Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : June 1855, Vol. XXXII, No. VI

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HUN T ’ S

MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE.
E s t a b l i s h e d J u l y , 18 3 9 ,

BY FREEMAN HUNT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.

V O LU M E X X X I I .

JUNE,

1855.

NU M BE R V I.

CONTENTS OF NO. V I . , VOL. X X X I I .

ARTICLES.
A

r t

I.

.

p a ss

,

MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY: PETER CHARDON BROOKS. By the Hon. E d w a r d
of Massachusetts........................................................................................................ 659

Everett,

II. COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE UNITED STATES.
No. v i i i . CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. By J o h n L e w i s P e y t o n , Esq., o f Chicago, Illinois.. 681
III. COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. No. xvi. Slave-Trade—Louisiana—Paper
Money—Northwest Passage—California—Review at 1750—Population—Commerce—Re­
sults of English Policy to the Colonies. By E n o c h H a l e , Jun., Esq., o f New York........ 694
IV. CONQUESTS OF COMMERCE.

By B e n j a m in G. S m i t h , Esq., o f New Y o rk ................ 706

V. W ORK FOR BOARDS OF TRADE AND CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE...................... 709

J O U R N A L OF M E R C A N T I L E L A W .
Seamen’s W a g e s ....................................................................................................................................
Claim for Freight—Important to Corn Merchants................................................................................
Liabilities o f Hotel-beepers for Property left for safe keeping...........................................................
Canals and Mills—Right to use Water....................................................................................................
Injunction in relation to Trades and Employments..............................................................................
Liability o f Moist Wool to increased Duty—Important to Im porters..............................................
Authority o f Masters o f Ships to borrow Money....................................... ...........................................
Shipping o f Cotton—Liability of Ship-owners
..............................................................................
Marine Assurance—Piratical Seizure by Passengers.—Collision—Steamboats................................

711
7 13
714
714
715
715
715
716
716

COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND R E V I E W :
E M B R A C I N G A F I N A N C IA L A N D C O M M E R C IA L R E V I E W O F T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S , E T C ., I L L U S T R A ­
T E D W I T H T A B L E S , E T C ., A S F O L L O W S !

General Remarks upon the Trade o f the Country—The effect o f High Prices upon Consumption
—The state o f the Crops—Progress o f Railroad Enterprises—Foreign Exchange—The Bank
Movement—The Supply o f Gold— Foreign Imports at New York for April, and since January
1st, including Imports o f Dry Goods—Exports from New York for April, and since January
1st—Imports and Exports for Ten Months o f the Fiscal Year—Cash Duties received at New
York, Philadelphia, and Boston—Speculations in Grain—Exports o f Domestic Produce—
Prospects for the future, etc......................................................................................................... 617-625
New York Cotton Market.............................................................................. ............... .................. .
42
YO L. XXXII.— NO. Y I.




625

658

CONTENTS OF NO. Y I., YO L. X X X II.

COMMERCIAL

STATISTICS.
P A G l.

Tonnage o f the Collection Districts o f the United States....................................................................
National Character of Vessels trading with the United States.........................................................
The Tonnage of the United States on 30th June, 1854 ......................................................................
Exports o f Manufactured Tobacco from the United States................................................................
Price o f Flour in Philadelphia for 68 years..........................................................................................
Exports of Cotton from the United States in 1854...............................................................................
Statistics o f the Trade and Commerce o f Boston................................................................................
Statistics o f British Shipping..................................................................................................................
Duties received on Merchandise in Great Britain................................................................................
Commerce o f France and the United States........................................................................................
Comparative Commerce of the Atlantic Ports......................................................................................

JOURNAL

OP B A N K I N G ,

CURRENCY,

AND F I N A N C E .

Coinage and Currency o f the United States..........................................................................................
Historical Reminiscences of Banks and Banking...............................................................................
Statistics o f Coinage and Currency.........................................................................................................
Taxes on Property in Cities and Towns in O h io .................................................................................
Bank Capital o f Cities in the United States..........................................................................................

COMMERCIAL

727
729
730
731
732
733
733
734
735
735
736

736
739
742
744
745

REGULATIONS.
746

The New Diplomatic and Consular Systems o f the United Stales.

J O U R N A L OF I N S U R A N C E .
Massachusetts Law of Insurance Companies........................................................................................751

NAUTICAL

INTELLIGENCE.

A Valuable Nautical Instrument.............................................................................................................757
Notices to Mariners—North Coast of Sp in—Fixed Light on Cape La Higuera, Fuenterrabia... 758
Nore Light.—Of Shipwrecked Vessels on the Coasts o f the U. States............................................ 758

S T A T I S T I C S O F A G R I C U L T U R E , &e .
The H op: its Culture, History, and Statistics ....................................................................................... 759
Cherries...................................................................................................................................................... 761
American Pork and Hams in France...................................................................................................... 762

STATISTICS

OF P O P U L A T I O N , &e .

Mortality o f Population of Massachusetts in Different Occupations.................................................. 762

J O U R N A L OF M I N I N G A N D M A N U F A C T U R E S .
Shumard’s Gum Mezquite.—The Iron Trade o f the United States....................................................
The Brick Manufacture of Albany.—Mines and Mineral Resources o f Tennessee........................
Manufactures in South Carolina.................................................................. .........................................
Printing on Glass.—The Production of Onondaga Salt........................................................................

766
767
768
768

R AI L RO AD , CANAL, AND S T E A M B O A T S T A T I S T I C S .
Union Railroad Depot at Troy— Bridge of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad........................ 769
Ocean and Inland Steamers out of the Port o f New York—No. i. The u Commonwealth” . .. . 771
Tolls, Trade, and Tonnage o f the Canals o f New Y ork...................................................................... 772

MERCANTILE

MISCELLANIES.

New York Corn Exchange...................
Liberian Commerce and Civilization...
An Omnibus S to r e ................................
The Book Trade and Printing Business.
Order and Method in Filing Bills.........
Fast Method in Receipting Bills............

774
775
776
777
778
778

T H E BOOK T R A D E .
Notices o f 33 new Books or new Editions




779-784

HUNT’S

MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE
AND

COMMERCIAL REVIEW.
J U N E ,

1855.

Ar t . I.— M E R C A N T I L E B I O G R A P H Y :
PETER CHARDON BRO O K S*

I.
H i s t o r y and biography for the most part record the lives only of those
who have attained military, political, or literary distinction; or who in
any other career have passed through extraordinary vicissitudes of fortune.
The unostentatious routine of private life, although in the aggregate more
important to the welfare o f the community, cannot, from its nature, figure
in the public annals. It is true that historians have lately perceived how
important a part o f the history o f a people consists o f a comparative ac­
count o f its industrial pursuits, condition, education, and manners, at dif­
ferent periods. This idea suggested the most interesting chapter in Mr.
Macaulay’s brilliant work, and Lord Mahon has imitated the example in
the last volume of his history. But such accounts relate to the sum total
o f society, and do not carry with them a narrative o f individual life and
character.
But the names of men who distinguished themselves, while they lived,
for the possession in an eminent degree o f those qualities of character,
which mainly contribute to the success of private life and to the public
stability— of men who, without dazzling talents, have been exemplary in
all the personal and social relations, and enjoyed the affection, respect,
* This memoir was originally written for the New England Historical and Genealogical Register,
at the request o f the Committee o f Publications, and has been abridged by the author for the Mer­
chants' Magazine.




660

Mercantile B iog ra p h y:

and confidence of those around them— ought not to be allowed to perish.
Their example is more valuable to the majority o f readers, than that of
illustrious heroes, statesmen, and writers. Few can draw rules for their
own guidance from the pages of Plutarch, but all are benefited by the de­
lineation of those traits o f character which find scope and exercise in the
common walks of life.
Among the individuals of this class, few are better entitled to be held
in respectful remembrance than the subject of the present memoir. It is
the memoir of a life uneventful, indeed, as far as stirring incident or start­
ling adventure is concerned, but still distinguished by the most substantial
qualities of character. The narrative, if we mistake not, will exhibit a
long and virtuous career of private industry, pursued with moderation and
crowned with success. It will be the record, though an unpretending one,
o f a singularly well-balanced mental and moral constitution— proof against
the temptations to which it was more particularly exposed, and strongly
marked by those traits, which are o f especial value in such a state of
society as exists in this country.
Mr. Peter C. Brooks was born at North Yarmouth, in what was then
the province of Maine, on the 6th of January, 1767. He was the second
son of the Rev. Edward Brooks, of Medford, where the family was estab­
lished soon after the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, and where a branch
of it still remains. The family homestead at Medford is still held under
an original Indian deed.
Mr. Edward Brooks was a graduate of Harvard College, of the year
1757, and for a few years after his graduation was the librarian of the
college. On the 4th of July, 1764, he was settled in the ministry at
North Yarmouth. In September of the same year he married Abigail
Brown, daughter of the Rev. John Brown of Haverhill. Her mother was
Joanna Cotton, a great-grand-daugliter o f the celebrated John Cotton, of
the first church in Boston ; from whom of course Mr. Peter C. Brooks was
a descendant in the sixth generation.*
Among the classmates o f Mr. Edward Brooks was Peter Chardon, the
son of an eminent Boston merchant of that day, belonging to one of the
French protestant families, which had taken refuge in this country, after
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The family residence was in Bowdoin Square, on the spot where the Baptist church now stands, at the
corner of what is still called Chardon-street. A friendship of unusual in­
timacy was formed between Mr. Edward Brooks and his classmate Chardon, who died prematurely in the "West Indies in October, 1766. The
news of his death reached this country a few days before the birth o f Mr.
Edward Brooks’s second son, who received the name of Peter Chardon in
memory of the deceased.f
Differences of opinion on religious subjects soon arose between Mr. Ed­
ward Brooks and a portion of his people. The latter adhered to the rigid
• I am indebted for these genealogical details to the manuscript notes o f Mr. William Gray
Brooks.
t In a number o f the Massachusetts Gazette for January, 1767, may be found the following obitu­
ary notice, taken from the Gazette of Dominica, W . I . :—
“ Charlotte town, October, 1766. Last night, about 11 o’ clock, died here, Peter Chardon, Esq.,
barrister-at-law. It is hard to say whether a thorough knowledge of his profession, or the unblem­
ished integrity and honor with which he acted, was the greatest, in him were joined the finished
scholar and the complete gentleman, and he is not only universally lamented as such, but as a real
loss to the colony.” —MS. o f Mr. JV. O. Brooks.




P eter Chardon Brooks.

661

Calvinism of the older school; Mr. Brooks inclined to a milder orthodoxy.
After strenuous but ineffectual attempts to prevent a separation, Mr. Brooks,
in March, 1769, was led by the advice of an ecclesiastical council to request
a dismission. This was amicably arranged, and he returned to his native
town, Medford, the same year— the subject of the present memoir being at
that time two years old.
It will appear from the foregoing dates that the childhood of Mr. Brooks
was passed during the most critical period o f our history. He was bopn
in the year after the repeal o f the stamp act, and in which the duties—
not less objectionable— on glass, painters’ colors, and tea, were imposed.
His family removed to the neighborhood of Boston, the year before the
massacre of the 5th of March. A t this time the feeling of the country,
under the newly imposed taxes, was unconsciously maturing towards the
revolution. The family residence at Medford is distant but a half-mile
from the village of W est Cambridge, and the line o f march of the British
troops on the 19th o f April, 1775. On that day Mr. Edward Brooks,
though by profession a non-combatant, hastened to the scene of action.
A contemporary, who was in the battle at Concord, ascribes to Mr. Edward
Brooks the command of the party, by whom the convoy and its guard, on
the way to join the main body o f Lord Percy’s reinforcement, were cap­
tured at West Cambridge on the morning o f the 19th.* This is probably
inaccurate, but it is certain that he took an active part in the business o f
the day. Lieutenant Gould, who commanded a company in the king’s
own regiment, and was made prisoner at Concord bridge, was committed
to the custody of Mr. Brooks at Medford. His health being impaired, Mr.
Brooks, in 1777, accepted the place of chaplain to the frigate Hancock,
Captain Manly, and was on board at the time of the capture of the British
frigate Fox. Captain Manly and his prize having appeared before Halifax,
were surprised by a greatly superior hostile force and carried into that
port, where Mr. Brooks, in common with the rest of the Hancock’s com­
pany, remained some time a prisoner. On his release he returned to Med­
ford, where he died May 6, 1781, aged forty-eight,f leaving two sons and
two daughters.
The state of the country at the close of the revolutionary war was one
o f extreme depression, and the family of Mr. Brooks was left at his decease
in narrow circumstances. Neither of the sons enjoyed the advantage of a
collegiate education. Mr. P. C. Brooks, for some time after his father’s
death, remained at home, occupied, as far as his years permitted, in the
usual labors of a farm. He was then placed in apprenticeship in Boston,
continuing, however, for some time, to live with the family at Medford.
There were neither railroads nor omnibusses in those days, and the dis­
tance from town— seven miles— was to be walked both ways, daily, at all
seasons of the year.
Nothing can be conceived less encouraging to a young man proposing
to enter on a business life, than the condition of affairs at this time. The
population of the United States was but little more than three millions;
neither the manufactures of the north nor the staple products af the south
had yet been called into existence; the Western country was terra incog­
nita. The navigation and fisheries of the United States had been destroy­
* See the interesting letter o f the Rev. Joseph Thaxter in the United States Literary Gazette, o f
the 15th December, 1824.
f Manuscript o f Mr. W. G. Brooks.




662

Mercantile B iog ra p h y:

ed by the war. As we had no commercial convention with England, our
ships— which before the revolution enjoyed in her ports the character of
native vessels— were now regarded as foreign; while English vessels, for
want of any general navigation law, entered our ports on the same terms
as our own. This made it absolutely the interest of the American mer­
chant to give the preference to foreign shipping. The country was
inundated by imported goods, sold for the most part by foreign agents.
Domestic fabrics, whenever attempted, were immediately crushed by this
competition. For want of uniform national legislation, the rates of duties
upon imported articles differed in different states, which in some instances
avowedly endeavored, in this way, to undermine each other in reference to
foreign trade. Not merely the United States collectively, but the indi­
vidual states were loaded with debt; the last cow of the farmer was in
some cases taken in Massachusetts to meet the demand of the tax-gatherer.
To such a point of depression had the commerce of Boston sunk, that the
principal men of business undertook, two or three years after the war, to
raise a fund by subscription to build one or two small vessels, for the sake
of encouraging the shipwrights.
This state of things held out but little encouragement for young men
growing up into life, especially when to all other difficulties was added
the entire want of capital. Such was the case with young Brooks on at­
taining his majority in 1T89. His father, as we have seen, had died eight
years before, leaving a widow, another son and two daughters, with noth­
ing for their support but the produce of a small farm. It is scarcely
necessary to say that such a patrimony could afford no surplus to assist
the sons in commencing business. Such were the auspices under which
Mr. Brooks entered life— the most favorable, however, to the formation of
those habits and the attainment o f those traits o f character most conducive
to success.
II.
But although the state of things, as we have shown, was one of great
depression, well calculated to discourage young men just entering life, a
brighter day was nevertheless just about to dawn. The country, it is true,
was perhaps never so distressed and embarrassed as in the interval be­
tween 1783 and 1789, and yet it stood, unconsciously at the time, at the
entrance upon the high-road to the most abounding prosperity. Mr.
Brooks attained his majority the year the federal constitution went into
operation. In dwelling upon the benefits which the new frame of govern­
ment conferred upon the country, we are apt to confine our attention too
much to great political results, and do not sufficiently reflect upon its in­
fluences on individual fortune. The Union being now drawn together by
the bands of an efficient national legislation, a career was opened to in­
dustry and enterprise in every direction. The' Commerce o f the country
again started into being from the wreck o f the Revolution, and from the
prostration not less disastrous which continued after the return of peace.
Trade not only returned to the channels in which, to some extent, it had
flowed before the war, but it began to extend itself to seas never before
visited by American vessels. Not only were the ports of Western Europe
resorted to, by a daily increasing number of American ships, but those of
the Baltic and the Mediterranean were now for the first time visited by
our countrymen. Not content with this our merchants turned their




P eter Chardon Brooks.

603

thoughts to China, to the Indian Archipelago, to the north-western coast
o f our own continent, and the islands o f the Pacific, several of which
were discovered by our navigators. The courage and self-reliance with
which these enterprises were undertaken, almost suspass belief. Merchants
o f Boston and Salem, of moderate fortunes, engaged in branches o f busi­
ness, which it was thought in Europe coukl only he safely carried on by
great chartered companies, under the protection of government monopo­
lies. Vessels o f two or three hundred tons burden were sent out to cir­
cumnavigate the globe, under young shipmasters who had never crossed
the Atlantic. The writer of this memoir knows an instance which oc­
curred at the beginning o f this century— and the individual concerned, a
wealthy and respected banker of Boston, is still living among us— in
which a youth of nineteen commanded a ship on her voyage from Calcut­
ta to Boston, with nothing in the shape of a chart on board, but the small
map of the world in Guthrie’s Geography.
Such was the state o f things in 1789, when Mr. Brooks came o f age.
Ilis quick discernment suggested to him, that in the rapid development
o f the navigation o f the country then taking place, the business of ma­
rine insurance would as rapidly grow in importance. This business was
not then as at present conducted by joint-stock companies, transacting
their affairs by officers intrusted with that duty, and resting on the basis
o f a corporate fund. It was in this country, as it had been from time im­
memorial in England,* an affair o f individual adventure, in which in the
then existing paucity o f investments, private underwriters engaged as a
favorite branch of business. Two or three private insurance offices had
been opened in Boston. One o f them was kept at the Bunch of Grapes
tavern, at the corner o f State and Kilby streets, where the New England
Bank now stands.-)- Encouraged by promises o f support from judicious
and influential friends, to whom he had already become known, Mr. Brooks
determined to engage in business as an insurance broker, and readily em­
braced the opportunity of entering the office at the Bunch of Grapes as
secretary. On the retirement o f his principal (Capt. Hurd) a short time
afterwards, he took the office into his own hands.
The reputation of the office did not fall off under his management. It
continued to be the resort o f some o f the leading
o underwriters. Ilis
great punctuality and never-failing attendance at the office, and liis exemplary personal habits— already known to friend and acquaintance— soon
attracted wider notice. The business confided to him, it was quickly ob­
served, was prepared with dispatch, with accuracy, and with neatness, and
even the remarkably clear and legible handwriting—-not elegant, but reg­
ular and plain as print— gave satisfaction. As some of the heaviest un­
derwriters resorted to his office, no delay occurred in filling up the most
important policies. The contracts being made with men of integrity as
well as ability, and accurately drafted, it was soon remarked that losses
were promptly paid, without driving the assured to litigation.
The risks
to which our Commerce was exposed in the struggles o f the great Euro­
pean belligerents, while they increased the necessity of getting insurance,
* Anderson’ s History o f Commerce (V ol. ii., p. 270) gives a curious extract from the first law
passed in England to regulate marine insurance. This law dates from the year 1001, and speaks o f
marine insurance as a usage that “ hath been time out of mind among merchants.” Anderson states
that it existed as far back as the Emperor Claudius.
t In imitation, perhaps, o f the example o f Lloyd’ s Coffee House in London, which has connected
its name with marine insurance in England to the present day.




