
10
104
104
104

li
114
114
114

12

TABLE JB.

£

.026042
.027083
.028125
.029167
.030208
.031250
.032292
.033333
.034375
.035417
.036458
.037500
.038542
.039583
.040625
.041667
.042708
.043750
.044792
.045833
.046875
.047917
.048958
.050000

s. d .

1 0

i 04
l 04
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

04
1
14
14

if
2
24
24
24
3
34
34
34
4
44
44
44
5
54
54
54

£

.050000
.051042
.052083
.053125
.054167
.055208
.056250
.057292
.058333
.059375
.060417
.061458
.062500
.063542
.064583 '
.065625
.066667
.067708
.068750
.069792
.070833
.071875
.072917
.073958

s.

d.

1
1
1
1

6

1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1

64
64
64
7
74
74
7f
8
84

84
84
9
94
94
94
10

1 104
1 104
1 104

1
1
1
1

11
114
114

Ilf

£

.075000
.076042
.077083
.078125
.079167
.080208
.081250
.082292
.083333
.084375
.085417
.086458
.087500
.088542
.089583
.090625
.091667
.092708
.093750
.094792
.095833
.096875
.097917
.098958

E x pl a n a t io n s .—Tables A and B show the decimal value of the number of shillings, pence, and fractions

expressed therein, without further computation. If a greater number of shillings is contained in the sum,
instead of the 0 initial at the left hand of each decimal in the tables, substitute one half of the number of even
shillings in table A, and one half of the number of shillings, less one, if odd, in table B, and the required deci­
mals will bo obtained. Thus, the decimal value of ltis. Hf<L=0.8d(545R of a pound; and of 17s. 10i(Z.=0.892703
o f a pound. For common purposes, it is not necessary to use more than three decimal figures ; consequently,
the last three may be omitted.