664

Mercantile B iog ra p h y:

multiplied losses and raised premiums, proportionally augmented the
gains of tlie office. Mr. Brooks almost immediately found himself in the
receipt of a considerable and rapidly increasing income.
Although commencing business without capital, or any direct family
influence which could advance his fortunes, Mr. Brooks no doubt owed
something in early life to family associations, which ought not to be for­
gotten here. The name was well known and highly respected in the vi­
cinity of Boston, not merely on his father’s account, but also through the
late Governor Brooks, a remote relative, a neighbor at Medford, and through
life a steady and attached friend. Few persons enjoyed at this time in
Massachusetts a more enviable popularity than this sterling patriot. He
took the field on the 19th of April, 1775, and remained in it to the close
o f the war. He commanded the regiment which first entered the enemy’s
lines at Saratoga. He possessed the personal friendship and confidence o f
Washington and his illustrious associates in arms. After the organization
o f the new government, he was appointed the first marshal of Massachu­
setts. To be o f his name and kindred was a letter o f recommendation
for a young man just coming into life in this region. It may also be
added, that habitual personal intercourse with a man of Governor Brooks’s
various experience of affairs and high practical intelligence, must have
been of great value in every respect to his youthful relative.
Not less valuable must have been his connection with Judge Nathaniel
Gorham, of Charlestown, one o f whose daughters he married in 1792, a
circumstance which will justify us in dwelling for a moment upon this
honored name. Judge Gorham was one of the most intelligent, respected,
and influential citizens o f Massachusetts. Few persons equaled him in
foresight and breadth o f conception. He was one o f the most active pro­
jectors of Charlestown Bridge— the first work of that size in the United
States, and deemed at the time one of great risk. He was one of the
very first to catch a clear view o f the importance o f the western country.
H e saw it plainly when scarce any one else saw it. Before the formation
o f the federal constitution— before the adjustment of the territorial dis­
putes between many o f the conterminous States— before the extinguish­
ment of the Indian title— before the surrender of the western posts, Judge
Gorham staked all he was worth and more, on a purchase, in connection
with Oliver Phelps, o f an immense tract o f land on the Genesee River,
now composing ten or twelve counties in the State o f New York. The
territory was under the jurisdiction o f New York, but the property o f the
soil was in Massachusetts. Although the land was purchased for a few
cents the acre, so little confidence was then felt in the stability and pro­
gress of the country, that Messrs. Gorham ana Phelps could find scarce
any one to purchase under them, and were obliged to abandon all but the
small portion of land which their limited private means enabled them to
retain. Mr. Phelps, however, and the oldest son of Judge Gorham emi­
grated to Canandaigua, and became the pioneers of settlement in Western
New York.
Although obliged to retreat without material benefit from an enterprise
which promised much more than affluence, Judge Gorham’s disappoint­
ment detracted nothing from his standing or usefulness. He was a mem­
ber of the convention which framed the federal constitution; and when
that body went into committee o f the whole, Judge Gorham was daily
called by General Washington to fill the chair, for the space o f three




P eter Chardon Brooks.

665

months. Few persons in this part of tbe country were, o f course, so in­
timately associated with the constitution ; and this circumstance, no doubt,
through the matrimonial connection alluded to, had its influence on the
political opinions of Mr. Brooks. A t no period of his life a partisan— and
in the beginning o f his career standing wholly aloof from politics— few
men reflected more upon the principles o f the new1 form of government,
or more highly appreciated its value. He was a federalist of the school
o f Washington.
Although fond o f books, and regretting the want of a literary education,
Mr. Brooks, at this period o f his life, had but little leisure to indulge his
taste in reading. Never permitting his business to fall into arrears, he
was often at his office till midnight; and what little time he could spare
for books was employed in the perusal of writers on the law of insurance.
One of his underwriters was accustomed to say to him, “ that old pen,
which you are wearing to a stub, is worth a fortune to you.”
III.
As we have already observed, Mr. Brooks commenced business at a pe­
riod of great and general depression, when the country was laboring es­
pecially under a want of capital. An event shortly afterwards occurred,
which exercised a very important influence in this respect, without, how­
ever, disturbing the even tenor of his business pursuits. W e allude to the
establishment of the funding system.
A t the first session of Congress under the new constitution, a resolution
passed the House of Representatives on the 21st September, 1789, “ that
the House consider an adequate provision for the support o f public credit
as a matter of high importance to the national honor and prosperity,” and
the Secretary o f the Treasury was directed to prepare a plan tor the pur­
pose aforesaid, and to report the same to the House at its next session. In
compliance with this resolution, an extremely able report was made by
the Secretary (General Hamilton) on the 9th of January following, and
the act establishing the funding system passed the two Houses, and was
approved by President Washington on the 4th of August, 1790. The
political history of our country contains the record o f no measure of in­
ternal administration more important. It was to this report of General
Hamilton and the system founded upon it, that Mr. Webster alluded when
he said of Hamilton :— “ He smote the rock o f the national resources, and
abundant streams o f revenue burst forth. He touched the dead corpse of
the public credit, and it sprang upon its feet.” *
The two great features ;of the funding system were a provision for the
payment o f interest, on certain conditions, upon a portion of the public
debt of the United States, subscribed for that purpose; and the assump­
tion by the United States o f a portion o f the war debt of the individual
States. The effect of the two provisions was to give full value to a capi­
tal of above thirty-one millions o f dollars, which was worse than unpro­
ductive, for it hung like a dead weight upon the credit of the country.
Its average nominal value, at the time o f the adoption of the constitution,
was about four shillings in the pound.
Reposing confidence in the principles on which the public credit w7as
organized by Congress, according to the plans of General Hamilton, as




Webster’ s Works,

y o I.

i., p . 200.

666

M ercantile B iog ra p h y:

well as on the prospects o f the country, Mr. Brooks invested his own little
accumulations, (he had been hut a single year in business,) in the public
funds, and also made use, to a small extent, o f the credit of a wealthy
friend, Mr. Samuel Brown, kindly offered him for that purpose.
He was,
however, from disposition and principle, opposed to speculation ; his means
were limited; and his purchases were delayed till the certainty of the
adoption of the funding system had brought the public securities nearly
to their true value. The sum total o f his gains from this source was ac­
cordingly too inconsiderable to be named.
Mr. Brooks was indebted, at no period o f his life, to great speculative
profits. His prosperity was the result o f persevering attention to his reg­
ular business, and to the good judgment with which he availed himself of
such subsidiary advantages as fairly came in his way, without risk and
without resorting to borrowed money. Among these may be mentioned
the practice, at that time very general, on the part of persons not engaged
in trade, o f sending what they called “ adventures.” This was done, by
the aid of business friends, by all classes o f the community— by profes­
sional men, by females, and minors. Mr. Brooks’s position in an insurance
office kept him necessarily, at all times, well acquainted with the state
and course of trade, and gave him great facilities for the transaction of
business of this kind, which he pursued for several years, to the extent of
his means, and with uniform success.
It may be proper to mention here, for the information o f the youthful
reader, that, from his first commencement in business, Mr. Brooks’s ac­
counts were kept with great exactness. To this habit he attached the
highest importance. An acquaintance with the art o f book-keeping was
not so much a matter of course at that period, as at the present day. In
the middle of the last century in this country, as at a somewhat earlier
period in England, it wras not the universal practice of merchants— except
those who were in very extensive business— to have a regular set of hooks
kept by a partner or clerk. The transactions of the day were entered in
a waste, and once or twice a week, according to the extent of the business,
a professed book-keeper— well versed in what were considered the myste­
ries of his calling— came and compiled the journal and ledger. It was
only in the progress o f time, and at a comparatively recent period, that it
was deemed indispensable to have the books wholly kept within the es­
tablishment, and that the system o f double entry was reduced substanti­
ally to its present form.* Mr. Brooks very early acquired a thorough
knowledge of it, and kept all his books with his own hand to the close of
his life. He often enforced upon young men just entering a business life
the utmost importance o f system and punctuality in this respect.
The first organization o f political parties under the present constitution
took place at the period of which we are now speaking.
Mr. Brooks, as we have already remarked, belonged to the federal par­
ty, though taking no active part in political controversy, and wholly des­
titute, at every period o f his life, o f political ambition. The party poli­
tics of the United States at that time unfortunately connected themselves
in a great degree with the struggles o f England and France. An en­
lightened nationality had hardly developed itself. Both belligerents vio­
* The work o f Booth, which contributed mainly to this result, was published in England so lately
as 17t*9. He had been a practical merchant both in London and New York. The former treatises
had been drawn up by professed accountants.




P eter Chardon Brooks.

667

lated our neutral rights, but the good faith with which England, under the
provisions of the treaty of 1794, indemnified our merchants to the amount
o f many millions o f dollars for property illegally captured, formed a strong
contrast with the conduct o f France, who positively refused payment, ex­
cept upon impracticable conditions, for contemporaneous spoliations, much
greater in amount, and equally unwarranted in character. W e refer to
those claims which, by a kind of diplomatic juggle, were thrown upon
our government by the convention with France of 1800, and which, being
thus transferred to the government of the United States for a most valu­
able consideration, remain, we are sorry to say, uncompensated to the
present d a y ; the only class of spoliations upon American Commerce for
which sooner or later some indemnification has not been made. Each
house of Congress has at different times acknowledged the validity of the
claims, and made moderate provision for their satisfaction. But it has in
most cases happened that the bills o f the Senate have been lost in the
House of Representatives. On one occasion a bill which had passed both
houses of Congress failed to receive the signature of the President.*
But notwithstanding the belligerent depredations upon our growing
Commerce from the commencement o f the wars of the French Revolution
to the peace of Amiens— which was precisely the period of Mr. Brooks’s
active business life— it was a time o f prosperity both for the country at
large and for the town o f Boston.
The population of the town between
1765 and 1790 had increased only from 15,520 to 18,038. Between 1790
and 1800, it rose from the last named amount to 24,937. It is probable
that the increase o f commercial capital was in a still greater ratio. Few
large fortunes were accumulated before the Revolution, although the laws
were more favorable than at the present time, to their being kept togeth­
er. The chief foundations of the commercial wealth of the country were
laid after the adoption o f the constitution.
W e have already spoken of the rapid development of our navigation
after the close of the revolutionary war, and especially after the consoli­
dation of the Union. Mr. Brooks’s intimate connection with this great
interest will justify us in alluding for a moment to a few facts, which il­
lustrate the progress of the country in that respect, and show how honor­
ably Boston was associated with the new branches of foreign trade.
The first American vessel which was sent to Canton— the Empress of
China— sailed from New York in 1784, and was owned principally in that
city and Philadelphia. The conduct o f the voyage was, however, entrust­
ed to Major Samuel Shaw, himself a Bostonian, and the son of a respect­
able Boston merchant, who, after serving with great credit as an artillery
officer during the whole revolutionary war, rendered no small service to
the country by his agency in opening the China trade.f
The first American vessels that visited the north-western coast of this
continent— the Washington and the Columbia— were owned and fitted
out from Boston in 1787, the Washington under the command of Captain
Gray. Among those who engaged in this enterprise were the well-re­
* Since this paragraph was first printed, another bill for the partial payment o f these claims,
passed by large majorities o f both houses of Congress, has been vetoed by the President.
t Major Shaw was the first American Consul to Canton. He was the uncle and early friend o f
the late lamented Robert G. Shaw, o f this city, who himself did so much to render the name o f
“ Boston Merchant ” a title o f honor. See the highly interesting publication, “ The Journals o f
Major Samuel Shaw, the first American Consul at Canton, with a Life o f the Author,” by President
Quincy.




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M ercantile B iog ra p h y:

membered names of Joseph Barrell and Charles Bulfinch, the latter gen­
tleman afterwards known as the architect of the Capitol o f the United
States. This was the commencement o f a trade pursued for many years,
and with great success, by the merchants o f this city. Captain Gray, it
is well known, discovered the entrance into the Columbia River, and, in a
subsequent voyage, pointed it out to Vancouver. Such being the case, it
was a somewhat amusing circumstance, in our controversy with England
about Oregon, that the British claim rested, in part, on the pretension that
Vancouver discovered the Columbia.
These first achievements of the commercial marine of the United States
in the Pacific Ocean were followed by those of Captain Joseph Ingraham,
Captain Josiah Roberts, and Captain James Magee, and other enterprising
and intelligent New England shipmasters, to whose courage, energy, and
nautical skill justice has not been done. They traversed unexplored tracts
of the great ocean, they landed upon islands laid down on no charts, and
traded with powerful and ferocious tribes on remote and inhospitable
coasts, at the end of the world. It is to be regretted that we have not
had in this city an institution like the Salem East India Museum, where
their log-books and journals might be preserved. In private hands there
is danger of their being lost, as some, it may be feared, have been al­
ready. It is probable that the only still existing record of voyages, which
for length, skill in navigation, and addition to geographical science, de­
served a permanent place in the annals of discovery, is to be sought in the
books of the insurance offices in State-street between 1789 and 1803.
IV.
The active part o f Mr. Brooks’s business life was passed, as has been
already stated, between the years of 1789 and 1803, at which time he relinguished his office in State-street, being then but thirty-six years of age.
The ten last years o f this period were peculiarly favorable to the pursuit
in which he was engaged. The existing war in Europe threw much of the
carrying trade o f the world into the hands of the Americans; and the
orders and decrees of the leading belligerents, equally violent and capri­
cious, while they tended to derange the regular courses of trade, gave proportionably greater activity to the business o f insurance. It was accord­
ingly at this time, that Mr. Brooks’s most rapid accumulations were made.
He sometimes, himself, referred to this period of his life, as one o f great
and even dangerous prosperity. To use the language o f a judicious obitu­
ary notice, which appeared in the Christian Register at the time of his
decease ;* “ Though little inclined at any time to speak of himself, he did,
occasionally, when alluding to that time, remark, that ‘ he then made
money enough to turn any man’s head.’ But the reason why we mention
this fact is, that it did not turn his head. It is a remark long since made
by the greatest orator o f antiquity, that extraordinary success forms the
test of a weak mind, the failure to sustain which often shows that it is far
harder to keep than to acquire. The most remarkable characteristic of
Mr. Brooks, in his active pursuits, was his moderation in success. To him
extravagant profits were no temptation to enter into hazardous enter­
prises.”




* Written by the Hon. Charles Francis Adams.

P eter Chardon Broths.

669

The quiet life of an unambitious man o f business affords but few occur­
rences for the biographer. The most instructive treatment of such a sub­
ject is, if possible, to convey a lively impression of the general state of the
times. Conditions o f society, of great importance in the aggregate, are
made up of parts and elements, which, when taken singly, may be of little
individual interest. W e have, in the first part of this memoir, recorded
some facts illustrative of the general course o f trade in the United States
during the period of Mr. Brooks’s active life. It was marked by two
striking characteristics, viz., the ease and the courage with which men
embarked, with small means, in distant and far-reaching adventure, and
the prudence and moderation which governed their proceedings, and
guided them to a successful result. The consequence was the formation
o f a class of merchants and men o f business, in whom energy, moral cour­
age, caution, and liberality, were all remarkably combined.
The restoration o f general peace in that year by the conclusion of the
treaty of Amiens, made it certain that the business o f insurance would
cease to be as important as it had been since the commencement of the
French revolution. This circumstance, with the decease of a friend whose
estate it was supposed might suffer materially by the sudden termination
to which his affairs were brought, led Mr. Brooks in the early prime of
life, and while he was moving on the flood-tide of fortune, to form the re­
solution of withdrawing from all active participation in business. This
resolution, deliberately formed, was steadily executed ; and from the year
1803 to 1806 he devoted himself to the settlement o f the risks in which
he was interested, and the liquidation of all outstanding engagements.
Having accomplished this object as far as practicable, he was led, at the
urgent request o f friends, and with a view to the employment of his leis­
ure, to accept the office of the President of the New England Insurance
Company, which had been incorporated a few years before in Boston, and
was the first chartered company o f this description in the State. He
filled this situation for a few years, and then retired definitely from all bu­
siness relations.
A portion o f his morning hours were henceforward devoted to the
management of his property; but much o f the day was given to those
miscellaneous duties which society at all times devolves upon men o f in­
telligence and probity known not to be absorbed in affairs; the direction
o f public trusts, and the concerns o f various institutions of philanthropy
and charity. In the summer season, the after part o f the day was given
to the care of his farm ; and at all times the kindly duties o f social inter­
course with a numerous family and friendly circle were discharged by him
with equal cordiality and diligence.
If he could be said to have any oc­
cupation as a man o f business, it was that o f a private banker; but he re­
mained to the close o f his life an entire stranger to the exchange, and
transacted no business for others on commission, nor for himself on credit.
The object of this memoir being not to give unmerited notoriety to an
individual, but to show, by a striking example, in what way a person
starting without capital may in this community rise to wealth, and that in
a quiet and regular course of business, we have thought it might be useful
in this place to state a few of the principles by which Mr. Brooks was
governed through life, and to which he undoubtedly owed his success.
The first was one to which we have already alluded, viz., to abstain, as
a general rule, from speculative investments. To quote again the language




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Mercantile B iog ra p h y:

o f Mr. Adams’s obituary notice— “ His maxim was, that the whole value
o f wealth consisted in the personal independence which it secured, and he
was never inclined to put that good, once w'on, again at hazard, in the
mere quest of extraordinary additions to his superfluity.” Acting on this
principle, he was content with moderate returns, and avoided investments
attended with risk and uncertainty. He never made purchases of unpro­
ductive real estate on a calculation of future enhanced value. He did not
engage largely in manufactures, feeling how liable they were to suffer by
capricious legislation, caused by fluctuating political influences, and also
from the necessity, in many cases, of intrusting the management of im­
mense capitals to persons not trained to the business carried on. He con­
sidered railroad stocks, generally speaking, as a precarious property, from
the passion for multiplying such enterprises on borrowed means, beyond
the real wants of the country, and in cases where ruinous competition with
rival lines must ensue. He contemplated also with prophetic foresight the
endless stock-jobbery likely to attend the undue multiplication o f these
enterprises. He was, however, at all times willing, to a reasonable ex­
tent, to loan his funds for the accommodation of solid, well-conducted cor­
porations.
Another of Mr. Brooks’s principles of business was never, either directly
or indirectly, to take more than legal interest. Had he been willing to
violate this rule, and that in modes not condemned by the letter o f the
law nor by public opinion, he might easily have doubled his fortune. But
many considerations led him to adopt and adhere to his rule on this sub­
ject. It was contrary to law to take more than legal interest, and he held
it to be eminently dangerous to tamper with the duty o f a good citizen,
and break the law, because he might think the thing forbidden and not
morally wrong.
This consideration w*as entirely irrespective of the fact, that at one pe­
riod, by the law o f this State, the contract was vitiated by the demand of
usurious interest, and the creditor placed in the debtor’s pow er; an absurd
inversion of the relation of the parties, or rather an entire annihilation of
the value of property. But after the mitigation o f the law in this respect,
Mr. Brooks’s practice remained unaltered. He believed and often said,
that in the long run, six per cent is as much as the bare use o f money is
worth in this country; that to demand more was for the capitalist to
claim the benefit of the borrower’s skill in some particular business, or o f
his courage or energy; or else it was to take advantage of his neighbor’s
need. He frequently said that he would never put it in the power of any
one in a reverse of fortune to ascribe his ruin to the payment of usurious
interest to him. On more than one occasion, when some beneficial public
object was to be promoted, he loaned large sums at an interest below the
legal and current rate.
These views— though shared by a few of Mr. Brooks’s wealthy contem­
poraries— are certainly not those which generally prevail; and he himself,
as a question of political economy, doubted the soundness of the usury
law. He thought that money was a species of merchandise, of which the
value ought not to be fixed by legislation; and that all laws passed for
that purpose tended to defeat their own end. By tempting men to illegal
evasions of the law, they increased the difficulty of obtaining regular loans,
in times of pressure, and eventually compelled the borrower to pay more
for his accommodation. That he paid it under the name o f commission,
guaranty, or premium, rather than that o f interest, was no relief.




P eter Chardon Brooks.

671

It was another of his principles never himself to borrow money. The
loan from Mr. Brown above alluded to, may seem an exception to this re­
mark, hut it was under circumstances of a very peculiar nature, resembling
less a business’ loan than a friendly advancement, made by a person in
years to a young man entering life, and standing, pro tanto, in a filial re­
lation to the lender. It is doubtful whether, with this exception, Mr.
Brooks’s name was ever subscribed to a note of hand. W hat he could
not compass by present means was to him interdicted. Equally invincible
was his objection to becoming responsible by indorsements for the obliga­
tions of others. Without denying the necessity, in active trade, o f antici­
pating the payment o f business paper, he shunned every transaction, how­
ever brilliant the promise of future gain, which required the use o f bor­
rowed means.
The bold spirit o f modern enterprise will deride as narrow-minded so
cautious a maxim; but the vast numbers of individuals and families an­
nually ruined by its non-observance— to say nothing o f the heaven-daring
immoralities so often brought to light, to which men are tempted in the
too great haste to be rich— go far to justify Mr. Brooks’s course. It is
highly probable, that in the aggregate, as much property is lost and sacri­
ficed in the United States by the abuse of credit, as is gained by its legiti­
mate use. W ith respect to the moral mischiefs resulting from some of
the prevailing habits of our business community— the racking cares and
the corroding uncertainties, the mean deceptions and the measureless
frauds to which they sometimes lead— language is inadequate to do justice
to the notorious and appalling truth.
Having recorded above Mr. Brooks’s aversion to speculative investments,
it is hardly necessary to say that purchases o f the unsettled lands in the
West were regarded by him in this light. It is probable that the result
o f the enterprise o f Gorham and Phelps above alluded to, had in early
life produced an impression on his mind unfavorable to these speculations.
The Yazoo purchase, in which many Bostonians were to their cost deeply
involved, had strengthened this impression. In a single instance only, as
far as we are aware, was Mr. Brooks induced— and that by the urgency o f
friends— to take a part in an investment o f this kind, having joined some
friends in a purchase o f lands in the State of Ohio. The tract selected lay
partly within the limits o f the city of Cleveland, and stretched for some
distance to the south into the interior.
It was of course admirably
chosen ; but, after retaining his interest in the purchase several years, and
finding that tax-bills came in much more rapidly than rents, he sold out
at a barely saving price— affording another confirmation o f what may be
considered an axiom, that speculations in wild lands by non-resident pro­
prietors rarely lead to any great accumulations o f property. It is not de­
sirable that they should, for any such accumulation must be a tax upon
the settlers of the lands; the pioneers of civilization, whose lot in life
is at best so laborious as to merit exemption from any unnecessary hard­
ship.
The town o f Chardon, in the northeastern part o f Ohio, is within the
limits of the purchase above alluded to, and commemorates the name o f
Mr. Brooks. Long after he had ceased to hold any property in it, a bell,
presented by him to the village church, bore testimony to his friendly in­
terest in the settlement.
Mr. Brooks w as a member o f most of the leading charitable corporations




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Mercantile B io g ra p h y :

of the State— a trustee of many of them. He was an early and active
member of the Board of Trustees o f the Agricultural Society, and took a
great interest in promoting its objects. He was a trustee, and latterly
president of the Massachusetts Charitable Congregational Society, and
contributed liberally to its funds. H e was for some years president of the
Savings Bank of Boston, and of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insur­
ance Company.
When the Washington Monument Society was organized, he was ap­
pointed its treasurer. The sum raised by subscription was about $10,000,
and the contract for the statue with Sir Francis Chantrey was for that
sum. Fortunately, the work was several years in progress, during which
time the funds of the association were steadily accumulating in Mr.
Brooks’s hands; so that when the statue was delivered, after paying the
sculptor, there were more than $7,000 at the command of the trustees
for the erection of the Tribune adjoining the State House, in which it was
set up.
In addition to services of this kind of a more public nature, much of
Mr. Brooks’s time, at all periods of his life, was given gratuitously to the
management of important business concerns for relatives and friends.
There was, perhaps, no person in the community whose opinion on mat­
ters of business was more frequently asked; and probably no one ever re­
gretted taking his advice.
Y.
W e have already observed that from an early period Mr. Brooks passed
his summers in the country, on the spot which— though not actually that
of his own birth—had been the home of his childhood and the seat o f his
family for generations, in the western part of Medford. Having been in
his boyhood brought up on a farm, he never lost his fondness for rural
occupations. In fact, he was a thorough practical farmer. He enlarged
by purchase his patrimonial acres, and from the time they came into his
possession, superintended their cultivation. In 1804 he replaced the cot­
tage in which he had been brought up with a large and convenient house.
This was his residence during the summer months for the rest of his life.
He found in these rural pursuits not merely rational amusement, but great
benefit to his health ; and at the same time afforded to the neighborhood
an example of well-conducted husbandry. This farm is delightfully situ­
ated on the margin of the little sheet of water, where the Mystic River
takes its source. The name of the town in its original spelling— Meadford
— was probably derived from the fact that the river, which soon expands
int* a broad estuary, could here be crossed on foot. It was, like most of
the head waters of the New England streams, a favorite resort of the na­
tive tribes. Their rude implements are still sometimes turned up by the
plow in the fields at Medford.
Mr. Brooks had an especial fondness for a few ancestral trees which
adorned his farm, and learned, from the pleasure they afforded him, the
duty of each generation to do its part in securing the same gratification
to posterity. Many thousand trees were planted by him, and the native
growth was carefully preserved. The beautiful little delta, which now so
greatly ornaments the village o f W est Medford, at the fork o f the public
roads near his house, was planted by him about 1824. The remarkably




P eter Chardon Brooks.

673

handsome elm by the side of the church, on the right hand as you enter
Chauncy-place from Summer-street, in Boston, was removed by him from
Medford about the same time, when of a size to be easily carried on a
man’s shoulder, and was planted with his own hands on the spot where it
now stands— a stately, spreading tree.
It has already been stated that Mr. Brooks was wholly free from politi­
cal ambition. But though he never sought public life, he was occasion­
ally persuaded to accept a nomination for the Legislature of Massachusetts,
lie was at different times a member of the Executive Council, of the
Senate, and House of Representatives, and of the Convention called in
1820 to amend the Constitution of the State.
In all these bodies he held a position of respectability and influence. He
rarely spoke, and never without having something to say which was worth
listening to. On questions of banking, insurance, and finance, his opinions
had very great weight in all the bodies of which he was a member. This
deference to his judgment proceeded in part from his familiarity with
those subjects—from the clearness, precision, and common sense nature of
his views— and in part also from his unsuspected integrity. The idea
that his course on any matter of legislation could be affected by his per­
sonal interest, probably never entered into any man’s mind. Although it
is one of the most common and successful artifices of the demagogue to
awaken or foment an unkind feeling between town and country, probably
no individual was ever personally less obnoxious to the jealousies and sus­
picions which have their origin in this unprincipled attempt.
Among the subjects to which the attention of Mr. Brooks was particu­
larly turned, as a member of the Legislature, there was probably none in
reference to which his influence was more beneficially felt than that of lot­
teries. This onerous and wasteful mode of raising money for public ob­
jects was countenanced and resorted to in Massachusetts till 1821. It had
been employed without scruple for purposes the most meritorious, and by
individuals and corporations of the greatest respectability. The construc­
tion of canals and bridges, the erection of college edifices, and the pre­
servation of Plymouth Beach— works and objects of the most undoubted
utility— had, under the auspices o f the most dignified public bodies,
sought their resources in a lottery. In addition to the lotteries granted
by our own legislature, the tickets of those o f other States were freely
vended within the limits of Massachusetts. It had been for some time ap­
parent to reflecting minds that no form of taxation could be imagined at
once so unequal and so demoralizing as a lottery— none in which the
yield stood in such ridiculous disproportion to the burden borne by the
public. Where the object for which the lottery was granted lay without
the limits of the State, the evil was, of course, augmented by this circum­
stance. The injury inflicted upon the morals of the community by up­
holding a species of gambling, rendered doubly pernicious by the respect­
able sanction under which it was carried on, had begun to be a source o f
anxiety. It was reserved for Mr. Brooks, by plain matter-of-fact state­
ment, to concentrate the public opinion on this subject, and to effect an
abatement of the nuisance.
On the 31st of January, 1821, a committee, of which he was chairman,*
* The committee consisted of P. C. Brooks and Benjam-n Pickman, o f Boston, in the Senate ; and
Messrs. Lawrence, o f Groton; Stebbins, o f Palmer; and Hedge, o f Plymouth, in the House.
VOL. X X X II.---- NO. V I.




43

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Mercantile B iog ra p h y:

was appointed by the Senate of Massachusetts “ to examine generally into
the concerns o f every lottery now in operation in this Commonwealth.”
This committee reported on the 9th of February. From their report it
appeared that the number of lotteries embraced within the scope o f the
inquiry was three, viz., the Union Canal Lottery, originally granted in
New Hampshire; the Springfield Bridge Lottery; and the Plymouth
Beach Lottery. The term for which the Union Canal Lottery was granted
had expired ; but as no part of the sum required had yet been raised, an
application was pending before the Legislature of Massachusetts to extend
the charter. The committee were therefore led to make a brief statement
of the operations of this lottery during the six years for which it had been
carried on..
From this statement it appeared that tickets had been sold in the six
classes to the amount of $467,328. The sum paid out in prizes amounted
to $406,497. The incidental expenses and services were charged by the
managers at $39,988; bad debts, through the agency of brokers, at
$24,315; and interest on money borrowed to pay prizes, $2,763. The
general result from these elements was a net loss o f $5,647 to the persons
to whom the lottery was granted for the purpose of opening the canal.
Thus the ticket-buying public had been taxed nearly half a million of dol­
lars, for the sake of paying back about four-fifths of that sum to the draw­
ers of prizes in all parts of the country, and with an absolute loss to the
canal of between five and six thousand dollars. In the face of these facts,
an extension of the privilege was asked for by the undertakers !
O f the Springfield Bridge Lottery, the committee only remark that as
the time for which it was granted was to expire in June, and as the sum
allowed to be raised was not yet realized, it would be competent for the
Legislature, on an application for an extension of the grant, to institute
an inquiry into the proceedings of the managers.
W ith respect to the Plymouth Beach Lottery— which was evidently re­
garded by the committee as the most important case— they remarked that
it was still in operation ; that the managers had lately drawn the ninth
and tenth classes, and were then drawing the eleventh; and that it would
not be possible during the then present session of the Legislature to com­
plete an examination which should include those classes and present an
exact account of all the money raised. The report accordingly recom­
mended the adoption of an order for a joint committee of the Legislature
to sit in the recess, for the purpose o f examining into the accounts o f the
Plymouth Beach Lottery, with full power to send for persons and papers.
This order was adopted by the two houses, and Mr. Brooks was of
course named chairman of the joint committee. Their report was made
in the House o f Representatives on the 14th June, at the ensuing spring
session. It disclosed the fact, that out o f $723,465 received for tickets
sold and paid for, the sum paid to the town o f Plymouth, for carrying
into effect the purposes for which the lottery was granted, was but
$9,876 !
This report was the coup de grace to all grants of lotteries in Massa­
chusetts. The tickets, however, o f foreign lotteries continued to be sold
to a great and demoralizing extent, and public opinion against their tol­
eration rapidly gained strength.
In 1833, during the session o f the Legislature, a person, thirty-five years
o f age, of reputed integrity and fair character, was so far carried away by




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675

the temptation of lotteries as to consume in eight months all his own
property, and $18,000 belonging to his employers. On the discovery of
his defalcation, he committed suicide. This calamitous event powerfully
affected the public mind. lion. J. T. Buckingham, then a member of the
House of Representatives, moved for a committee of inquiry, and made a
very able report on the subject. An act was passed imposing a penalty
on the sale of tickets in lotteries not authorized by law.*
By this law,
the sale of lottery tickets in Massachusetts if not wholly prevented, has
been reduced to very narrow limits. Similar legislation by other States
has contributed to the same result.
It is matter of just surprise, that a tax so onerous to the community,
and so demoralizing to the individual, should still be tolerated in Delaware
and Maryland, and perhaps in other States. The lottery brokers in Bal­
timore still scatter their poisonous advertisements, by mail, through the
country; and the main street of Washington, notwithstanding her own
disastrous experience, is still lined with the offices o f their agents.
VI,
Mr. Brooks had led an active business life, or had been engaged in im­
portant pecuniary transactions for forty years, without ever having been
involved in a lawsuit on his own account, either as plaintiff or defendant.
A t length, after three years’ of preparation, an action was brought against
him in 1829, on a bill o f equity, by the administrators de bonis non of
Tuthill Hubbart, who had been dead about a quarter of a century. This
gentleman had been one of the largest of Mr. Brooks’s underwriters, and
an extensive confidential connection had existed between them for many
years. After Mr. Ilubbart’s decease, Mr. Brooks made a general settle­
ment with his estate; and as, from the nature of insurance business, nu­
merous accounts were outstanding, the gross sum of $60,000 was paid by
him in 1808, and accepted by the administrators as a full and final dis­
charge of all claims against Mr. Brooks.
The action brought in 1829 was to set aside this settlement, on the al­
leged ground that in stating the accounts in 1808, important items to the
credit of Mr. Hubbart had been omitted. Nearly $100,000 were claimed
as due them by the parties bringing the action. Wilful fraud was not
charged by the parties, probably not suspected; but a suit of this kind,
involving, as was alleged, a very large sum, to be swelled by twenty-one
years’ interest, brought after the interval o f an entire generation since the
grounds o f the aetion accrued, and requiring the scrutiny of long-forgotten
accounts, under the almost total loss of contemporary living evidence, was
well calculated to distress a sensitive mind. Unavowed attempts to ex­
cite popular prejudice were made out o f doors. There was no individual
in the community in reference to whom a charge even o f technical fraud,
where no moral guilt is imputed, could be made with less chance of gain­
ing credence. But the readiness to think evil of our neighbors leads
many persons at all times to take for granted that there must be some­
thing wrong in a state of facts like that which led to the suit in question.
Fortunately for the good name o f Mr. Brooks, the parties by whom the
suit was instituted thought it expedient to engage the services not merely




* Buckingham’s Personal Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 231,

676

Mercantile B iog ra p h y:

of counsel of the greatest eminence, but such as could not be suspected o f
any bias, arising from the universal local confidence not only in Mr.
Brooks’s rigid integrity, but in his punctilious accuracy. They according­
ly retained Mr. Wirt, of Baltimore, then at the summit of his reputation,
who was assisted by business counsel from the Suffolk bar, of proverbial
acuteness and sagacity.* Mr. Wirt, in writing home to a friend shortly
after his arrival in Boston, alluding to his assistant, says:—
“ I am follow ing the explanations o f one o f the truest-nosed beagles that ever
was put on a cold trail. He is a fine fellow, as true as a rifle; and it is quite a
curiosity to see him threading these old mazes. I shall have a hard heat in the
cause. I am brought here to combat W ebster, on his own arena, and 1 think I
shall gain the day, which will be a great triumph. Having grappled with my
adversary before, I know his strength and all his trips. It is a good way toward
a victory to feel undaunted. M y health and spirits are uncommonly good.” f

The accomplished and amiable advocate, in dwelling upon the strength
of the adversary counsel, as if everything depended upon that, does not
appear, at this time, to have reflected sufficiently upon the possible strength
of the cause he was himself to oppose. In another letter, written a week
later, he says:—
“ Our adversaries opened their case yesterday in a speech o f six hours. I have
an exceedingly tough cause o f it. The court, I fear, is against us. T he case is
intrinsically very difficult, complicated, and extensive; and is a very severe
task

This, of course, is the representation of counsel employed to sustain
the suit, and wears somewhat the appearance o f a preparation for antici­
pated failure. What indication o f a supposed leaning of the court could
have been given at this early stage of the trial is not easily conceivable.
The case certainly took a very extensive range ; but the defendant and his
counsel regarded it as otherwise simple in its character, and clear in its
principles.
A t the close o f the trial Mr. W irt writes:—
“ I went to the court on W ednesday with more dispair than I ever went to a
court room in my life. I would have given any sum iu my power never to have
com e to Boston. I was worn out by the week’s trial, prostrate, nerveless; and
so crowded was the room with ladies and gentlemen, that I could scarcely get in.
Y ou would have pitied me, if you could have seen my sinking heart. And yet,
in a speech o f five hours, I was never better satisfied with myself. Such vocif­
erous plaudits!
“ W hen I had finished, Mr. Brooks, who was the defendant against whom I
had been trying the cause, came to me at the bar, and, taking my hand, spoke
to me in the kindest terms, expressing his high satisfaction at my demeanor
toward him during the trial. His friends have been among the m ost attentive
persons to me. My clients, on the other hand, were delighted.’ };

It would greatly exceed the limits o f this memoir, to enter fully into
the details of the case. All the facts necessary to a full understanding of
it may be gathered from the elaborate opinion of Chief Justice Parker.§
The court permitted the settlement of 1808 to be so far opened, as to
correct an error of $2,358, and direct the payment of that sum by Mr.*§
* The counsel for plaintiff were Mr. Wirt and Mr. B. R. Nichols ; for defendant, Mr. Webster,
Mr. fiorham, and Mr. Warner,
t Kennedy’s Life of Wirt, vol. ii., pp. 232-234.
j Kennedy’s Life of Wirt, vol. ii., pp. 232-234.
§ 9 Pickering, p. 212.




P eter Chardon Brooks.

677

Brooks, with interest. Mr. Brooks, from the first agitation of the claim,
had avowed his willingness to correct any such error, if error should he
found on a re-examination in 1826 (when the subject was first started) of
all the accounts of his ancient underwriter, whose name was on almost
every policy filled up at the office from 1794 to 1803. This offer was
made by Mr. Brooks, from a wish to avoid even the appearance of deriv­
ing benefit from an error, although he maintained that the settlement in
1808, by the payment o f a gross sum, (which was one o f thirty similar
settlements with underwriters,) was intended to cover the possibility of
any such error.* In his answer to the hill of equity in which the error
was set forth, Mr. Brooks had declared his anxious desire to pay the
amount in question, and, in his private journal, after recording the result
o f the action, he observes, that it “ has terminated to his entire satisfac­
tion.”
Never has a more magnificent forensic display been witnessed in our
courts than in the arguments of the illustrious rivals on this occasion.
The most arid details of account and the abstrusest doctrines o f equity
were clothed by them with living interest. Throughout the trial the
avenues of the court-house were besieged long before the doors were
opened, and every inch o f space was crowded. A t the close of the argu­
ment of Mr. Webster, Mr. Brooks himself obtained permission to address
a few words to the court by way of explanation. Few are the men who,
with fortune and reputation at stake, at the age o f sixty-two, wholly un­
accustomed to speak in public, would have ventured to rise before an im­
mense auditory, comprising all that was most distinguished for character
and intellect in the profession or the community, to add anything on their
own behalf to the defense o f a cause, which had been argued by Messrs.
Gorham and Webster. Few are the clients, who, under these circum­
stances, would have been permitted by counsel to take the risk of speak­
ing for themselves. Mr. Brooks was not only permitted but encouraged
by his counsel t<£ do so. A profound silence fell upon the court, as, with
a voice slightly tremulous, his hand resting on the old account books,
which had been drawn from the dust of thirty years, (and which were
pronounced by the bench such a set of books as had never been seen in
that court,) he uttered a few sentences of explanation, in the simple elo­
quence of truth, which it was impossible to hear without emotion. The
transparent clearness, the simplicity, the unmistakable air o f conscious in­
tegrity with which he briefly re-stated the turning points o f the case, pro­
duced an effect on the minds of those who heard him beyond that of the
highest professional power and skill.
It is proper only to add that the court negatived in direct terms the
charge of fraud, either legal or technical. “ W e see nothing,” said the
Chief Justice, “ in the course of the transactions o f the defendant, as the
agent and broker of the office, or in his dealings with Hubbart in their
joint concerns, which can justify a charge of fraud, or even impropriety
against the defendant.”
W e have no particular incident to record from this time forward to the
close of the life of Mr. Brooks. Thanks to a good constitution, and the
temperance and moderation of all his habits, he attained a good old age,
with far less than the usual proportion o f the ills which flesh is heir to.
* The error was not one of account in the books, but in a loose schedule o f outstanding debts, in
which this item, by inadvertance, stood unchecked, alter it had been paid.