3.22 3.34 3.47 3.59)3.72 3.84 3.97 4.09 1.22 4.34 4.47 4.59 672 4.84 697 5.09 5.22 5.34 5.47 5.59 5.72 5.84 5.97 6.09 6.22 6.34 6.47 6.59 6.72 6.84 6.97
5 3.30 3.42 3.55 3.67,3.80 3.92 4.05 4.17 4.30 4.42 4.55 4.67 4.80 4.92 5.05 5.17 5.30 5.42 5.55 5.67 5.80 5.92 8.05 6.1 6.30 6.42 6.55 6.67 6.80 6.92 7.05
5} 3.38 3.50 3.63 3.75 3.884.00 4.13 4.25 1.36 1.50 4.63 4.75 4.88 5.00 5.13 5.25 5.38 5.50 5.63 5.75 5.86 6.00 6.13 6.25 6.38 6.50 6.63 6.75 6.88 7.00 7.13
6
3.46 3.58 3 71 3.83 3.96 4.08 4.21 4.33 4.46 4.58 4.71 4.83 4.96 5.06 5.21 5.33 5.46 5.585.71:5.83 5.96 6.08 6.21 6.33 6.46 6.58 6.71 6.83 6 96 7.08 7.21
64 3.54 3.663.79 3.914.044.16 4.29 4.41 4.54 4.66 4.79 4.91 5.04 5.16 5.29 5.41 5.54 5.66 5.79 5.91 6.04 6,16 6.29 6.41 6.54 6.66 6.79 6.91 7.04 7.16 7.29
7 3.62 3.74 3.87 3.99 4.124.24 4.37 4.49 4.62 4.74 4.87 4.99 5.12 5.24 5.37 5.49 5.62 5.74 5,87 5.99 6.12 6.24 6.37 6,49 6.62 6.74 6.87 6.99 7.12 7.24 7.37
3.70 3.82 3.95 4.07 4.20 4.32 4.45 4.57 4.70 4.82 4.95 5.07 5.20 5.32 5.45 5.57 5.70 5.82 5.956.07 6.20 6.32 6.45 6.57 6.70 6.82 6.95 7.07 7.20 7.32 7.45
u
8
3.78 390!4.03 4.15 4.28 4.40,4.53 4.65 4.78 4.90 5.03 5.15 5.28 5.40 5.53 5.65 5.78 5.90|6.03 6.15 6 28 6.40 6.53 6.65 6.78 6.90 7.03 7.15 7.28 7.40 7.53
3.98:4.11 4.23 4.364.48 4.61 4.73 4.86 1.98 5.11 5.23 5.36 5.48 5.61 5.73 5.86 5.98 6.11 6.23 6.36 6.48 6.61 6.73 6.86 6.98 7.11 7.23 36 7.45 7.61
^4
9
....... 4.19 4.314.444.564.69 4.81 1.91 5.06 5.19 5.31 5.44 5.56 5.69 5.81 5.94 6.06 6,19 6.31 6.44 6 56 6.69 6,81 6.94 7.06 7.19 7.31 7.44 7.56 7.69
94
39,4.52 4.64 4.77 4.89 5.02 5.14 5.27 5.39 5.52 5.64 5.77 5.89 6.02 6.14 6.27 6.39 6.52 6.64 6.77 6.89 7.02 7.14 7.27 7.39 .52 7.64 7.77
10
........... 4.72 4.85 4.97 5.10 5.22 5.35 5.47 5.60 5.72 5.85 5.97 6.10 6.22 6.35 6.47 6.60 6.72 6.85 6.97 7.10 7.22 7.35 7.47 7.60 7.72 7.85 10
104
....................4.93 5.05 5.18 5.30 5.43 5.55 5.68 5.8(1 5.93 6.0E 6.18 6.30|6.43 6.55 6.08 6.80 6.93 7.05 7.18 7.30 7.43 7.55 7.68 7 81 7.93,104
li
.................5.13 5.26 5.38 5.51 5.63 5.76 5.88 6.01 6.13 6.26 6.38 6.51 6.63 6.76 6.88 7.01 7.13 7.26 7.38 7.51 7.63 7.76 7.88 8.01 11
1)4
.........................5.34 5.46 5.59 5.71 5.84 5.96 6.09 6.21 6.34 6.46 6.59 6.71 6,84 6 96 7.09 7.21 7.34 7.46 7.59 7.71 7.84 7.96 8.09 11J
12
.5.54 5.67 5.79 5.92 6.04 6.17 6.29 6.42 6.54 6.67 6.79 6.92 7.04 7.17 7.29 7.42 7.54 7.67 7.79 7.92 8.04 8.1712
5.87 6.00 6.12 6.25 6.37 6.50 6.62 6.75 6.87 7.00 7.12 7.25 7.37 7.50 7.62 7.75 7.87 8.00 8.12 8.251124
121
13
6.08 6.20 6.33 6.45 6.58 6.70 6.83 6.95|7.08 7.20 7.33 7.45 7.58 7.70 7.83 7.95 8.08 8.20 8.33 13
134
6.26 6.41 6,53 6.66 6.78.6.91 7.03|7.16 7.28 7.41 7.53:7.66 7.78 7.918.03 8.16 8.28 8.41134
14
6.49 6.61 6 74 6.86 6.99 7.11 7.24 7.36 7.49 7.61 7.74 7.8617.99 8.11 8.24 8.36 8.49 14
6.69 6.82 6.94 7.07 7.19 7.32 7.44 7.57 7.69 7.82 7.9418.07:8.19 6.32 8.44 8.571144
144
15
..7.02;7.15 7.27 7.40 7.52 7.65 7.77 7.90 8.02,8.158.27 8.40 8.52 8.65| 15
154
..........7.23 7.35 7.48 7.60 7.73 7.85 7.98 8.10|8.23 8.35 8.48 8.60 8.73|154
16
..7.43 7.56 7.68 781 7.93 8.06 8.18|8.3ll8.43 8 .56 8.68 8.8116
164
7.64 7.76 7.89 8.01 8.14 8.26 8.398.51 8.64 8.7 6 8.89(164
17
.7.84 7.97 8.09 8.22 8.34[8.47 8.59 8.72 8.84' 8.97J17
8.17 8.3U 8.42 8.5o|8.67 8.80 6.92 9.05174
174
18
.8.38 8.50'8.63 8.75 8.88 9.00 9.13,18
184
.8.5818.718.83 8.96 9.08 9 21184
19
........ 8.79,8.91 9.04 9.16 9.29J19
194
8.99 9.12 9.24 9.37J194
20
.......................................................................................................................9 32|9.45'20