678

Mercantile B iog ra p h y:

The course of his life at this period is accurately described in the follow­
ing passage from a sermon preached after his death by the pastor of the
First Church in Boston, of which he was a member:—•
“ He is the same man in his retirement that he was when more before the
world—the same, but that the hair is fallen away from his ample forehead, and
what has been left is changing its color. What should suffer change in the spirit
that was so fixed in its sentiments, its habits, and its reliances? There was no
indolence, no selfishness, no timid retreat, no giving way, either in the energy
or the exercise of any faculty that he had ever possessed. The methods of the
former discipline guided him still. He kept himself employed, without hurry
and without fatigue. He divided himself between four different cares; all salu­
tary and honorable, and all nearly in the same proportion. There was the cul­
tivation of his farm, the improvement of his ancestral acres, that noble and
almost divine labor, which one shares with the vast processes of nature, and the
all-surrounding agency of God. This took up much of his attention, in that
temper of silent reverence with which every cultivated mind observes the work
of his Creator. Then there were his books, which he read rather for instruc­
tion than for a pastime; read with an extraordinary wakefulness of thought,
and a sincere love of the task; and read so much as to lead me often to think
that the understandings of some professed students were less nourished than
his was from that source of information. There were his friends, also, and they
were a large circle; the social intercourse, that no one enjoyed with a higher
satisfaction than he. He always contributed to it as much as he received; his
company was welcome to young and old. No one left it without a pleasant
impression of that uniform urbanity, which was no trick of manner, but the
impulse of a kindly heart. No one left it without wishing him a real and earn­
est blessing with the formal farewell. Finally, there was devolved upon him
the management of a large estate, that might have been made much larger if he
had chosen to have it s o ; if his feeling had been less scrupulous, or his hand
less beneficent; or, if his soul had been greedy o f gain.”*
W e are tempted to dwell a moment longer upon one o f the points above
alluded to by Dr. Frothingham— Mr. Brooks’s fondness for reading. No
person, not professionally a student, knew more of the standard or sound
current literature of our language. His little library contained the works
of the principal English authors, which, in the course of his life, he had
carefully perused; and the standard reviews and new works of value took
their place upon his table, and were taken up each in its turn. There was
no new publication of importance, and no topic of leading interest dis­
cussed by the contemporary press, on which he was not able to converse
with discrimination and intelligence. W e do not refer, of course, to sci­
entific, professional, or literary specialities, but to the range of subjects
adapted to the general reader. It was at once surprising and instructive
to see how much could be effected in this way, by the steady and syste­
matic application of a few hours daily, and this in the way of relaxation
from more active employments.
Having attained the age of four score years in the enjoyment of almost
uninterrupted health, he began at length to receive warnings of the last
great change, which could find few persons less unprepared than himself.
In the last years of his life the sight of one of his eyes began to fail him,
and his once cheerful step became less firm and steady. He left his coun­
try seat for the city somewhat earlier than usual in the autumn of 1848,
and began soon after to confine himself to the house, yielding, without a
* God with the aged : a sermon preached to the First Church, 7th January, 1849, the Sunday after
the death o f the Hon. P. C. Brooks. By N. L. Frothingham, Pastor o f the Church. Private.




P eter Chardon Brooks.

679

specific disease, to tlie gradual decay of nature, and without anxious con­
sciousness of the event now near at hand. W ith some failure in the
recollection of recent events, his interest in the scenes around him and
his sympathy with a devoted family remained undiminished. Till about
a month before his decease, he retained the management o f his affairs in
his own hands. Finding himself, one morning, somewhat at a loss to un­
derstand a matter of business which required his attention, he calmly
said to a son who was with him, “ it is time for me to abdicate,” and hav­
ing executed a power o f attorney to dispossess himself of the manage­
ment of his property with as little concern as he would have signed a re­
ceipt for a few dollars, never spoke o f affairs again. During the month
of December, the shades gradually closed around him, and on the 1st of
January, 1849, he died in peace.
The preceding brief account of Mr. Brooks’s course through life, and
of the principles which governed it, will make a studied delineation of
his character unnecessary. W e may be permitted, however, to add, that
a person of more truly sterling qualities will not readily be pointed out
among his contemporaries. lie was eminent among that class of men
who, without playing a dazzling part on the stage of life, form the great
conservative element o f society; men who oppose the modest and uncon
scious resistance of sound principle and virtuous example to those elements
of instability, which are put in motion by the ambitious, the reckless, the
visionary, and the corrupt. His conservatism, however, was liberal and
kindly ; it partook in no degree of bigoted attachment to the past; it was
neither morose nor dictatorial. On the contrary, Mr. Brooks moved gently
along with the current o f the times, fully comprehending the character o f
the age in which he lived, and of the country of which he was a citizen.
Personal experience had taught him that it was an age and a country of
rapid improvement and progress. He recognized this as the law o f our
social existence, and did all in the power of a man in private life to pro­
mote it. He was never heard to speak of the present times in terms of
disparagement as compared with former times; and notwithstanding his
great stake in the public prosperity, he always looked upon the bright
side, in those junctures o f affairs which most severely affected the business
of the country. His equanimity was never shaken, nor his hopeful spirit
clouded. He was never care-worn, taciturn, or austere ; but always dis­
creetly affable, cheerful himself, and the source o f cheerfulness to others.
Moderation was perhaps the most conspicuous single trait in his char­
acter, because practiced under circumstances in which it is most rarely
exhibited. Possessing the amplest facilities for acquisition, he was mod­
erate in the pursuit of wealth. This moderation was founded on a prin­
ciple which carried him much farther than mere abstinence from the
licensed gambling of the stock exchange. He valued property because it
gives independence. For that reason he would neither be enslaved to its
pursuit, nor harassed by putting it at risk. A t the most active period of
life, he never stepped beyond the line of a legitimate business. He often,
with playful humility, said that “ he preferred to keep in shoal water,” not
because the water was shallow, but because he knew exactly how deep it
was. The same moderation which restrained him in the pursuit, content­
ed him in the measure. As we have seen above, he retired from active
business in the prime of early manhood, with what would be thought at
this day a bare independence for a growing family. His written memor­




680

Mercantile Biography.

anda show that he did this, with no plans for the increase of his property,
by other courses of business;— hut from a feeling that he had enough for
the reasonable wants o f himself and family, and the apprehension that, in
the event of his sudden decease, their interests would he greatly endan­
gered by the continued expansion o f his affairs. These surely are not mo­
tives which usually actuate a man o f ardent temperament— for such he was
by nature— at the age o f thirty-six, and with all human prospects of a long
and successful career.
Born and brought up in straightened circumstances, frugality was a ne­
cessity of his early years; and, as far as his personal expenditure was con­
cerned, continued to be the hahit o f his life. For this he had many rea­
sons, besides the force o f second nature. He had no leisure for the wasteful
pleasures which consume tim e; no taste for luxurious personal indulgences.
Health he considered too costly a blessing to be fooled away. Temperate
in all things, hut rigidly abstaining from none o f which the moderate use
consists with virtue and health, he passed through life without imposing
upon himself ascetic restraints;— a stranger to the pains or languor of
disease. He was an early riser throughout the year. A great friend of
cold water inwardly and outwardly, before hydropathy or total abstinence
were talked of, he did not condemn a temperate glass of wine after they
became the ruling fashion of the day.
Though exact in the management o f his property and in all business
relations which grew out of it, (and without this, large fortunes can neither
be accumulated nor kept,) he was without ostentation liberal, and on pro­
per occasion munificent in its use. The passion for accumulation is in its
nature as distinct and strong as its rival political ambition, and like that
is very apt to increase with its gratification, and especially with years;
but the reverse was the case vTith Mr. Brooks. His willingness to impart
increased as he advanced in life. Ilis donations to others, in no way con­
nected with himself, exceeded, for a long course of years, his expenditure
in the support of his family, and this without reckoning large sums given
for single public objects. He was a liberal and discriminating supporter
of every benevolent institution and every public-spirited ob ject; and often
gave time and counsel when they were more important than monejn He
gave, however, as he did everything else, without parade; and, as appears
from his books, annually expended considerable sums known at the time
only to Him that seeth in secret.
And this remark leads, by natural transition, to the last with which we
shall detain the reader, viz.: that his liberality, like the other traits of his
character, was connected with an unaffected sense of religious duty. A l­
though sparing of outward demonstration in all things, he embraced, with
a lively and serious conviction, the great truths of the Christian revelation.
He wTas a punctual and respectful observer of the external duties of relig­
ion ; an unfailing attendant on public worship; a regular communicant;
an habitual and devout reader o f the Bible. He had a general knowledge
of doctrinal distinctions; but took no interest in the metaphysics of the­
ology. His faith was principally seen in his life; and even his business
journal is interspersed with reflections, which show a mind deeply im­
pressed with a sense o f religious duty to God and man.
Several respectful and ably written obituary notices of Mr. Brooks ap­
peared in the public journals both here and elsewhere at the time of his
decease. Among them may be particularly mentioned those o f Hon. J.




Commercial Cities and Towns o f the United States.

681

T. Buckingham, in the Boston Courier * of Hon. Nathan Hale, in the
Boston D aily Advertiser, and of Charles Augustus Davis, Esq., in the
Commercial Advertiser of New York. W e would gladly add to the value
of our memoir by extracts from these interesting tributes to Mr. Brooks’s
memory, hut we have already exceeded our limits. W e have aimed to
perform our task with sincerity and in good faith, and venture to hope
that what we have written from the warmth of a grateful recollection will
be confirmed by the impartial judgment o f the reader. “ Hie interim
liber, honori soceri mei destinatus, professione pietatus aut laudatus erit
aut excusatus.” f

Art. II.— COMMERCIAL AM) INDUSTRIAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF U. STATES.
NUMBER VIII.

CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS.

T he city of Chicago is in the county of Cook, situated on the western
shore of Lake Michigan, on both sides of the Chicago River, and on its
north and south branches. The surrounding country is flat, hut the city
susceptible of good drainage, the ground descending from the lake to the
river and its branches, and rising gradually for some miles from the north
and south branches of the river towards the west. It is in latitude 40 deg.
50 min. and longitude 87 deg. 70 min. west from Greenwich, and is about
1,015 feet above the level of the ocean.
The climate is variable, and subject to extremes of temperature, but is
considerably modified by the large body of water in the lake. The ther­
mometer rarely rises higher than 96 deg. in summer, or sinks lower than
10 deg. below zero in winter. It generally ranges highest from the 1st
of July to the 10th of August, and lowest from the 15th to the 30th of
January. The mean temperature of winter is about 30 deg., and of sum­
mer 75 deg. The highest temperature during the day is between one and
three o’clock P. M., and the lowest at sunrise. The westerly, southwest­
erly, and eastern winds are the most prevalent.
The city is laid out in the form o f an oblong square, and is about sixand-a-half miles from north to south and three-and-a-half miles from east
to west, and near twenty-two miles in circumference. It is divided by the
river and its branches into three grand divisions. The main branch of
the river, or the river proper, is from 20 to 30 feet in depth, and extends
in a westerly direction, something more than a half mile when it branches
to the north and south. The northern branch is not navigable a great
distance, but the southern branch admits vessels of heavy burden to within
a short distance of the town of Bridgeport, between five and six miles from
the mouth of the river.
These three divisions have been laid off into nine wards. The most
populous division is the south, containing the first four wards, with an
aggregate population of 24,693 souls, and property to the value of
§13,225,386 ; next, the north division, containing the seventh, eighth, and
ninth wards, with an aggregate population of 20,817 souls, and property
* Mr. Buckingham’s accurate and spirited delineation of Mr. Brooks’ s character is contained in
Personal Memoirs, vol.ii., pp. 18L-18G.
t Taciti Julii Agricol® Vita, § 3.




682

Commercial Cities and Towns o f the United States :

to the value of $8,090,705 ; and lastly, the west division, containing the
fifth and sixth wards, with an aggregate population of 16,056, and prop­
erty to the value of $3,176,148. These three divisions constitute the en­
tire city, and are united by eight bridges, so constructed as to present little
inconvenience to the entrance or departure of vessels. There are 15 ave­
nues, 5 places, 4 courts, 183 streets, and a large number of alleys, the
latter not numbered and without name. The whole of the estimated
length of 600 miles. There are 5 public parks, a public square occupied
by the county court-house, and on the north side an open lake beach.
The changes constantly occurring in the city renders it almost wholly im­
practicable to ascertain the proportion of the surface occupied by build­
ings and that occupied by gardens and pleasure-grounds; and no estimate
has been made of the proportion occupied by the river, the streets, alleys,
courts, places, and parks.
The number of buildings of all kinds in the city, the uses to which they
are applied, and the wards to which they belong, will be seen in the
following table. This table is made out from the returns of Dec., 1853 :—
Stores ..........

Schools........

Theaters......

Colleges.......

Halls............

Markets.......

Prisons.......

Hospitals ....

T ota l. . . .

7
9
9
4
6
2
11
2
ii

39
351
209
266
68
90
18
95
48

10
5
7
5
3
3
12
3
6

0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
0

i
2
o
i
0
0
0
1
0

0
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
0

0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

2
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0

379

61

1,184

54

1

3

7

8

1

3

Churches ....

..

747
600
1,082
971
995
697
767

16
17
17
44
30
39
20
0
196

Manufactories

Dwellings....

Wards..........
i .................
2..................
3..................
4 ..................
5..................
6..................
7..................
8..................
9..................

Making in the aggregate 9,316 buildings. A t this period the popula­
tion was 60,652, which gives one building to every 64 persons, and one
dwelling to about every 7a persons; and, counting 4 persons to a family,
there are nearly as many families again as there are dwelling-houses. On
the 15th of June, 1854, the population of the city was, according to the
census taken by Messrs. Hall & Co., 65,872 ; of whom there were males
33,215, females 32,657 ; Americans, 25,677; foreigners, 35,879, distrib­
uted in the wards as follows:—
W ’ds.

Males.

Females.

Americans.

Foreigners.

Total.

1 ........................................
2 ........................................

2,894

4 ........................................
6 ........................................
6 ........................................
7 ........................................
8 ........................................

2,620
4,587
3,155
3,912
2,849
2,819

3,050
4,193
3,383
2,490
4,295
3,755
4,191
3,723
3,577

3,236
3,709
2,311
1,544
5,268
3,163
2,013
2,041
2,392

2,708
3,994
3,625
3,566
3,878
3,747
6,090
4,267
4,004

5,944
7,703
5,936
5,110
9,146
6,910
8,103
6,308
6,396

28,899

32,657

25,677

35,079

61,656

Mariners numbered on board their vessels............
Total




4,316
65,872

683

Chicago.

The progress of the population has been steady, and at particnlar pe­
riods it has increased -with extraordinary rapidity, as will appear by the
subjoined table, commencing with the first census, which was taken in
1840, though the city was laid off as early as the year 1829. The in­
crease in the value of property has also been very striking, and is seen in
connection with the returns o f the population:—
Years.
1 8 4 0 ....
1841.. . .
1 8 4 2 ....
1 8 4 3.... .
1844.. . .
1845.... .
1 8 4 6.... .
1 8 4 7.... .
1848.... .
1 8 4 9.... .
1 8 5 0 .... .
1 8 5 1....
1 8 5 2.... .
1 8 5 3 .... .
1 8 5 4.... .

Popu­ Increase. Real estate,
lation. Per cent, valuation of.
4,479
$94,437
127,024
108,757
962,221
7,580
1,992,095
12,088
2,273,171
3,664,425
14,169
16,859
i i i 4,995,466
4,998,266
20,023
19
18| 5,181,627
23,047
5,685,965
28,269
15
22J 6,808,262
38,733
60,652
594 13,130,677
65,872 *10 18,790,744

Personal
property,
valuation of.
$39,720
42,585
479,093
771,186
791,851
857,231
853,704
1,302,174
1,495,047
1,534,284
1,758,458

...........

Total.
$94,437
166,744
151,342
1,441,384
2,763,281
3,065,022
4,521,656
5,849,170
6,300,440
6,676,684
7,220,249
8,562,717

3,711,154 16,841,831
5,401,495 24,394,239

Increase.

1,321,967
301,741
1,456,634
1,327,514
451,270
376,244
543,365
1,342,468

...........

Taxes.
$4,721 85
10,004 67
9,181 27
8,647 89
17,166 24
11,077 58
15,825 80
18,159 01
22,051 54
30,045 09
25,270 87
63,385 89

......

8,279,114 135,662 68
8,000,000 199,081 64

This table, taken from Hall’s Directory, differs from the figures as taken
from the Assessor’s hooks, and published in the Democratic Press, which
are as follows :—
TABLE

1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844

E X H I B I T IN G

TOTAL VALU E OP K EAL AND PERSO N AL

..... 11,829,420 1845
........
1,861,205 1846
........
1,888,160 1847
........
2,325,240 1848
........
2,250,135 1849
.........
3,166,945 1850

PROPERTY

..... $3,669,124 1851
........
5,071,402 1852
........
6,189,385 1853
........
9,986,000 1854
.....
7,617,102
........
8,101,000

IN

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

C H IC A G O .

$9,431,826
12,035,037
22,929,637
24,446,288

The population is composed of very nearly equal numbers of males and
females, but of the males 4,316 are mariners, who are upon the lakes a
considerable portion of the year, and many of them do not pass their
winters in the city. If they be subtracted from the male population, it
leaves a remarkable preponderance in favor of the females. This fact is
more remarkable when we consider that a larger number o f men emigrate
to the West than women; that the returns of the State show the birth of
more boys than girls, the proportion being something like 17 to 16.25;
and that a large majority o f the cities throughout the world show in their
census returns an excess o f males over females—-some of them a veiy as­
tonishing difference. For example, in St. Petersburg, the females consti­
tute but two-sevenths of the entire population.
The census of the current year, to be taken in the winter when the
sailors are ashore, will probably throw some light upon this subject. The
principal divisions of the population into classes of occupations, are—
To
To
To
To
To
To
To

every
439 persons there is...............................
every
548
.........................
every 1,330
.........................
every 1,013
.........................
every
747
.........................
every
92
.........................
every
480
.........................




10 per cent 6 mouths.

1
1
1
1
1
1
1

Lawyer.
Physician.
Minister of the Gospel.
Real estate agent.
Manufacturer.
Merchant.
Lumber dealer.

684

Commercial Cities and Towns o f the United States :

Daring the past year the number o f deaths was 3,827, or 1 in every
17.75 persons; of these, 1,484 died o f the cholera, or 1 for every 43.71
persons. The majority of the cholera victims were foreign emigrants;
but if we discard from our calculations these 1,484 deaths from that dis­
ease, we still have a de^th to every 28.8 persons; while the carefullyprepared estimates of a distinguished writer upon the subject of the popu­
lation of the United States— Hon. George Tucker— show that there is in
the United States an average of but 1 death in every 39.3 persons of the
entire population, white and colored, bond and free. It must not be forgot­
ten, however, that the past was a year of unusual mortality throughout the
whole country. Since the year 1846 the mortality of Chicago has been
as follows:—
Vears.
1847 .............................................
1848 .............................................
1849 .............................................
I860................................................
1851 .............................................
1852 .............................................
1853 .............................................

Deaths.
520 i.e. one in every32.50 persons.
560
“
34.25
1,619
“
*15.16
1,332
“
21.50
836
“
38.25
1,649
“
23.50
1,206
“
50.25

“*

Or an annual average for the eight years of one death to every 29.15
persons.
The mortality in several of our principal cities for the two last years was:

18«.
In
In
In
In

New York.....................
Philadelphia.................
Baltimore.....................
Boston............................