580

S Q U A R E 4 A R D DUTY T A B L E FOR B L E A C H E D C O T T O N GOODS
Computed fo r the M erchants' M agazine, agreeably to the U. S. T a riff o f the years 1840-41.
WIDE 20 in 21 in 22 in 23 fw|24 in 25 in 2G
~ 27 in 28 in 29 in 90 i 31 in 32 i, 33 in 54 in 35 i 36 in 37 in|38 in 33 in 41) in 41 V 1*2 in 43 in 44 in 45 in 4<5 in 47 in 48 in 41) in 50 inf w id e
i d . 3.14 3.26 3.39 3751 3764 3776 3.89 o n 0 4 626 4.39 4.51 4.64 676 689 5.01 5.14 5126 5^39 5.51 5414 57n .189 6in 6.14 6.26
(151 6414 6.76 6.89
H




t W here lliere are no duties expressed, they should be reckoned at 23 per cent ad valorem. | c o s t

Commercial Tables.

* T h e duties are expressed in cents and lOOths, for each running yard.

S Q U A R E - S' A R D

DUTY

TA BLE

FOR C OLORED

COTTON

GOODS,

Computed fo r the Merchants' Magazine , agreeably to the U. S. Tariff o f the years 1840-41.
tn|21 in 22 in 23 in 24 in 25 in 26 in 27 in 28 in 29 in 30 in 31 in [32 »’w|33 ?/t;34 in 35 in 36 in >7 in 38 ?w|39 m*|4U in 41 in 42 in 43 in 44 in 45 in 46 in 47 in

48 i

* T he duties are expressed in cents and lOOths, for each running yard.




t W here there are no duties expressed, they should be reckoned at 23 per cent ad valorem. j

581

COST

49 in WIDE
7.78 i d .
7.86 44
7.94 5
8.02 54
8.10 6
8.18 64
8.26 7
8.34
8.42 8
8.50 84
8.58 9
8.66 94
8.74 10
8.82 i04
8.90 11
8.98 114
9.06 12
9.14 124
9.22 13
9.30 134
9.38 14
9.46 144
9.54 15
9.62 154
9.70 16
9.78 164
9.86 17
9.94 17J
10.02)18
10.101184
10.18)19
10.26194
10.34
10.3420

Commercial Tables.