1 death in every 27inhabitants.
1
“
45
“
1
“
39
“
1
“
36.75
“

1851.
1 to 21.95
1 to 42.33
1 to 36.59
lto86.21f

It thus appears that our mortality has been greater for the last eight
years, with the single exception of the year 1853, than the general av­
erage of the country, and greater the past year than that of any of the
cities we have enumerated. This may be accounted for in part by the
fact that Chicago is a great thoroughfare, and the point from which an
immense emigrant peculation is scattered over the western country. But
the simple fact that our mortality exceeds the average of the whole coun­
try is of itself sufficient to arrest the attention and excite the inquiry of
an enlightened community, and should lead to the speedy introduction of
such needful sanitary regulations as will diminish the probabilities of epi­
demics in the future, or, if they should occur, mitigate their evils.
The growth of Chicago in population and wealth has been truly aston­
ishing. A few years ago she was an inconsiderable village, and is now
among the most populous cities in the Union. The cities with a larger
population are—■
1.
2.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
3.
9.

New York, witha population of say..........................................
Philadelphia.................................................................................
Brooklyn (since herconsolidation)..............................................
Cincinnati......................................................................................
Boston...........................................................................................
New Orleans ...............................................................................
St. Louis........................................................................................
Baltim ore.....................................................................................
Chicago.........................................................................................

700,000
550,000
200,000
175,000
160,000
150,000
125,000
225,000
80,000

* Cholera season.
t Berlin, situated in a wide, sandy wilderness, and on nearly a dead level, and one o f the most
unhealthy cities of Europe, has but one annual death in thirty persons ; London but one in fifty.




685

Chicago.

Her rapid progress ceases to be a matter o f surprise, when we consider
the advantages of her natural position, the number and extent of her
public improvements, and the energy and enterprise o f her citizens. She
has a good harbor and a vast and increasing trade with the Northern
and lake country. On the first of last January there were 153 vessels of
all kinds lying in the port o f Chicago, or 13 more than were here at the
same period the year before. Of these, 10 were steamers, 16 propellers,
6 barks, 21 brigs, 96 schooners, 3 sloops, 1 scow. There were probably
100 canal-boats in the river at the same time.
The number of arrivals at this port for 1851 were...........................
The number of departures....................................................................
The receipts for duties at the custom hourse for the year 1853 were___
And for 1854 ....................................................................................................
•^TH E F O L L O W IN G

ARE TH E

R A IL R O A D S C O M P L E T E D A N D

IN

O P E R A T IO N

AT

5,060
5,045
$261,284 66
677,160 93
THE

PRESENT

T IM E :-----

Miles.
Chicago and G alena.......................
121
“
Rock Island...............
181
“
Mississippi(Alton) . .
281
“
A u rora........................
84
Galena Air L in e .............................
96
Central Military T r a c t...................
84
Chicago and St. Charles Air Line.
85
Peoria and Oquawka......................
47
Peoria and Bureau Valley..............
40
T o ta l......................................................

Illinois Central Main L in e .............
Illinois Central Chicago Branch.. .
Chicago and Milwankie.................
Illinois and Wisconsin.....................
Michigan Central.............................
Michigan Southern.........................
Beloit Branch................
New Albany and Salem.................

Miles.
438
164
40
41
282
247
20
284
2,455

The roads in process of construction, it is thought, will increase the
number of miles of railroad centering here to something like 4,000 by
the first of July, 1855, and these with their connections, when completed,
will make a grand sum total o f railroads converging here of near 8,000
miles.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal, uniting the waters of the lake and
river at Peru and Chicago, a distance of 100 miles, has, since its opening
in 1847, added greatly to the business and prosperity o f the city.
Such are the improvements o f Chicago, the commercial advantages of
her position, and the number and condition of her inhabitants. W e pro­
ceed now to give a commercial review for the few past years, from which
a comprehensive idea will be formed of her rapid strides to wealth and
greatness, and of the high destiny which awaits her in the future.
And first, of her imports and exports. For the year 1854 her imports
were of the value of $30,000,000, and her exports of the value of
$24,709,191 19. For a series of years they had been as follows:—
Imports.

1836.... .
1 8 3 7....
1 8 3 8 ....
1 8 3 9 ....
1 8 4 0....
1 8 4 1....
1 8 4 2 ....
1 8 4 3 ....
1 8 4 4 .... .

$235,203
374,677
579,174
630,980
562,106
564,347
664,347
971,849
1,686,416

TH E TONNAGE

OF TH E

Exports.

90
12
61
26
20
20
88
75
00

$1,000
11,665
16,044
33,843
288,635
348,862
659,305
682,210
785.504

64
00
75
00
74
24
20
65
23

P O R T OF C H IC A G O F O R

Tons.

1852.............

23,724 65 | 1853.............




Imports.

1845... . . $2,043,445 73
1846... . . 2,027,150 90
1847... . . 2,641,852 52
1848... . . 6,000,000 no
1849... . . 6,000,000 00
1850 . . . . 6,000,000 00
1851.. . . . 8,000,000 00
1852... . . 11,000,000 00
1853... . . 17,000,000 00
THE

LAST T H R E E

Export 3,

$1,543,519
1,813,468
2,296,299
4,000,000
5,600,000
5,500,000
7,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000

83
00

00
00
00
00
00
00

00

T E A R S H A S B E E N , F O R -----

Tons^

27,892 86 | 1854.............

Tons.

48,168 72

686

Commercial Cities and Towns o f the United S ta tes:

Let us now proceed to an examination o f her trade in detail. The
following figures will exhibit the quantities of corn received at this place
for the three past years, its price, & c .:—
Busliela...............................

1852.

185^.

1854.

2,999,011

2,867,339

7,490,753

Of these receipts in 1853, 2,481,334 bushels were by the Illinois and
Michigan Canal, and the residue by the railroads.
The price of corn on the first day of each month for the three past
years, w as as fo llo w s :—

1852.
January...........................................
February..........................................
March................................................
A p r il................................... ...........
May...................................................
June.................................................
July...................................................
August............................................
September......................................
O ctober....................... .’ .................
November........................................
D ecem ber........................... ..........
Average for whole y e a r ...........
TH E

F O L L O W IN G

HAVE

BEEN TH E

a
a
a
a
a
a
a

56

a
a
a
a

39
38
40
36
40
45
47
58
56
54
48
47

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

55
41
45
40
46
50
50
65
60
55
50
48

35
45
42
42
43
43
47
48
57
55
52
48

a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

36
46
43
45
45
46
48
49
59
56
53
49

39

a

41

45

a

33

47

a

47

a

S H IF M E N T S , B Y T H E
E IG H T

W A S . R E C E IV E D

L A K E , OF C O RN

FOU

THE

LAST

Y E A R S :-----

67,315 1850.............
1847................
550,460 1851............. .
1848................
644,848 1852............. .
1849................
Average annual shipments.................
O F OATS, T H E R E

1851.

18 53 .
38
34
34
34
34
37
33
43
52
53
50
58

D bR IN G

262,013
3,231,317
2,757,011

THE

From canal...........
From railroads . .

PAST

THREE

1853......... . .
1854........ . .

YEARS

AS

2,729,552
7,252,580

F O L L O W S : ---

1852.

1853.

1851.

832,703
674,931
581,297

971,350
472,829
402,729

1,633,919
1,807,432

28,862

No returns.

1,875,770

3,463,371

Bock Island, Illinois Central, and Eastern
2,089,941
TH E

P R IC E

OF

OATS A T T H E

January................... .......................
February................. ........................
M arch..................... .......................
A p r il....................... .......................
M ay.......................... .......................
June......................... .......................
July......................... .......................
A u g u s t...................
September .............
October................... .......................
November............... .......................
Decem ber............... .......................
Annual average..




O P E N IN G

OF E A C H

1852.
16 a
19 a
19 a
18 a
18 a
23 a
24 a
a
a
30 a
28 a
28 a
a

M ONTH W A S

AS FO LLO W S

17
20
20
19
20
24
25
28
28
32
30
30

33
34
33
30
34
37
30
34
29
26
26
27

18S!
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a

35
35
34
34
40
40
32
37
33
20
28
28

so
30
28
27
32
82
34
32
33
34
34
25

32

32

a

24

33

:—
1851 t
a 31
a 31
a 28*
a 28
a 32 *
a 33
a 34*
a 33
a 34*
a 35
a 35
a 26

a

•.

Chicago.
T H E F O L L O W IN G

HATE

B E E N T H E S H IP M E N T S B Y T H E L A K E F O R T H E L A S T E IG H T Y E A R S :-----

38,892 1850
1847.
65,280 1851
1848.
26,849 1852
1849.
Average annual shipments by lake
OF W H E A T, THE

687

F O L L O W IN G A R E

158,084
605,827
2,030,317

1853
1854

1,633,842
6,626,054
1,319,886

THE

R E C E IP T S F O B T H E T H R E E

From Galena and Chicago Union R ailroad.........
From Canal...............................................................
From Lake................................................................

P A S T Y E A R S I-----

1852.

1851

1854.

504,996
108,697
129,251

901,366
352,103
62,031

From Eastern railroads..........................................

13,903

15,081

From w agons...........................................................
From Rock Island and Illinois Central Railroads,

180,749

297,980

1,391,163
1,066,194
13,474
(
3,835
(
4,360
200,000

58,904

367,124

1,687,465

3,038,055

937,496

Total...................................................................
THE

F O L L L O W IN G T A B L E

E X H IB IT S TH E

M ONTHLY

P R IC E

OF W H E A T

FOR

THE TH REE

P A S T Y E A R S I-----

,- - - - - 1852.- - - - - w

Spring.
January......... . 31 a 42
February........ .. 37 a 45
M arch.............
a 45
A pril............... . 34 a 40
M ay................. . 34 a 40
J u n e ...............,. 34 a 40
J u ly ............... .. 37 a 39
A u gu st.......... . 40 a 43
September . . . .. 44 a 50
October........... . 48 a 60
November....... . 56 a 66
Decem ber.. . . . 56 a 60
Average.. . . .
THE

F O L L O W IN G

39 a 22
H AVE

,- - - - - 1851.- - - - -

Spring.
70 a 76
05 a 66
60 a 70
55 a 65
60 a 66
66 a 59
66 a 75
60 a 82
65 a 82
94 a 99
85 a 90
85 a 90

\\rinter.
78 a 86
75 a 85
70 a 85
70 a 80
80 a 90
73 a 90
78 a 90
80 a 96
80 a 90
100 a 113
95 a 105
95 a 100

Spring.
95 a 105
110 a 115
100 a 105
106 a 110
130 a 135
130 a 140
80 a 100
125 a 145
120 a 125
90 a 100
120 a 130
100 a 105

Winter.
100 a 115
125 a 135
n o a 120
115 a 130
135 a 140
145 a 150
105 a 120
150 a 165
120 a 135
120 a
130 a 140
125 a 145

63 a 06

69 a 17

73 a 50

108 a 118

123 a 125

BEEN TH E

S H IP M E N T S
TW ELVE

1842
1843
1844
1845
1846

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

O f F lo u r .

586,907
688,967
891,894
956,860
1,459,594

,- - - - - - - 1854.- - - - - - - ,

a

Winter.
50 a 65
60 a 70
60 a 72
60 a 70
62 a 72
68 a 76
68 a 76
65 a 70
69 a 75
60 a 72
66 a 75
70 a 80

O F W H E A T F R O M T H IS P O R T F O R T H E L A S T

Y E A R S :-----

1847.......... .. .
1848..........
1 8 4 9..'___
1850..........
1851...........

1,974,304
2,160,000
883,644
437,660

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

635,496
1,206,163
1,860,636

A vera ge...

1,205,300

1852
1853
1854

The receipts o f flour for the years 1852,1853 were as fol-

low s:—

1852.

1851

Galena and Chicago Railroad.................................................. bbls.
Lake.............................................s .....................................................
Canal...................................................................................................
Eastern Railroad................................................................................
Manufactured in the city ..................................................................
Rock Island R ailroad.......................................................................

44,316
2,875
1,846
4,300
70,979
.........

30,702
2,265
7,223
7,411
82,833
696

Total....................... ................................................................
Received from all sources in 1854, 158,575 barrels.

124,316

131,130

The following has been the shipments of flour from this port for the
last ten years:—




Com mercial Cities and Towns o f the United States :

688
Years.

Barrels.

Years.

Barrels.

6,3:10 1848 ___ ........
1844 ...........
1845 ...........
13,752 1849 . . . ........
28^045 1850 ___ .........
1846 ...........
1 8 5 1 ___ ........
1847 ...........
Average annual shipments, 50,000 barrels.

45,200
51,309
100371
72,406

Years.

Barrels.

1852 ...........
1853 ...........
1854 ...........

70,984
58*573

T R IC E O F F L O U R IN C H IC A G O O N T H E 1 S T O F E A C H M O N T H F O R FOU R P A S T T E A R S .

1851 .
January . .
February..
March........
A pril........
M ay...........
J u n e ........
J u ly ..........
August . . .
September.
O ctober.. .
November.
December..

S2
2
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2

75 a
75 a
00 a
00 a
00 a
00 a
00 a
25 a
25 a
25 a
25 a
25 a

84
4
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3

1831
50
50
00
50
25
25
25
25
26
75
75
75

$2
2
2
2
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
3

1851

25 a $4 00
25 a 4 00
50 a 4 25
25 a 4 0C
25 a 4 00
00 a 4 25
25 a 4 00
50 a 4 00
50 a 4 00
75 a 4 75
75 a 4 75
25 a 4 75

82
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
5
4
4

50 a
00 a
50 a
25 a
50 a
50 a
50 a
75 a
75 a
25 a
75 a
50 a

$5
6
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
6
5
5

1851
00
00
75
50
75
75
95
75
75
25
75
50

85
6
7
6
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7

00 a
25 a
25 a
75 a
25 a
25 a
25 a
25 a
25 a
25 a
25 a
25 a

¥5
6
7
7
7
7
8
7
8
8
7
7

50
75
75
25
75
75
25
75
25
25
75
75

The lowest price has reference to the flour manufactured from spring
wheat.
The receipts of barley were—
For 1862............ ...........busb.
For 1853..............

127,028
192,387

201,764

For 1854..............

The price at opening of each month for two years was—
January. . . .cents
February.............
M arch.................
April....................
M a y.....................
June....................

I8§3.
50 a 51
42 a 52
40 a 50
47 a 50
48 a 50
44 a 50

1854.
42
..
56
50
70
55

a 45 J u ly ...........cents
a 48 August...............
a 58 September..........
a 55 October...............
a 75 Novem ber.........
a 58 December.. . .

1S R
38 a 40
35 a 40
50 a 62
45 a 48
43 a 46
41 a 47

1854.
..
40
40
75
85
80

a
a
a
a
a
a

..
50
50
90
92
90

The following have been the shipments of barley from this port for the
last six years
1849— by canal .
1850—by canal..
by lake....
1851— by canal. .
by lake. . .
1852— by lake ...

31,453
21,912
960
11,460
8,537
70,818

1853— by lake . .
by Eastern Railroad...
by canal.. .
* used by brewers and
distillers.
1854— shipped and distilled...

17,675
81,594

For 1854 .............

79,689
40,529
61
69,500
201,764

The receipts of rye wereFor 1852..............
For 1853 .............

85,691

The price on the first of each month of rye was as quoted below:—
January................
February .............
March .................
A p r il...................
M a y .....................
June......................

58
59
59
55
55
59

a
a
a
a
a
a

60
60
60
58
60
60

J u ly .....................
August..................
September............
October.................
November.............
December.............

58
58
62
62
58
54

For 1854, estimated.. .bush.

100,000

a
a
a
a
a
a

60
59
63
66
60
35

The shipments of rye were—
For 1852..............
For 1853 .............




17,015
81,594

Chicago.

689

These facts show Chicago to be the largest primary grain port in the
world. Thus—
T O T A L R E C E IP T S

OE F L O U R

A N D G R A IN A T C H IC A G O IN

1854.

W heat............................................................................................... .. .bushels
C o rn ...................................................................................................................
Oats....................................................................................................................
Rye......................................................................................................................
Barley.................................................................................................................

3,028,755
7,490,752
4,194,885
85,691
201,764
15,011,540
792,875

Total........
Flour into wheat.
Total.

15,804,428

Shipments of 1854, o f all kinds o f grain, were 12,902,320 bushels.
Average shipments for a number of years of wheat, corn, oats, rye, and
barley, has been from—
O dessa......................... bush.
Galatz and Ibrelia...............
Dantzic...................................
St. Petersburg.....................
Archangel..............................

7,040,000
8,320,000
4,408,000
7,200,000
9,528,000

R ig a ........................... bush.
St. Louis, for 1853 .............
Milwaukee, for 1854 .........
New York, 11 mos., 1854..
Chicago...................................

4,000,000
5,081,468
3,787,161
9,430,335
12,902,320

The receipts of grass-seed were—
1851.

»

By
By
By
By
By

■lbs.

canal
Galena Railroad
lake
Eastern Railroad
Railroads...........
Total

1854.

1,027,363
1,105,298
54,600
10,728
...........

924,924
...............
...............
...............
1,094,025

2,197,987

3,047,945

The shipments by lake were—
Pounds.....................................................

1852.

1851.

1854.

864,630

1,399,350

3,047,945

The price o f grass-scad at the beginning o f each month o f 1853, was as
fo llo w s :—
Timothy.
Flax-seed.
Blue-grass.
Red top.
Clover.
January.. . . 81 00 a 1 26 |0 25 a 1 50 $1 62 a 1 75 $5 00 a 5 25 81 00 a .., . .
February. . .
l 00 a 1 25 0 25 a 1 50 i 75 a 1 88 5 00 a 5 25 0 80 a 1 00
March.......... l 00 a 1 25 0 25 a 1 60 i 75 a 2 00 5 00 a 5 25 0 80 a 1 00
April............ l 00 a 1 25 0 25 a 1 50 i 75 a 2 00 4 00 a 4 25 0 80 a 1 00
M ay............. l 00 a 1 25 0 25 a 1 50 i 75 a 1 88 4 50 a 4 75 0 80 a 1 00
J u n e ........... l 00 a 1 25 0 25 a 1 60 i 75 a 1 88 4 75 a 5 00 0 80 a 1 00
J u lv ............ l 00 a 1 25 0 25 a 0 76 i 62 a 1 75 4 00 a 4 25 0 80 a 1 00
August . . . .
l 00 a 1 25 0 25 a 0 76 i 50 a 1 76 4 00 a 4 25 0 80 a 1 00
September . l 00 a 1 25 0 25 a 0 75 i 50 a 2 00 4 00 a 4 25 0 80 a 1 00
O ctober.. . .
l 00 a 1 50 0 25 a 0 75 i 60 a 2 00 4 00 a 4 25 0 80 a 1 00
N ovem ber.. l 00 a 1 50 0 25 a 0 75 i 87 a 2 00 4 00 a 4 25 0 80 a 1 00
December... l 00 a 1 50 0 25 a 0 75 i 87 a 2 00 4 00 a 4 25 0 80 a 1 00

The following are the receipts of butter for 1853 and 1854
1853.
By
By
By
By

77,849 )
665,000 J
43.871
24,810

ca n al..............................
Galena Railroad.............
Illinois Central Railroad
Eastern R ailroad...........
Total...........................................................................

V OL. X X X II.— HO. V I.




44

812,430

*---

1854
1,328,032

2,143,569

Com mercial Cities and Towns o f the United S ta tes:

690

There had been received in 1851 and 1852 as follows:—
Lake.
1851..
1852.

Canal.
37,693
281,800

•lbs.
86,600

Total.
372,215
1,327,100

Railroad.
334,523
958,700

e past four years:—
1851..
1852.
1853.
1854.

.lbs.

Canal.
75,111
9,000
17,785

Lake.
70,824
906,266
424,080

Railroad.