4d.
1.14 4.29 4.43 4.58 4.72 4.87 5.02 5.16 5.31 5.45)5.60 5.74 5.89 6.03 6.18 6.32 6.47 6.62 6.76 6.91 7.05 7.20 7.34 7.49 7.64
44 3.64 3.79 3.93 4.08 1.22 4.37 4.51 4.66 4.80 4.95 5.10 5.24 5.39 5.53 5.68 5.82 5.97 6.11 6.26 6.40 6.55 6.70 6.84 6 99 7.13 7.28 7.42 7.57 7.72
5 3.72 3.87[4.01 4.It 1.3(1 4.45 4.59 4.74 4.88 5.03 5.18 5,32 5.47(5.61 5.76 5.90 6.05 6.19 6.34 6.48 6.63 6.78 6.92 7.07 7.21 36 7.50 7.65 7.80
54 3.80 3.95'4.09 4.24 4.38 4.53 4.67 4.82 4.96 5.11 5.26 5.40 5.55 5.69 5.84 .98 6.13 6.27 6.42 6.56 6.71 6.86 7.00 7.15 7.29 7.44 7.58 7.73 7.88
6 3.88 4.03^4.17 4.32 4.46 4.61 4.75 4.90 5.04 5.19 5 34 5.48 5.63 5.77 5.92 6.06 6.21 6.35 6.50 6.64 6.79 6.94 7.08 7.23 7.37 7.52 7.66 7.81 7.96
64 3.96 4.1114.25 4.40 4.54 4.69 4.83 4.98 5.12 5.27 5.42 5.56 5.71)5.85 6.00 6.14 6.29 6.43 6.58 6.72 6.87 7.02 7.16 7.31 7.45 7.60 7.74 7.89 8.04
7 4.04 4.194.33 4.48 4.62 4.77 4.91 5.06 5.20 5.35 5.50 5.64 5.7915.93 6.08 6.22 6.37 6.51 6.66 6.80 6.95 7.10 7.24 7.39 7.53 7.68 7.82 7.97 8.12
74 4.12 4 27 4.41 4.56 4.70 4.85 4.99 5.14 5.28 5.43 5.58 5.72 5.87)6.01 6-16 6.30 6.45 6.59 6 74 6.88 7.03 7.18 7.32 7.47 7.61 7.76 7.90 8.05 8.20
8 4.20 4.354.49 4.64 4.78 4.93 5.07 5.22 5.36 5.51 5.66 5.80 5.95 6.09 6.24 6.38 6.53 6.67 6.82 6 96 7.11 7.26 7.40 7.55 7.69 7.84 7.98 8.13 8.28
84 4.28 4.43 4.57 4.72 4.86 .01 5.15 5.30 5.44 5.59 5.74 5.88 6.03 6.17 6.32 6.46 6.61 6.75 6.90 7.04 7.19 7.34 7.48 7.63 7.77 7.92 8.06 8.21 8.36
9 4.36 4.51)4.65 4.80 4.94 5.09 5.23 5.38 5.52 5.67 5.82 5.96 6.106.25 6.40 6.54 6.69 6.83 6.98 7.12 7.27 7.42 7.56 7.71 7.85 8.00 8.14 8.29 8.44
94 4.44 4.594.73 4.88 5.02 5.17 5.31 5.46 5.60 5.75 5.90 6.04(6.19 6.33 6.48 6.62 6.77 6.91 7.06 7.20 7.35 50 7.64 7.79 7.93 8.08 8.22 8.37 8.52
10
....... 4.674.81 4.9( 5.10 5.25 5.39 5.54 5.68 5.83 5.98 6.12)6.27 6.41 6.56 6.70 6.85 6.99 7.14 7.28 7.43 7.58 7.72 7.87 8.01 8.16 8.30 8.45 8.60
104 .............. 4.89 5.04 5.18 5.33 5.47 5.62 5.76 5.91 6.06 6.20)6.35 6.49 6.64 6.78 6.93 7.07 7.22 7.36 7.51 7.66 7.80 7.95 8.09 8.24 8.38 8.53 8.68
.5.12 5.21 5.41 5.55 5.70 5.84 5.99 6.14 6.28)6.43 6.57 6.72 6.86 7.01 7.15 7.30 7.44 7.59 7.74 7.88 8.03 8.17 8.32 8.46 8.61 8.76
11
114
..........5.34 5.49 5.63 5.78 5.92 6.07 6.22 6.36;6.51 6.65 6.80 6.94 7.09 7.23 7.38 7.52 7.67 7.82 7.96 8.11 8.25 8.40 8.54 8.69 8.84
12
8.92
.................5.5715.71 5.86 6.00 6.15 6.30 6.44'6.59 6.73 6.88 7.02 7.17 7.31 7.46 .60 7.75 7.90 8.04 8.19 8.33 8.48 8.62 8.'
124
.........................5.79 5.94 6.08 6.236.38 6.52 6.67 6.81 6 96 7.10 7.25 7.39 7.54 7.68 7.83 7.98 8.12 8.27 8.41 8.56 8.70 8.85 9.00
13
........6.02 6.16 6.31 6.46 6.60'6.75 6.89 7.04 7.18 7.33 7.47 7.62 76 7.91 8.06 8.20 8.35 8.49 8.64(8.78 8.93 9.08
13J
.................6.24 3.39)6.54 6.(5816 83 6.97 12 7.26 7.41 7.55 7.70 7.84 7.99 8.14 8.28 8.43 8.57 8.72(8.86 9.01 9.16
14
6.4705.62 6.76)6.91 7.05 7.20 7.34 7.49 7.63 7.78 7.92 8.07 8.22 8.36 8.51 8.65 8.80)8.94 9.09 9.24
144
6.70 6.84)6.99 7.13 7.26 7.42 7.57 7.71 7.86 8.00 8.15 8.30 8.44 8.59 8.73 8.8819.02 9.17 9.32
15
6.92)7.07 7.21 7.36 7.50 7.65 7.79 7.94 8.08 8.23 8.38 8.52 8 67 8.81 8.96)9.10 9.25 9.40
154
....... 7.15 7.29 7.44 7.58 7.73 7.87 8.02 8.16 8.31 8.46 8.60 8.75 8.89 9.04)9.18 9.33 9.48
16
.................7.37 7.52 7.66 7.81 7.95 8.10 8.24 8.39 8.54 8.68 8.83 8.97 9.129.26 9.41 9.56
16J
.7.60 7.74 7.89 8.03 8.18 8.32 8.47 8.62 8.76 8.91 9.05 9.20 9.34 9.49 9.64
17
..7.82 7.97)8.11 8.26 8.40 8.55 8.70 8.84 8.99 9.13 9.289.42 9.57 9.72
174
,.8.19 8.34 8.48 8.63 8.78 8.92 9.07 9.21 9.369.50 9.65 9.80
18
..........8.42 8.56 8.71 8.86 9.00 9.15 9 29 9.449.58 9.73 9.88
I84
,8.64 8.79 8.94 9.08 9.23 9.37 9.52,9.16 9.81 9.96
19
8.8719.02 9.16 9.31 9.45 9.609.74 9.89 10.04
194
....... 9.10 9.24 9.39 9.53 9.689.82 9.97 10.1
20
9.32W.47 9 61 9.76 9.90110.05
10.26
10.05 10.20
............. ......................................................................................................................................................................9.3219.47