Total.
145,941
915,200
513,453
2,142,569

71,588

1853.
12 a 12*
J u l y ......................... cents
A u gu st..................... ........
i i a 12
Septem ber...............
a 13
a 18
October.....................
Novem ber................
a 17
December..................
a 16

P R I C E O P B U T T E R A T T H E C O M M E N C E M E N T O F E A C H M O N TH F O R

January.....................
February....................
March.........................
A p r il.........................
M a y ...........................
June............................

During the year 1853, 78,980 hogs were received, as follows:—
Chicago and Galena Union Railroad..................... „ .....................................
Chicago and Rock Island Railroad.................................................................
Illinois Central Railroad..................................................................................
Michigan Central Railroad................................................................................
By wagons and on foot ........................................ ........................................

45,779
14,225
1,242
387
12,347

They were thus disposed of—
Packed in the c i t y ............................................................................................
Sent East on railroads......................................................................................
Sold in the city...........................................

52,849
10,628
10,503

Total

73,980

The following is a correct statement o f the pork business for the past
lOUr y e a r s l—
Years.

185118521853-

Hogs cut.

2 ...............................................................
3 ..............................................................
4 ..............................................................

22,036
48,156
52,849

Average
weight,
pounds.

Total
weight,
pounds.

238£
21l|
249*

5,247,278
10,192,972
13,188,815

The price of mess pork on the first o f each month for the years 1852
and 1853 was as follows:—
$13
12
13
14
14
14
16
18
18
20
19
16

January...
February..
M arch.. . .
April.........
M ay..........
June.........
Jnly..........
August.. . .
September.
O ctober...
November.
December.

00 a $14 00
00 a 13 00
00 a 13 50
00 a 14 50
00 a 14 50
00 a 14 50
00 a 17 00
00 a 18 00
00 a 18 75
00 a
00 a
00 a

$16
16
16
15
15
15
16
15
15
15
12
15

00 a $516 60
80 a
00 a
00 a
00 a 16 00
50 a
00 a
00 a 15 50
00 a 17 00
00 a
75 a 15 00
00 a 16 50

The following were the prices for dressed hogs per 100 lbs. on the 1st
and 15th o f the four packing months:—
November 1.
“
15.
December 1.
“
16.
January
1.




$5
5
4
3
3

00
00
88
50
25

a ....
a $5 50
a 5 25
a 4 00
a 4 00

January 15
February
1
“
15
March
1

$4
4
4
4

00
25
44
50

a $4 15
a 4 50
a 5 00
a 4 76

Chicago

691

The quantity o f lard received in the city during the years 1852, 1853,
and 1854, was as follows

1852.
Pounds.......................

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

67,793

1853.

1854.

• 886,667

2,877,120

The price of the same on the 1st o f each month for 1853 was—
.cents

January..
February.
March
April........
M a y .........
June..........

J u ly ........................... cents
August.................................
September..........................
October................................
November...........................
December............................

11 a 11*

104 a 11
9
9
9
9

a
a
a
a

10
10
10
10

9 a 10
94 a 104
94 a 104
94 a 10J
11 a 12
10 a 16J

The number o f beeves packed here in 1851 was 21,806; in 1852,
24,735; in 1853, 25,435; in 1854, 23,697.
In 1852, the average weight of the beeves was 542 lbs.; in 1853, 563
lbs.; in 1854, 5761 lbs.
The following was the average weight of five lots packed in 1853, and
five lots in 1854 :—

,- - - - - - 1851.------ s
No. of
cattle.

,- - - - - 1854.- - - - - \

1st...................................
2d.....................................
Sd.....................................
4 th .................................
4 th .................................

Average
weight.
620
535
607
650
575

No. of
cattle.
4,500
5,228
4,730
2,000
1,650

Average
weight.
638.9
602.2
628
686
688

In 1 8 5 3, 1 ,3 50 ,7 5 0 lbs. of tallow were rendered, and the total weight
of beef hides was 2 ,0 2 6 ,3 2 1 . The prices of beef at the opening of each
month for the four packing months of the three past years, was as fol-

lo w s:~

1851.

September.................................
October......................................
November.................................
December..................................

$3
3
3
3

00
00
00
00

1852.

a $8 75
a 4 00
a 3 60
a 3 75

$3
4
4
3

1851

50 a 14 25
00 a 4 75
00 a 4 75
75 a 4 50

$4 75
5 00
5 00
5 00

a $5 50
a
6 00
a 6 00
a 5 75

E S T IM A T E D V A L U E O F T H E C A T T L E S L A U G H T E R E D IN T H E T H R E E Y E A R S .

1852.

1851

1854.

$600,621 00

$865,945 85

$1,258,421 00

The following table shows the quantity of lumber received at Chicago
for the past eight years:—
Lumber.

1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854

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

Shingles.

32,118,225
60,009,250
73,259,553
100,364,779
125,056,437
147,816,232
202,101,098
252,330,200

12,148,500
20,000,000
39,057,750
65,423,750
60,338,250
77,080,500
93,483,784
113,854,651

Laths.

5,653,760
10,025,109
19,281,733
19,809,700
27,583,475
19,759,670
39,133,116
36,827,323

O T H E R S P E C IE S O F L U M B E R R E C E IV E D B Y M E R C H A N T S I N T H E Y E A R 1 8 5 3 .

Poets.......................................
Timber.................linear feet
Railroad ties..........................

402,471 | Staves...................................
4,638,546 | Telegraph poles...................
175,252 |

2,110,539
3,470

Of wool there was received at Chicago during the year 1853 :—‘
By canal
.............................lbs.
By Galena Railroad...............
By other railroads...................




393,173
363,255
216,472

By lake..............................lbs.
Total.

69,700

1,030,600

Com mercial Cities and Towns o f the United S ta tes:

692

O f which, 444 pounds was shipped South by the canal, and 1,030,156
to the East.
The following have been the shipments from this port o f wool for the
last thirteen years:—
1842.......... lbs.
1,500 1 8 4 7 ....
22,050 1848 . . .
1843 ...............
1844 ...............
95,635 1849 . . .
1845 ...............
216,616 1850 . . .
1846 ...............
281,222
Annual average shipment, 487,639.

311,888
500,000
520,242
913,682

1851... .lbs.
1852...........
1853 ...........
1854...........

1,088,552
920,113
953,100
1,514,716

The following was the price in June, July, and August for the past four
years:—

1851.

1852.

18SS.

1854.

Poorest. Best. Poorest Best. Poorest. Best Poorest. Best.

J u n e ....................................
J u l y ....................................
A ugust................................

25
28
28

40
40
35

18
28
25

29
36
37i

40
38
35

45
50
45

70
70
50

75

O f lead there was received in 1853—
By lake.............................................................................lbs.
By canal................................................................................
By railroad...........................................................................
Total

108,150
1,206,604
1,859,009
3,253,768

O f which, 3,252,640 pounds were shipped. The price ranged through
the year from $5 50 to $6 00 per cwt. for pig, and from $5 50 to $7 50
for bar lead.
There were 5,253 barrels o f fish inspected in 1854.
The following are the statistics of the consumption, &c., of gas for the
five past years:—

1850.

1851.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1,844,235

5,936,000

8,904,150

14,418,070

24,448,500

In 1854 there were 1,398 consumers, 12,398 burners, and 380 street
lamps.
Pure water is furnished from the lake by means o f steam water-works,
erected at an expense o f 8360,000.
They now supply 1,500,000 gallons
o f water daily, and may be readily made to meet an increased demand,
and is drained by four-and-a-half miles o f sewers.
There are fifteen banking-houses in Chicago, and a number o f brokers
and money-loaners, through whose agency the moneyed affairs o f the city
are conducted.
The principal banks are—
Marine Bank............................
Chicago Bank...........................
Exchange Bank.......................
Farmers’ B a n k ........................

Circulation.
8215,000
150.000
50,000
60,000

IMerchants <k Mechanics’ Bank
|Commercial B ank...................
jBank of America ....................
|

Circulation.
$54,700
55,000
50,000

There are numerous manufacturing establishments and machine-shops
in the city. The principal manufactories are— The Chicago Locomotive
Company, with a capital of $150,000, the Galena and Chicago Union Kailroad Machine Shops, the American Car Company, with a capital of $150,000,
McCormick’s Reaper Manufactory, turning out 1,500 reapers annually,
and W right’s, turning out 1,000. There are 5 coach factories, 5 furniture




Chicago.

093

factories, 5 brick-yards, and various other manufactories of almost every
article in general use. The following were the wages paid during the
year 1853, and there has been little if any change since:—
Occupations.

Daily wages.

Blacksmiths and iron-workers...............
Blowers and strikers............................... ...........
Butchers....................................................
Choppers and packers........................... ...........
Carpenters................................................
Cabinet-makers........................................ ...........
Upholsterers............................................ ...........
Coopers.................................................... ...........
Day laborers............................................. ...........
Hatters......................................................
House painters........................................ ...........
Harness-makers........................................ ...........
Masons and plasterers........................... ...........
Marble cutters......................................... ...........
Machinists................................................
Printers......................................................
Rope-makers.............................................
Ship carpenters........................................
Ship caulkers............................................
Stone cutters............................................. ...........
Shoemakers..............................................
Trunk-makers............................................
Tailors......................................................
Cutters.......................................................
Tanners.....................................................
Curriers......................................................
Wire-workers..........................................
Wagon and carriage makers.................

Weekly wages.

25 a \F2 00
0 88 a 1 00
00 a 8 00
1 25 a i 50
50 a 2 00
1 00 a 2 00
1 00 a 2 00
1 00 a 2 00
1 00 a i 60
00 a i 50
1 25 a i 75
. . . a ., . . .
1 50 a 2 00
1 75 a 2 00
25 a 2 00
67 a 2 00
50 a 2 00
50 a 3 25
25 a 3 50
1 75 a 2 00
... a

... a
... a
...
00
00
25
25

a
a
a
a
a

i
l
2
o

25
50

00
00

#y 00 a #10
9
8 00 a
9
8 00 a
8 00 a
9
. ,. . .
12 00
...
15 00
. ,. . .
...
12 00
12 00
. ,. . .
. ...
. ...

a
a
a
a

a
a
a
a

a
a
a
... a

.
.

00
00
00

00
,. . .
,.. •
...

16 00
. ,.. •
. ,, . .
18 00
18 00
. ,. ••
. ,. •.
. ,. ••
.,,.

12 00
15 00
10 00
16 00
...
a
a
...
a 12 00
a
. ...

6 00 a
8 00 a
7 00 a
10 00 a

...
, ...
9 00
...

The following list o f shipments from this port in 1853 to the Sault de
Sainte Marie is given, that an idea may be formed o f our increasing trade
with the Lake Superior country :—
Apples and fruit . . . ...........bbls.
“
“
___
“
dried........... ...........bbls.
Beans .......................
“
.........................
“
.........................
Flour.........................
Glass..........................
Hams.........................
«<
H ay............................
U
Hogs, dressed............ ...............No.
Lard...........................
Lead...........................
Liquor.......................
M e a l.........................
Sheep, liv e ............... ...............No.
T e a ...........................
Vegetables................
U
a
.............bbls.
B eef...........................

160
10
44
90
68
800
360
64
116
4
600
12
104
26
26
40
156
36
30
134
1,198
' 14
384

Buffalo robes........
Butter...................
C orn .....................
Coffee.....................
E g g s .....................
Meal.......................
Molasses............... .................bbls.
“
Merchandise.........
O a ts .....................
Oil..........................
(«
Oil-cake.................
Pickles .................
Pork.......................
R ye.......................
Stoves.................... ................... No.
Sugar....................
“ .....................
Tobacco.................
U
.................bbls.
Whisky.................

1
1,016
6,516
46
10
2,946
68
2
1,582
492

4
3
22
40
1,706
578
80
118
20
48
4
18

Such has been the extraordinary progress of Chicago. Such is her
present condition. Her future is already secured. We are aware o f no




Commerce o f the United States.

094

circumstance likely to retard her progress; on the contrary, a thousand
causes conspire to send her forward. If she advances for the next' fifteen
years as she has done, her population in 1870 will exceed 1,000,000 of
souls, and the value of her property $700,000,000! But it is not reason­
able to suppose that she will attain such a position in so short a time, and
these calculations are given rather to show the ratio of her past progress
than to encourage the idea that she will realize their results. Yet many
new sources of wealth have been opened to her within a short time—too
many to justify their enumeration here. But there is one which deserves
to be mentioned, some of the benefits of which we have already experi­
enced. It is the remarkable development which has taken place for some
years past and still going on in the Canadas—a development which will
result to the advantage of all of our lake cities, and to none more than
Chicago.
A knowledge of all the circumstances surrounding Chicago leads irre­
sistibly to the conclusion that she is destined to be not simply the first
city in the Mississippi Valley, but, with probably three exceptions, the first
city on the continent.

Art. III.— COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES.
N U M BER X V I.

8 L A V E - T R A D B — L O U IS IA N A — P A P E R

M O N E Y — N O R T H W E S T P A S S A G E — C A L IF O R N I A — R E V I E W A T

P O P U L A T IO N — C O M M E R C E — R E S U L T S O F E N G L IS H

P O L IC Y T O T H E

1750—

C O L O N IE S .

T h e S l a v e -T r a d e .
The Boyal African Company having, in spite of
all attempts to bolster up its sinking fortunes, become defunct, or nearly
so, Parliament in 1750 enacted that the trade to Africa should be free to
all his Majesty's subjects upon the extent of coast embraced between the
port of Sallee, in South Barbary, and the Cape of Good Hope, (the east­
ern coast of Africa being included in the East India Company’s patent.)
Certain traders between Capes Blanco and Good n o p e were allowed to be
a company, for the purpose o f regulating the trade, but were not to trade
in their corporate capacity. Under this act the slave-trade, which had of
late declined, assumed a flourishing condition.
The number of slaves in Rhode Island had multiplied to such an extent
that an insurrection was feared at Newport in 1751. The price o f a prime
negro there, in 1745, is stated at 100 ounces of silver.
Under the restrictions imposed by the Trustees, o f which the inhibition
of slave labor was that most complained of, Georgia continued weak and
unprosperous. Numbers of the inhabitants removed to Carolina. But the
settlers began soon to evade these onerous regulations. A t first they hired
slaves from Carolina for short periods, and then for 100 years, or for life.
Finally, slaves sailed from Africa directly for Savannah, and Georgia be­
came like its neighbor, a planting colony. In 1752 it was converted into
a royal province, and placed on the same footing as Carolina. Parliament
at that time had aided the colony by grants o f nearly 100,000?.
I m m ig r a t io n .
The rebellion o f 1745 furnished a considerable acces­
sion to the Carolinas from the adherents of the vanquished cause, who, be­




Commerce o f the United States.

695

ing allowed to seek shelter in America, were induced to prefer those col­
onies. There were also some bodies o f Protestants from Europe who
arrived at the same quarter; but the general course of emigration to the
Carolinas, after 1740, was from the Northern Colonies.
By 1736 there
had been sent to Georgia 1,400 emigrants.
L o u is ia n a . The French settlements at the Mississippi remained undis­
turbed during the war o f 1739-48.* A t the port o f New Orleans several
vessels arrived in 1744 from Florida, Havana, and the Bay of Campeachy
— all Spanish places— and obtained there cargoes of boards, lumber, pitch,
dry goods, and live stock, to the value o f $150,000. In 1746 there were
received at New Orleans 600 barrels o f flour from the settlements at the
Wabash, and it is stated that in 1750 the French in Illinois raised three
times as much wheat as they consumed. Still, the settlements were small,
and agriculture a much inferior interest to the fitv trade. Cotton was in­
troduced into Louisiana in 1751 by some Jesuits from St. Domingo, who
brought with them also some negroes for its cultivation.
The English, though claiming the Ohio region, had as yet no settle­
ments there. It was, however, visited by their traders, whom the French
determined— upon the peace o f 1748— to expel as intruders upon their
territories. This attempt was the incipient movement toward the great
struggle for the continent, which ended in the expulsion of the French.
P a p e r M o n e y . The issues o f bills o f credit made b y province of Massachusetts in the years 1745-48, were as follows:—

1745
.........

1746.

£200,000

1747.

1748.

£32,800

£100,000

80,000
32,000

400,000

£80,000
200,000
J u n e ....................................
.........
.........
October...............................
November...........................
D ecem ber......................... .........

Total.........................

280,000
280,0<'0

328,000
100,000
80,000
40,000

136,000
80,800
200,000
£708,800

£280,800

£500,000

The whole amount of these emissions was in circulation in 1748. The
acts o f emission provided for the canceling o f a certain portion o f the
bills yearly by rates. By this arrangement 409,8007. was to be redeemed
in 1748, 540,0007. in 1749, 140,0007. in 1750, 135,2007. in each of the
years 1751-52,140,000 in each of the years 1753 -5 4 -5 5 -5 6 , and so on to
the end.
Parliament, in 1748, took up the subject o f restraining the colonies
from the issue o f bills o f credit as circulating medium, and to inform it­
self more fully of the state of the case, required the several colonies to
transmit statements o f the amount of their outstanding notes. From the
report made by the Assembly of Rhode Island, it appeared that of the
several issues between 1728 and 1743, there was outstanding 210,0007.,
and that since 1743 there had been given out for the supply o f the treas­
ury 110,4447., making a total nominal amount of 320,4447. in present cir­
* Except by privateering, none of the English colonies actively participated in the war beside
New England and Georgia. Virginia and Carolina furnished supplies to the latter; and there were
one or two inconsiderable attacks o f the Indians on the towns of northern New York.




Commerce o f the United States.

696

culation, equal, at the varying values o f the several issues, to 36,486/.
sterling. But the Assembly was disposed to present the case in as favor­
able an aspect as possible.
Douglas* estimates the amount of the paper circulation in the New
England colonies in 1748 as follows:—
Massachusetts.......................
Connecticut............................

£2,466,712 I Rhode W and........................
281,000 | New Hampshire.................

£550,000
450,000
£3,747,000

In some o f the colonies which had been occasioned no direct expense
by the late war, the issues were very limited. Pennsylvania had outstand­
ing, in 1748, only 85,000/., equal to 53,3331. sterling. A bill was brought
into the Assembly in 1748 to increase the issue, but was deferred on ac­
count of the attempt in Parliament to restrain the emissions. Further at­
tempts were made to enlarge the paper currency of that province in 1750,
but the governor persistently refused to sanction the project, and it accord­
ingly failed.
Douglas gives the following table of the comparative rates of deprecia­
tion of the colonial currencies in 1748. The equivalent of 100/. sterling
exchange with London was, in bills of—
New England
New York .,
East Jerseys .
West Jerseys
Pennsylvania
Maryland.. . .
Virginia........

... £ 1,100 North Carolina..

... £ 1,000

190
190
180
180
200
120 to 125

760
180
170 to 180
160
140

South Carolina..
Barbadoes........
Antigua.............
St. Christopher’s
Jam aica.............

W ith the specie received in 1748 as a compensation for tvar expendi­
tures, the General Court of Massachusetts determined, at the suggestion
of Mr. Hutchinson, the Speaker, afterward governor of the colony, to re­
place its paper circulation. In December o f that year an act was passed
making provision for taking up the greater portion o f the bills, at the rate
of 50s. the ounce for silver, and for the redemption of the remainder by
taxes upon the colony. To make effective this project o f establishing a
specie circulation, the bills of other colonies were prohibited. The value
of the new currency was regulated by fixing the Spanish piece of eight—
the money received, as well as nearly all that before in the colony, being
Spanish silver coin— as the unit, at 6s., and one ounce o f silver at 6s. 8d.
The circulation of the bills was designed to cease entirely after 1750, and
it was afterward enacted that no person could commence a suit at law or
be eligible to any office of honor or profit without taking an oath that he
had received no paper money since 1750.
The measure of substitution thus enforced was radical and violent, and
many people anticipated from a change so sudden a severe shock to busi­
ness. Thousands, it was declared, must be ruined, and the prosperity of
the colony materially retarded. Depreciated as the colonial paper was,
and inconvenient as its use had become, there were numbers so attached
to it that they deprecated all change, finding their interest, or believing
they did so, in the continuance of its circulation.
No revulsion or other unfavorable result was experienced in MassachuHistory o f Massachusetts. By Dr. William Douglas, of BostoD. Published, 1751.