582

Mercantile Miscellanies.

ME R C A N T I L E MI SCELLANI ES.
PALM L E A F PAPER.
I t was stated in the April number of the Merchant’s Magazine, on the-authority of
an English journal, that a Mr. Ryan had obtained a patent in England for the manu­
facture of paper of beet roots, after the juice is extracted, and crystalized into sugar.
W e now learn that Messrs. E. Thorp &, Sons, of Barre, Massachusetts, paper makers,
have taken out a patent for the manufacture of several varieties of paper from palm
leaf. They make at present, however, only wrapping paper. The editor of the Barre
Gazette has received a few rolls, and pronounces it unusually strong, and at the same
time delicate and flexible, presenting a surface smooth and suitable for writing. India
rubber was thought to have been s tr e tc h e d some time ago to a great variety of uses ;
palm leaf bids fair to rival the elastic gum, and to become an important article of manu­
facture and trade. “ We make here of it,” says our Barre journalist, “ hats and caps
for men, bonnets for women, and playthings for children ; we build roads of it, make
door mats and reticules, brooms and baskets ; sleep on it at night, make cup plates of
it for the table, and write letters on its surface ; it is woven into carpets, spread into
fans, and stable boys make it serve them a valuable purpose in cleaning horses.”
In the economy of Providence, every fragment of creation seems to unfold, as man
progresses in the arts of life, unbounded capabilities of adaptation to his every want.
W e have, indeed, daily illustration of the truth of that trite and homely adage, that
“ nothing is made in vain.” T hat quaint old English poet, Herbert, who flourished in
the fifteenth century, in a poem of some forty stanzas on “ Providence,” has graphically
described, in his unique vein, the sentiment which forces itself upon us in view of the
numerous discoveries of the age in which we live :—
“ All countries have enough to serve their need.
If they seek fine things, thou dost make them run
For their offence ; and then dost order their speed
To be co m m erce and tr a d e from sun to sun.”