Commerce o f the United States.

697

setts, but trade rather improved. Her measures, however, affected the in­
terests of other colonies, especially of Rhode Island, whose hills had de­
pended upon Massachusetts for a great part of their circulation. That
colony was not yet willing either to redeem her issues or to abstain from
further emissions.
In April, 1750, exchange with London in Massachusetts was eleven-anda-half to one, and the bills o f Rhode Island were at par with those o f the
former colony. In September, exchange with London in Massachusetts
had improved to nine-and-a-half for one, and the bills of Rhode Island
were worth 20 per cent less, a piece o f eight selling for 45s. old tenor in
Massachusetts, and for 50s. of the same denomination in Rhode Island.
In a short time the paper of Rhode Island had fallen to one-half the value
it maintained previous to the measures o f Massachusetts. This state o f
things was exceedingly unfavorable to trade, and the result was the loss
of the W est India business, in which Rhode Island had hitherto been en­
gaged upon the account of Massachusetts.
Newport, in 1750, sent a strong remonstrance to the General Assembly
against any further issue of credits, to which the council or upper house was
rather disinclined; but the paper-money party had full control o f the repre­
sentatives’ chamber.
In March, 1750-1, the ninth bank was issued,
amounting to 25,000/., printed on new plates. The purpose alleged was
for granting bounties, through appropriations of the interest, to the culture
of flax, to the manufacture of wool, and to the whale and cod fisheries.
The act of emission assumed to fix the value of the bills and of those al­
ready in circulation, annexing penalties to any attempt to depreciate them
below the following rates : 100/. sterling, equivalent to 137/. 10s. of the
last emission, or 275/. new tenor, or 1,000/. old tenor.*
N o r th w e st P a s s a g e — W est C o a st, C a l if o r n ia .
Respecting the
Northwest Passage, its discovery was sought at this time, not only as a
channel to Japan, China, and India, but also for the purpose of opening a
Commerce “ with the whole west side of North America without rivals,
where,” says Anderson, writing before the year 1760, “ mines of the rich­
est metals are known to abound near and at New Mexico, California,” &c.
So the discovery o f Gold in California is not, after all, a recent event. The
Spanish explorations upon the northwest coast had been suspended about
150 years, but some Russian adventurers from Tartary, in 1742, and in
some years preceding, “ discovered the coasts of America, of which they
actually had sight, and particularly of California.” They skirted Oregon
in the voyage of 1742, sailing twelve-and-a-half degrees north of Califor­
nia— a point which it was claimed no voyager had reached hefore.f From
these voyages the idea was derived of a narrow strait between Asia and
America, at some higher point than had yet been attained. The theory
was suggested by the observed convergence o f the opposite coasts. Dr.
* Canada had at this time a paper currency, issued by the government for the payment of its own
expenditures. This paper was o f two kinds—the first being cards o f 24 livres down to 7 livres and
6 sous, bearing the arms of France, and signed by the governor, intendant, and controller o f the
province. These were issued to the amount of about 1.000,000 livres. The second kind consisted
o f ordonnances, of 1 to 100 livres, signed by the intendant, and not limited in amount. This cur­
rency, until a few years after 1750, answered all the uses of real money, and were preferred, bills o f
exchange on the French Treasury being given in October o f every year, when the last vessel sailed
for France, these bills of exchange being regularly paid.
f The theory advanced in the first number o f these articles, in which we endeavor to prove that
America was originally discovered at some lower point than Behring Straits, derives strong confir­
mation from the fact that in the modern discovery the Russians, instead o f coasting at the north­
east point o f Siberia, started from a point quite low down the Asiatic coast, and reached America
at almost the border o f the Torrid Zone.




698

Commerce o f the United States.

Busching, with remarkable precision, fixed the supposed strait at about the
latitude of 66 degrees.
In 1742, Capt. Christopher Middleton was sent out by the English gov­
ernment for tire discovery of the Northwest Passage, through Hudson’s
Bay. He sailed to 661 degrees N., became convinced there was no outlet
that way, and returned.
In 1745, Parliament offered to any British subject who should effect the

discovery of the Northwest Passage a reward of 20,000/. The offer en­
couraged an expedition from England, by subscription, in 1746, which
wintered in Hudson’s Bay, the assigned starting-point, and returned to
England in 1747.
In the search for this passage, the English government contemplated
undoubtedly a contraband traffic with the Spanish possessions on the west
coast of South America, as well as the trade of the western side of the
upper continent. The trade enjoyed by these provinces with Europe was
effected mainly by way o f the isthmus ; and, while the South Sea Com­
pany’s privilege in the Spanish trade existed, England had possessed some
share in its advantages. Each year a fleet of galleons, loaded with various
merchandises for the use of the provinces of the west coast, sailed from
Spain for Porto-bello, on the Atlantic side of the isthmus. On their ar­
rival, couriers being dispatched to Panama, Lima, Casco, St. Jago, &c.,
with notices of the time o f holding the fair for the sale of the goods thus
brought, the merchants o f the west coast resorted to the isthmus, with
their treasure, in caravans. Almost the only profitable voyage made by
the South Sea Company to the Spanish ports was that of the Royal Caro­
line to Porto-bello at the time of the fair, about 1730, from which voyage
they cleared about 70,000/.
M osquito . England was far from contemplating the relinquishment of
her hold upon the Musquito coast, of which some of the colonies had
taken advantage to extend their trade thither. In 1749 an agent or
superintendent was sent out, subordinate to the Governor of Jamaica, to
direct the British settlements there and cultivate g'ood terms with the
Indians— a measure which revealed the intention of establishing a perma­
nent colony.
R e v i e w a t 1750.
P o p u l a t io n .
A number of estimates of population at this period have
been published, of which several are in many instances quite wide of the
truth, and most of them are susceptible of some amendment. In some of
the colonies official census of the inhabitants was taken at dates so near,
that the proximate number is easily ascertained; yet some eminent writers
have wholly overlooked these authentic tables, and given us what seem
rough guesses of their own. In other cases, the deficiency of data neces­
sitates a partial resort to conjecture. Connecticut is stated by several
authors to have had now 80,000 inhabitants, whereas it is plainly evident
from a review of her general population progress—making due allowance
for all disturbing influences—that her numbers were above 100,000. The
numbers usually assigned as the “ population ” of Virginia are too low for
her white inhabitants alone. In the Northern colonies the slaves are al­
ways included, but are left out in the Southern. The population of Penn­
sylvania would appear in several of the estimates overstated, and that of’
Massachusetts and New Jersey placed below the actual numbers.
A view of population is sufficiently connected with the history of that




Commerce o f the United States.

699

Commerce which is one of the leading instrumentalities o f the advance­
ment of the numbers o f a people, and which is itself again dependent
upon such progress for its own expansion, to make it an object to obtain
correct statistics upon this point. W e shall not undertake to correct all
the possible errors o f the writers who have undertaken to state the num­
bers of our people in the colonial period, but will merely detain the reader
a moment to show the manner in which some most respectable writers
edify the lovers of history. In several historical novels of magnitude, and
in perhaps a dozen histories “ for the use o f schools,” may be found the
following remarkable fa ct, regarding the loss endured by two o f the colo­
nies from the ravages of the w ar:—
“ From 1722 to 1749, a period o f twenty-seven years, the losses o f Massa­
chusetts and New Hampshire equaled the whole increase o f their numbers,
whereas in the natural course o f population their numbers would have more than
doubled.”

W hat is first noticeable about this statement is that o f the period indi­
cated ; the colonies in question were engaged in actual contest not over
seven years, v iz.: three years in a small border contest with the Indians
in Maine, in which more individual suffering than general loss was sus­
tained, and to which some of the more concise historians omit all refer­
ence ; and four years in the French war, during which these colonies lost
not a single man upon their own territory from any act o f the enemy,
whatever loss they met being confined to the few thousand sent abroad.
Now, it is very remarkable that in provinces where, under ordinary cir­
cumstances, natural multiplication was so rapid, and to which there was
so active an emigration, seven years of such war should overbalance the
growth o f twenty years o f peace!
To let alone other influences, such a result would do infinite discredit to
the accretive agency o f the Commerce which had so much enlarged its
own operations within this period. A t the earlier of these dates, the pop­
ulation of the two colonies was above 100,000 ; and in the seven years of
war, therefore, 100,000 more, the natural duplication o f the longer period,
were sacrificed— that is, about 14,300 lives per year!— whereas in the
whole of both wars that number of men was not employed by the two col­
onies. In their heaviest effort, against Louisburg, they sent 3,554 men,
and lost few, if any of the whole force. The result that would have oc­
curred from “ the natural course of population ” did occu r; instead o f re­
maining at the same point in 1749 as in 1722, as is assumed, the popula­
tion of these colonies had in that time “ more than doubled,” rising from
about 110,0U0 to the amount of 250,000.
From a careful'comparison of all the tables o f preceding and succeeding
enumerations that we have been able to collect— militia returns, state­
ments of the number o f taxables, estimates o f cotemporary writers, and
other reliable data— we have made up the following table of the popula­
tion of the several colonies (excluding Indians) in 1750. The most uncer­
tain points are in regard to the number of slaves in North Carolina, and
of both free and slave in Virginia. The population statistics of the latter
colony are very defective, and it is from this circumstance that an esti­
mate made by Edmund Burke in 1763, giving the colony but 70,000
whites and 100,000 blacks, has crept into authority, and is copied by so
respectable a writer as Dr. Morse. The falsity of the estimate is apparent
on the slightest glance at the preceding and following numbers. The




700

Commerce o f the United States.

number of whites usually assigned to Virginia in 1750, is 85,000, and in
1700, the official census gave 442,117 whites. We assume the number o f
whites in 1750 at 15,000 above the usual estimate.
POPULATION OF

THE

COLONIES IN 1750.

Slaves.
5,000
3,000
4,500

Total.
220,000
110,000
35,000
25,000

12,500
10,000
5,000
8,000

890,000
100,000
70,000
220,000

23,000
35,000
80.000
20,000
40,000

390,000
120,000
180,000
60,000
70,000
6,000

Southern colonies .

175,000

436,000

Total.......................

210,500

6,216,000

Whites.

Massachusetts...........
Connecticut............... ...................................
Rhode Island.............
New Hampshire __

107,000

New England . . . .
New Y o r k .................
New Jersey...............
Pennsylvania.............
Middle colonies . . . ....................................
Maryland...................
Virginia............... . .
North Carolina.........
South Carolina......... ....................................
G eorgia.....................

867,000

30,000

There were beside, one or two thousand English, and about 15,000 neu­
tral French in the region claimed as Nova Scotia (embracing New Bruns­
wick.) In Louisiana there were about 7,000 French and a few thousand
Spaniards in Florida, New Mexico, and California.
The English island of Barbadoes was numerically about in rank with
New Hampshire in regard to whites, and with New York and Connecticut
in the total, having about 25,000 whites and 70,000 slaves. The French
island of Guadaloupe had in 1755 9,043 whites and 41,140 slaves— a total
of 50,733.
On the continent, beside Louisiana with her 7,000, the French had at
this time about 45,000 in Canada, along the banks of the St. Lawrence,
where they were confined by a royal edict in 1745. They had also about
5,000 on the island of Cape Breton, and 5,000 on the island of St. John’s
— making, with the 15,000 neutrals at Nova Scotia, but 77,000 French in

all North America.
O f the towns, Douglas, the historian of the period, gives Boston 20,000
“ at least,” though Dr. Shattuck, on what authority we are not aware,
places the number at 15,731 in 1750, and 15,520 in 1760. New York
stood a trifle below 10,000, (about 2,000 being slaves.) Philadelphia had
7,635 ; Newport, in 1748, had 4,640, of whom about 1,000 probably were
slaves.
Small as these numbers seem to us at present, Boston was then of half
the size o f Liverpool, the city next o f the whole empire in commercial
importance to London, built up by the American and African trade, and
having thirty to thirty-five thousand inhabitants. Bristol, the second in
numbers to London, had but 95,000; Edinburgh had 60,000; Norwich
about as m any; Birmingham 30,000; Newcastle-upon-Tyne 40,000;
Glasgow 26,000 ; Sheffield about 20,000. No other city in Great Britain
reached the number o f 20,000, and there were but four in Ireland o f that
magnitude.




Commerce o f the United States.

701

The rapid growth o f the colonies had been the occasion of an idea
very common at this time in Great Britain— that they could not be much
longer retained as dependencies of the empire. The chief argument of
those who opposed this opinion, was the supposed impossibility of union
among the colonies.
C om m erce . The yearly balance against the colonies by the excess of
their imports from England, over their exports thither, was now 100,000?.
yearly, which they were enabled to make up through their other outward
Commerce. The imports of Great Britain were as large from no foreign
country as from her North American colonies, nor did she export nearly
as much to any except Spain, Portugal, and Holland, to each of which
nations her shipments were a little in excess of those to North America.
W ith Portugal, the colonies were driving a very profitable trade. That
country was obliged to import about half the grain it consumed, and was
supplied from British America, (the middle colonies chiefly,) Holland,
Dantzic, Spain, and France. Six or seven hundred of the colonial vessels
arrived yearly at Lisbon. The carriage of the grain, flour, &c., sent to
this quarter, was principally by the vessels of New England, which Burke
says had become the carriers for all North America, and “ in a manner,”
for the West Indies, and even for some ports of Europe. Those trading
with portugal were employed to conduct the trade of that country with
the Mediterranean region. They carried, also, their own fish to all these
places.
The leading interests of New Hampshire were still connected with the
sea and the forest, as at the time o f first settlement. Agriculture furn­
ished a very small portion of the exportable produce, and was in a weak
condition.
H ats , o f which the export had been forbidden, and the manufacture re­
stricted, about 1730, were still extensively vended by New England in the
other colonies and in the West Indies. After the navigation act passed,
this article was particularly searched for by the revenue officers, but the act
was avoided by sending the hat-bodies in an unfinished condition to the
West Indies, accompanied by finishers to put them in a proper condition
at the place of export.
New York, at this time, commanded the trade of the western ports of
Connecticut and that o f East Jersey, in addition to the Commerce o f the
province to which it belonged. Its harbor being open at all times of the
year, business was as active in winter as in summer. The annual revenue
of the city government was about 2,000?. The yearly imports of tea, sent
over by the East India Company, were of the value of 10,000?.; 800
pipes of wine from the Madeira Islands were also annually imported. Be­
side home products, of which flax was becoming an important article, rum,
sugar, molasses, dye-woods, &c., received from the West Indies, were ex­
ported to Europe.
The production of tobacco in Virginia and Maryland reached its high­
est point at about the middle of the century, and began to decline, owing
to the exhaustion o f the soil. The planters were turnig their attention to
wheat and other grains. Burke, speaking of the Virginia planters at this
time, says* they lived to the full extent of their incomes, importing all
manufactured articles of either convenience or ornament from England.
• Burko’ a “ European settlements in America,” published in 1757.




702

Commerce o f the United States.

Any failure in the crops, or in the sale of their tobacco, brought them
heavily in debt to the merchants of London, “ who get mortgages upon
their estates, which are consumed to the bone with the canker of an 8 per
cent usury.” The principal profit of these tobacco merchants was on the
re-exportation to Europe, whither the colonists could not carry or send
their tobacco.
Carolina had begun to raise oranges and lemons, of which she sent con­
siderable amounts to the northern colonies. Several efforts were made to
send them to England, but they would not keep during the voyage. The
interior of these colonies were settling up with emigrants drawn from the
northern colonies, especially Pennsylvania.
During the present reign, that of George II., beaver and otter peltries
had been added to the list of enum erated articles, that is, of those which
could be shipped from the colonies only to Great Britain or to a British
colony. The continued ability of the resource for this trade was a sub­
ject of remark to English writers. They were still very partially aware
of the internal resources of America, though conscious that she was des­
tined to be the theater of a great power. The capacities of the Great
Lake region were practically known only to the French. New York had
a single feeble trading establishment on Lake Ontario.*' The Ohio Valley
was an unexplored region, teeming with the unappropriated wealth, for
the possession of which England and France were speedily to join in one
of the fiercest of their manjr contests. At the south-west, exploration in­
teriorly seems to have been pushed much farther than at the north-west.
It is thought that many years before this, the Virginia traders had pene­
trated to the neighborhood of the Mississippi.
But how were the colonists to be expected, in their present condition,
to open such vast domains, when of a kingdom so small in territory and
so thickly inhabited by the most active population of Europe, the country
parts were to the cities almost as fabulous regions? There was not yet
even a canal in England, and it was one blessing which the rebellion of
1745 conferred upon the realm, that it necessitated a great improvement
in the roads, for the purpose of facilitating the march of troops.
C o m p a r a t iv e V a l u e .
Although at some particular points, the colo­
nies of some other powers were of more advantage to them than were
England’s to her, yet in the aggregate hers were far the most profitable
possessions held by any nation. The fact is abundantly testified by her
own unequaled growth in wealth and in power, to nothing due so much
as to the nourishment of her great American Commerce. France, while
profiting largely by her West India and South American possessions, was
a loser by her weak but very expensive dominions in North America.
From 1700 to 1750, Spain received from her colonies, according to Hum­
boldt, 22,500,000 marks in gold, the amount in the previous century being
16,000,000 marks. Yet Spain was constantly getting poor. Interest was
at 12 per cent, and freights four times as high as in English vessels. Her
exclusive Commerce with her rich colonies could be carried on, consequent­
ly, only at great expense, and the colonies were in all respects the objects
of heavy outlay. Probably every dollar taken from the mines cost Spain,
eventually, another dollar, so that while she fancied herself to be gather­
* In 1750, Governor Clinton, of New York, concluded another treaty o f amity and Commerce
with the Six Natious.




Commerce o f the United States.