*

*

*

*

*

*

* * * “ The Indian nut alone
Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and can,
Boat, cable, sail, and needle, all in one.”
ARKANSAS COAL.
The Arkansas Coal Company are doing a profitable business in anthracite coal. They
anticipate the shipment this year of $150,000 worth of coal to the numerous cities and
towns on the Mississippi. The coal from the Spadra mines is of the anthracite species,
burns freely, with no unpleasant smell, and makes but little dust or ashes. “ The mining
company,” says the Arkansas Gazette, “ have entered into the m atter with great spirit^
and we predict that the day is not far distant when all the cities, towns, and villages
on the banks of the *great father of waters’ will receive their supplies of coal from the
state of Arkansas.”
HAVANA SAVINGS BANK.
This institution promises to realize the brightest anticipations of its projectors. • Ac­
cording to the statements just published in the D ia r io , for the month of November
alone, $21,255 50 have been deposited, without bearing interest; withdrawn, $8,387
62£. Remaining in the bank, 12,847 87£. Deposited to bear interest, $13,929 50 ;
withdrawn, $414 50. Remaining in the bank, $13,515. Total deposited, $26,361
87£. Of the depositers, 33 were whites, 13 of whom were for the first time.




Mercantile Miscellanies.

583

E A ST IN D IA CO TTO N COM PANY.
A stock company has recently been formed in London, with a capital of .£500,000,
in shares*of .£25, the principal object of which, as stated in the proposals of the com­
pany, is to supply “ the English market with a cheaper and superior cotton, of Indian
growth.” The importance of this question, to the manufacturer and the shipowner of
Great Britain, was strikingly brought before the East India Company, by a deputation from
the Manchester chamber of commerce, on the presentation of a memorial which stated
“ that the quantity of cotton imported into Great Britain in the first eleven months of
the year 1838, amounted to 1,373,316 bales, of the value of £14,000,000 sterling, in its
unmanufactured state, of which only 96,113 bales were from the East Indies, of the
value of about £600,000, or only five per cent of the whole of cotton imported, about
ninety per cent of our supply being drawn from foreign sources. T hat the value of the
above quantity of cotton in its manufactured state was £40,000,000 sterling per annum,
giving freight for 300,000 tons of shipping, and employment to upwards of 2,000,000
p e r s o n s a n d concluded by pointing to India as an available, and at the same time, a
more desirable source of supply.
T hat a large profit is to be derived by improving the culture of cotton in India, and
preparing it for the English market, the East India Company think has been placed
beyond a doubt by the successful results of the experiments recently made ; the differ­
ence in quantity alone, its superior quality between the indigenous cotton raised without
care, and such as is well cultivated, being in the same field, as five to one in favor of
improved culture.
The English E ast India Company, although prohibited themselves by the terms of
their charter, from trading of any kind, has, under a conviction of the great interests
at stake, procured from the United States, within the last year, at their own cost,
through the express mission of Captain Bayles, a body of experienced cotton planters,
who have already arrived in India.
It is further stated in the prospectus of the company that “ a deputation of the E ast India
Cotton Company have had interviews of a highly encouraging nature with the late chair­
man and deputy chairman of the East India Company, the president of the Board of
Control, and Board of Trade, and the several parties in London, at Manchester, Liver­
pool, Glasgow, Newcastle, and Bristol, interested in this most important object, all of
whom agree in the urgent necessity that a company should be formed for the express
purpose of carrying out this object; the establishment of such a company being, in their
judgment, calculated to insure ample returns to parties embarking capital, a relief from
foreign dependency, and a wide channel of profit and employment to British shipping.”
B R IT IS H FO R E IG N AND CO LO N IA L W OOL TRA D E.
The wool trade are in jjp^ession of a full statement of the import and export of for­
eign and colonial wool at London, Liverpool, Hull, and Goole, for the year ending the
31st December, 1840, and as a production of its kind this contains some interesting
matter. The total amount of foreign wool imported into London was 42,263 bales,
against 54,668 bales in 1839; and the total quantity of foreign wool cleared for home
consumption from the ships and the warehouses was 12,862,288 lbs., against 13,294,836
lbs. in 1839. The colonial wool admitted free of duty was 24,992 bales, weighing nett
6,240,593 lbs. from New South Wales, against 20,495 bales, weighing nett 5,414,359
lbs. in 1839; 10,378 bales, weighing nett 2,401,728 lbs., from Van Dieman’s Land,
against 13,618 bales, weighing nett 3,187,180 lbs., in 1839; 3,421 bales, weighing nett
724,604 lbs., from the Cape of Good Hope, against 3,252 bales, weighing nett 689,495
lbs., in 1839; 2,757 bales, weighing nett 922,153 lbs. from the East Indies, against
1,207 bales, weighing nett 430,278 lbs., in 1839; with sundries 25 bales, weighing nett

V




584

Mercantile Miscellanies, etc.

4,559 lbs., making a total of 41,473 bales, weighing 10,311,673 lbs. nett, against 38,572
bales, weighing 9,721,312 lbs., in 1839. As far as Liverpool is concerned, the total im­
port of foreign wool, including goats’, was 45,180 bales, of which about 35,000 bales
were South American, against 53,658 bales in 1839 ; of this there were cleared for home
consumption 9,190,393 .lbs., against 9,800,786 lbs. in 1839. The amount of colonial
admitted free of duty was 11,179 bales, nett 2,947,437 lbs., (of which there was
1,645,540 lbs. East India, 1,188,728 lbs. New South Wales, 105,420 lbs. Van Dieman’s
Land, and 7,749 lbs. Cape,) against 8,995 bales, nett 2,530,032 lbs., in 1839. The im­
port into Hull and Goole was principally German, and made a total of 49,755 bales,
against 54,424 bales in 1839. The clearance for home consumption was 16,251,517 lbs.,
against 16,826,619 lbs. in 1839. The total exports from London were 717,405 lbs.
against 531,749 lbs. in 1839, and from Liverpool 188,363 lbs., against 68,406 lbs. in 1839 ;
making a grand total of 905,768 lbs. for London and Liverpool, against 600,155 lbs. in 1839.
FO R EIG N COM M ERCE O F RUSSIA.
From the official returns of the foreign commerce of Russia for 1839, it appears that
the exports amounted to 341,898,679 bank roubles, being an increase of 28,372,992r.
on those of 1838. The imports were 249,152,476r. Thus the exports have exceeded
the imports by 92,746,203r., showing greater prosperity than in former years. The im­
portation of gold and silver, partly in coin and partly in ingots, amounted to 65,752,744
paper roubles. The principal articles of export were corn to the value of 88,259,596r.;
hemp, 3,571,768 puds; flax, 22,348,260 puds; tar, 3,994,296 puds; iron, 1,073,908
puds; raw and tanned leather, 8,715,882 puds. The chief articles of import were, raw
and spun cotton, 800,649 puds; dyeing materials, 20,947,480 roubles; sugars, 1,594,207
p uds; wines, 20,288,829 roubles; silk, cotton, and linen manufactures to the amount
of 38,708,977 roubles.

N ote to t h e A r t ic le on I mprisonm ent for D e b t .—Since that article was written,
(some months since,) the state of New York has removed the reproach alluded to, and
the explanatory act of congress having left no doubt as to the law of the United States,
it is now impossible, lawfully, to imprison any person, resident or non-resident, in the
“ empire state,” except for crime.

The opinion o f the Hon. W ill a r d P h il l ip s , as to the adjustment of an average for
detention to refit, politely furnished for publication in this magazine by Z e b e d e e C ook ^
Jr., Esq., President of the New York Mutual Safety Insurance Company, is unavoid­
ably deferred. It will appear in the number
“ T h e M is s is s ip p i S c h e m e ,” bv
series of papers on the C o m m e r ^ a ^ ^ t o r y
ILF The present number cli
second year of its existence,
substantially bound, by sending

o f F ra n c e ,

^^Pennsylvania, the first o f a
5pear in the July number.

lants’ Magazine, and the
uniformly, neatly, and
ibers can have tfyejtfyol
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scription money, he will do so upon being satisfied that the letter contains nothing but
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