703

ing in money, she was only carrying on a process o f exchange, of which
the disadvantages were on her side.
E n g l i s h P o l i c y a n d C o l o n i a l S e n t i m e n t r e g a r d i n g C o m m e r c e . The
attachment of the colonies to the broad principle o f unrestricted trade,
had not yet in the slightest degree abated, but strengthened with their
growth. In no portion o f the world, not even among the Dutch, were
entertained views of so enlightened a character in regal'd to Commerce
and the general intercourse of nations.
“ I would have the trade o f na­
tions,” said Franklin, “ as free as between one county in England and an­
other; the counties do not injure one another, neither would the nations.”
Franklin spoke precisely the American sentiment.
McGregor and Murray, both earnest advocates of the principles of free
trade, with other eminent British writers o f the present time, though se­
verely reprobating the policy that afterward prevailed, do not consider the
measures of the English government toward the colonies to have been,
until after 1750, injurious to the latter, or in the general aspect unwise.
They contrast the colonial system o f England with that of other nations,
and the result certainly places the liberality of the former in a conspicu­
ous light. W e have frequently alluded to the miserably selfish policy of
Spain. Portugal held her dependencies in subjection to the same princi­
ple. Even Holland and France sold the commercial monopoly of their
colonies to rapacious trading companies, which established over them the
most vexatious regulations. They not only fixed the price of what they
sold to the colonies, (at very high rates, of course,) but established also
the price at which the colonists should sell to them, and arbitrarily restrained
them from the production o f any larger amount than they (the companies)
could dispose of in Europe, at an unreasonable profit. So say these writ­
ers ; but it must be remembered that in regard to all the principal pro­
ducts of their colonies, the monopolists of France and Holland had the
formidable rivalry of England and her freer colonies to encounter in the
European markets, and that they were necessitated from this cause, if
from no other, to allow production its fullest extent, and to moderate the
profits they might have been inclined to seek. Nevertheless, the colonies
of France and Holland might well envy the superior system under which
the British colonies subsisted.
The dependencies o f England in America, under charters or constitu­
tions derived directly from the crown or through restricted proprietors,
who were themselves held under rigid supervision, shaped the principal
features of their own internal polity, and regulated their local administra­
tions, with a jealous regard o f any attempt of imperial interference. The
Parliament usually manifested a very lenient disposition, and though the
provincials more often complained o f the acts of their “ royal master,”
the kings were generally still more favorably disposed toward the colonies
than the legislature. Even the solemn “ Board o f Trade and Plantations,”
felt a sort of motherly instinct toward the unwilling objects of its adop­
tion. Many irregularities on the part o f the colonies were overlooked,
that there might be as little restraint as possible put upon their energies.
There were no tithes and no poor-rates imposed on the colonies, and no
internal taxes such as were levied on other parts o f the empire. The cus­
toms exacted in the colonial ports were few and light, and the acts restrict­
ive upon trade were not usually strictly inforced. The custom-house offi­
cers were rather lax in their duties, and the home government tolerated




704

Commerce o f the United States.

and even countenanced the neglect. But it is not thence to be inferred,
as our apologists for England seem inclined, that the colonies were un­
taxed, or not taxed in their due proportion. To say nothing of the fourand-a-half per cent and other duties affecting the West Indies alone, the
continental colonies were considered by themselves, and allowed by the
successive ministers to sustain their full proportion of the burdens of the
realm, by those restrictions upon their trade which were effective, and by
the important aid of men, money, ships, and supplies which they furnish­
ed, and of the enterprises conducted by themselves in war.
The great object of England was to secure the advantages of the Com­
merce of her colonies, and this end attained, she was willing to yield some­
what at other points. Of her right to regulate this matter, she was tena­
cious to the last degree, and though often feeling aggrieved, and evading
so far as they could the whole system of restraints, the colonists had never
questioned her authority to excercise, by edict or enactment, this arbitrary
supervision of their Commerce.
McGregor says that the colonies were allowed to trade to all parts of
the w orld , but the countries of the North of Europe and the East Indies,
enjoying thus intercourse with the whole American hemisphere, with the
South of Europe, and with Africa. That the colonies d id occupy, in a
greater or less extent, each of these fields is true; but it is equally true
that they were rigidly prohibited from trading with the whole continent
of South America, with all of North America not in the possession of
England, and with the entire foreign dominion of the West Indies. There
was no lack of laws or of will on the part of the English government to
inforce the inhibition, and one of the most serious occasions of trouble
between the mother-country and the colonies arose from the violations of
these restrictive acts upon the part of the latter. The trade with Africa
had only lately been made free, and was still confined to the western coast.
And in regard to the whole foreign trade, the articles both of export and
import, which might enter into it, were limited by several acts of Parlia­
ment.
The same author says,* again, that England, satisfied with the general
profits of the colonial trade, left it open to every individual in the realm,
and confined it to no particular ports of the empire, in the manner of Spain
and Portugal. The first part of the assertion is, for the period following
the extinction of the early proprietary companies, and as regards the isl­
and of Great Britain, alone correct in a limited sense. But McGregor
forgets that there were restrictions upon the trade between one colony and
another; that they were absolutely forbid, for example, to sell certain
manufactures of their own fabrication to each other, and that while cer­
tain goods which they could advantageously produce could not be sold in
England, corresponding goods of English production could be freely sent
into the colonies. The same remark is a sufficient reply to the assertion
of Murray,f that the regulations imposed upon the trade between England
and her colonies were nearly the same as governed the English coasting
trade, though it must be acknowledged there were many important simil­
arities. Our author forgets, also, the position of Ireland, with which sev­
eral of the colonies had a very considerable trade, and which might have
* P rog ress o f A m e r ic a .

By J o h m M c G r e g o r , v o l. i., p a g e 180.

+ History of the United States o f America.




By H u g h M u r r a y , Esq., F. R. 9. E.

Commerce o f the United States.

705

reacted a much greater extent, but that that large portion of the realm
was placed, regarding the colonies, in the attitude of a foreign nation.
The second part of McGregor’s assertion is, also, in a degree, erroneous.
Though the general trade of the colonies was not restricted to particular
ports of the kingdom, the import into Great Britain of certain specified
articles, among the most important productions of the colonies, was thus
confined, and this was one of the regulations not easy to be evaded.
Regarding the monopoly so largely carried out of certain American
productions, and of the general supplies of European merchandise to the
colonies, McGregor balances the impolicy of the course by the considera­
tion “ that although a number of articles were exclusively appropriated to
an importation to and from Great Britain, yet enough was left for the col­
onists ; particularly when we consider that the countries they possessed,
gave them so much occupation at home.” Perhaps the field open to the
colonies was as large as they could, at that time, well improve, but does
our writer suppose that if the colonists had been allowed to ship their to­
bacco, for instance, directly to the markets of Europe, and secured to
themselves the large profits obtained by the English merchants in the re­
exportation, the planters of Virginia would not have been better off?
Might they not even have been able to keep their estates out of mortgage
to these same successful tobacco merchants of England ?
The most considerable advantage derived by the colonies from their
connection with England, “ was a constant course of credit given them,
without which,” Murray declares, “ they could never have risen to that ex­
traordinary opulence which excited the admiration of Europe, and which
advantage they could only derive from England.” But the English mer­
chants found their benefit in this favor, as it enabled them greatly to ex­
tend their trade, where otherwise it must, from the necessity of circum­
stances, have been much limited, and they had no customers who redeemed
their promises better than the American merchants. Under a similar
conditioij of things, a condition which other nations did not find, to en­
courage them to a like course toward their own colonies, the English mer­
chants must have granted the Americans this credit, had they been inde­
pendent, or had they even been subjects of Holland or Spain.
The writers to whom we have alluded, entertain precisely the same
principles regarding the general policy of restriction that we have ad­
vanced. They hold the navigation acts and the kindred measures to have
been unsound in theory, and differ from our views only in regard to their
practical effect. We admit their operation to have been at some points
very limited; so far as they were intended to be applied within America
itself, they were in a great degree nugatory. Yet they were not without
influence here, and sometimes, as in regard to the establishment of certain
manufactures, a very inconvenient effect was experienced from them. In
the other aspect of these measures, their application to American trade in
the p o r ts o f G reat B r ita in , their operation was as complete as that of any
other maritime statute of the realm; and though the same acts secured
the British market to the undivided use of the Americans, so far as they
were able to supply it, yet their loss here was a leading element of the
gain which the system was deemed to afford the parent nation. The
growth of the colonies was not probably from this cause, in any great ex­
tent, retarded; it would have been difficult to make the effects of a much
worse policy permanently visible upon the progress of settlements so young,
VOL. X X X II.-----NO. V I.




45

TOC

Conquests o f Commerce.

so fresh, so energetic, and so well-provided by nature with all the elements
of rapid and solid expansion. But the injury was nevertheless sensibly
realized at the time, and we have to thank nature which made the mate­
rial America, and the early men which cultivated it, what they were, that
the degree of hurtful result was so limited and evanescent.
In these remarks we do not abate aught of the credit we have before
frequently found occasion to render to the colonial policy of England, as
greatly in advance of that of all colonizing powers; and, considering the
time in which it was adopted, the existing condition of the world at large,
and of England herself, as worthy the hearty commendation of the pres­
ent generation of Americans. Our ancestors, amid all their complaints,
were always ready to do justice to England ; we, of to-day, have cause for
respecting her upon their account, and may freely agree with McGregor,
that up to the middle of the eighteenth century, the colonial system pur­
sued by England, in its general aspect, furnished a lesson of wisdom to all
colonizing powers.

Art. IV.— COAftUESTS OF COMMERCE.
T h ere is a constant tendency in commercial races to cause the subjuga­
tion or extermination of non-commercial races, by the greater power they
have of obtaining the means of subsistence, even without any recourse to
arms, just as in the competition among individuals those who are strong
in intellect and impulses crowd out those who are imprudent or incapable,
and cause that they live in want or die early. The weaker become ex­
tinct, the stronger are perpetuated.
And here there would seem to be a perfect analogy between the human
races and the various orders of animal and vegetable life. A style of
vegetation that at one time prevails over a whole country is in the course
of ages entirely changed, and the useless and even noxious vegetation of
the wilderness is made to give way to the useful and beautiful plants of
civilization, and in a region whose inhabitants were the lower animals and
ferocious beasts, peaceful flocks and herds receive undisputed possession.
Instances are not wanting on the other hand, in which the lower vegeta­
tion has crowded out the higher, and in which the sheep and the ox have
disappeared to give place to beasts of prey. There are regions of the
earth now desert that once supported a vast population. Large tracts in
Syria that once wore the appearance of a garden, and of which the an­
cient productiveness is not even in these times surpassed by the most ad­
vanced of nations, are now rocky wastes or overrun by useless and poi­
sonous plants. In the same region the animal kingdom has changed
character also, and the venomous reptile inhabits the ruins of palaces
supposed by their builders to be durable as the rocks in which their foun­
dations were laid.
As it is in the lower orders of animal and vegetable life, so also in the
various races of men. The same law constantly shows itself in active
operation. Inferior races have in some instances become extinct simply
by the intrusion of a more vigorous race, just as a feeble plant prevailing




Conquests o f Commerce.

«

»

707

over a considerable extent of country is sometimes pushed out of exist­
ence by the continual encroachments of a hardy and vigorous grass. Ex­
tinction is the evident destiny of the North American Indians, even with­
out war, and without the influence of intoxicating drink, without the
small-pox, or other direct deleterious influences of civilization. The white
man is able by his superior capacity for the production of wealth, to buy
the soil from beneath the very feet of the Indian, and multiplying and
spreading with such rapidity will soon require all the continent. The
Indian will give up the last acre of his inherited domain; for the white
man will always be able to offer him more than an equivalent for his land,
which is worth, in fact, a thousand times more to the one than to the
other. A thousand white men are able to procure in abundance the means
of subsistence in a region where a single family of the aborigines, of their
most skillful hunters, would scarcely do more than live miserably from
hand to mouth, and are thus from their accumulated stores able always to
offer beforehand the wealth that the Indian would not extract from his
domain in a hundred years—an offer which he would not from any patri­
otic motives refuse. In short, the civilized man can and will buy and sell
the savage.
These considerations make it appear probable that the savage races
throughout the world will be sooner or later deprived of their territory,
and gradually become extinct, or live on iti some form of servitude. This
is sure to take place when the civilized races shall have occupied all the
vacant territory. When North America shall have been peopled to over­
flowing, and the great tide of civilized man shall find no more room on
this continent, the lands of the half-civilized and non-producing races of
the old world will be invaded by the wealth-making races, before whose
advance they can only become extinct or pass under the yoke.
That wealth gives this power to a race or nation over a nation without
wealth may appear from supposing a nation with boundless wealth and
powers of production and comparing it with one in the opposite extreme,
impoverished and without the capacity to produce enough to avoid the
very verge of destitution. Suppose two such races in actual contact; at
the point of contact a continual purchase would exist of the lands of the
impoverished, and a steady enslavement of the beggarly population, who
would offer themselves for employment to their wealthy neighbors in such
numbers as by competition to make the remuneration they would receive
barely sufficient to enable them to drag out a miserable existence. Other­
wise they would become altogether extinct by the gradual but sure opera­
tion of the law that when the means of subsistence is withdrawn the race
sinks like a plant from which the soil and moisture are withdrawn.
The law operates in the same way among individuals in the heart of
civilized society. The rich and the powerful buy their land away from
the poor, and afterwards remove them to some form of servitude. Such,
at any rate, is the power that wealth, gives—-the disposition already exists
in most men to take advantage of the power. The slave, for the most
part, is not a tyrant only because he has not the power.
We may look, therefore, for the extinction in future times of all the
barbarous races. It will come to pass by the operation of Commerce,
without any wars of extermination or subjugation. The vast power of
production of the commercial races will enable them to purchase the sui­
cide of their unenlightened neighbors. This fate they can only escape by




708

Conquests o f Commerce.

combating Commerce with its own weapons. They must become civilized
and acquire the increased powers of production that civilization gives, and
they may remain. Otherwise they will surely be swept away. As in
modern society the capitalist has the pauper in his power, so among na­
tions the rich ones will require the service of the poor ones, or cause their
destruction.
The fate of the Mexican people is perhaps already sealed. The capacity
of their powerful neighbors to buy and sell them increases constantly and
rapidly. If their whole country is not sooner or later subdued by force
of arms, its estates will be gradually purchased, the original occupants
will be sent away from their homesteads with poeketsful of money—which
they will soon spend and then themselves perish—while their commercial
successors will improve the productive capacities of the lands till a year’s
income shall amount to more than the original purchase money. No help
will be found for the inferior races but in the acquisition of a portion of
that power which crushes them. They, too, must acquire capital through
the productive powers of Commerce, or pass through slavery into extinc­
tion. It matters little what form slavery may assume, it is slavery still,
so far as it puts the producer into the power of the capitalist.
Nor is the universal and irresistible operation of this law to be regretted.
It is better that an inferior race should thus become extinct, than that
the development of a superior race should be prevented. It is better that
25,000,000 of civilized men should occupy this northern continent than
that a hundredth of that number should have the privilege of overrunning
it in a constant state o f war and destitution. It is better that the civil­
ized race should flourish, even if one that is barbarous pass entirely away.
It would be better that the whole of the races inhabiting the African con­
tinent should entirely disappear, than that by continuing in their present
barbarous fashion to drag on an existence unprofitable to themselves and
to the world, they should prevent the coming into life of 500,000,000 o f
civilized and moral men. And such will be the fate of the African nations
unless they rise out of barbarism; and not of the African nations only,
but of all the barbarous and semi-barbarous nations and races. It is not
probable, however, that they will rise, but much more likely that, all the
world over, the barbarous races will be supplanted, and that in the cen­
turies to come they will be known only in history like the wild grasses
that were found in the prairies of the West. That this will be the fate of
the Indian and Polynesian is almost certain ; but it is probable that many
even of the more wide-spread and more numerous races will in the lapse
o f ages disappear before the mighty march of the commercial nations.
And, finally, among them a contest may take place which shall result in
the dominion of one, in which the superior elements rising constantly shall
subdue the inferior, and the principle which gave it power over other
races to their final extinction shall operate in its own continual develop­
ment.

As it will be found that there is a tendency in families and nations,
morally degraded and intellectually incapable, to disappear, from the want
of the means of subsistence, so on the other hand will it be found that
families and nations of great moral excellence and intellectual vigor'will
survive and be perpetuated, so that the best and strongest nations and fami­
lies will be continually rising above and crowding out the rest by their su­
perior vitality. They will do this without intending to do so ; but naturally,
.and as effect follows cause.




W ork f o r B oards o f Trade and Chambers o f Commerce.

709

The law thus presented is fully exemplified in individual plants as well
as in the vegetation of large areas. Take a vine or an oak, and it will be
found that though vitality and the tendency to growth exist throughout,
the development of new branches takes place only in the most vigorous
and favored portions of the plant; and that the nourishment is taken
from the weaker portions by the more powerful drawing of the larger
limbs. A large and vigorous root will take up all the nourishment af­
forded by the soil in which it grows, and leave none for any delicate flower
that may be so unfortunate as to be placed near it.
It would be very interesting to observe the law of development or ex­
tinction as it would be exhibited by statistics, both with regard to individ­
uals and nations. Such statistics would place beyond a doubt the exist­
ence and operation of this law—that civilized and moralized races will
rule or crowd out to extinction the inferior races; and that within partic­
ular races, those families will be developed, perpetuated, and multiplied
that are distinguished for moral excellence and intellectual power. Such
statistics would show that this is a universal law, operating not only in
races and nations, but in subdivisions of races and nations, civilized or
barbarous. In both, those who have superior powers of obtaining the
means of subsistence will obtain development, and those with inferior
powers will be made slaves or become extinct. The law in some shape
or other operates wherever animal or vegetable life appears even in the
lowest degree.
Its result, however harsh it may appear at first sight, is “ the greatest
amount of happiness to the greatest numberthe multiplication and de­
velopment of the noble, and the repression and extinction of such as will
not suffer themselves to be ennobled. No one can object to the substitu­
tion of ten good, wise, and rich men, for one cruel, ignorant, and starving
savage, all the world over.
Let us aid the savage to become civilized, but if he cannot or will not,
let there be no regrets when his memory shall have passed away.

Art. V.— WORK FOR BOARDS OF TRADE AND CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE.
A p pen d ed to the First Annual Report of the Boston Board of Trade,
are some thoughts or suggestions submitted by I s a a c C. B ates , Esq., the
Secretary, embodying the outlines of a system which, if faithfully carried
out, he thinks, will one day make that Board truly valuable, and worthy
of the liberal support of the merchants and business men of Boston.
Although the letter of the Secretary is addressed to the Boston Board
of Trade, it embodies suggestions that it may be well for similar associa­
tions, in all our large commercial and industrial cities, to consider. The
frequency with which the question has been asked in Boston, “ What is
the Board o f Trade, and ruliat is it going to do ?” induced him to offer the
following system of operation :—

The Boston Board of Trade was incorporated according to the words of the
Act, “ for the purpose of promoting Trade and Commerce in the city of Boston
and vicinity.” By “ Trade and Commerce” is understood the interchange of
commodities for commodities; or the exchange of that portion of our products




T10

W ork f o r B oards o f Trade and Chambers o f Commerce.

which exceeds our own consumption, for portions of the surplus products raised
by others—no matter where raised, whether in our own country or in other
countries. The home trade and the foreign trade are alike, if not equally valu­
able.
•
To effect this interchange there must be division of labor. There must be the
producer, the transporter, the manufacturer, the merchant, the broker, the trades­
man and the consumer—and the interests of all these are considered as embraced
under the general head of “ Trade and Commerce,” for the purpose of promoting
which in the city of Boston and its vicinity this Board of Trade was created.
To promote Trade and Commerce, is to contribute to their growth, enlarge­
ment, or excellence; and a board of trade is, in short, an assembly of merchants
and traders, where everything which concerns these interests is entertained, dis­
cussed, decided upon, and action taken accordingly.
Among the principal interests to be considered we mav mention:—
Ways of communication and transport—in the interior by roads, rivers, eanals,
and railways, and by telegraph and postal communication; in foreign inter­
course, by lines of steamships and sailing packets—and in connection with these
subjects, insurance, tonnage, pilotage, seamen, Boston harbor, port regulations,
&c. Laws of the United States and of Massachusetts, concerning navigation,
revenue tariffs, and everything affecting Commerce, as usury, currency, money,
exchange, &c. Statistics of products, manufactures of all kinds, and their rela­
tive scale of importance ; of imports, exports, tonnage, fisheries, &c. General
subjects—as weights and measures, tribunals of commerce, arbitrations, treaties,
tariffs of other countries, and many more. And, as interesting us locally: judi­
cious administration of the government of a city; health; conveniences as a place
of residence and business; improvements, internal and external; pleasures; in­
crease of population and territory; new avenues to industry at home and to
Commerce abroad; and whatever shall induce people to prefer the city to other
places, either as a place of residence or of profit.
In all these subjects Boston has a deep interest, and what her true interest is
ought to be thoroughly searched out and made known, and understood by all her
merchants and tradesmen.
Many of these subjects are frequently brought up under one form or another
in our National and State Legislatures, and it is of importance that our repre­
sentatives in those bodies should be provided with information and suggestions,
that they may be able to act knowingly and efficiently, and without delay, for
the advancement or defense, as the case may be, of our interests.
Accidents are constantly happening at sea, by which every year thousands of
lives and millions of property are lost. How important to have accurate statis­
tics of these losses, and of the causes of them, that a knowledge of them may
provide security against accident!
Our ships visit the ports of all nations, and are subjected to many regulations,
fines, and expenses, which serve but to annoy. If they complain, there is no one
to listen. Is not the Board of Trade of their own port the place where they
should tell their story,and where all these grievances should be recorded,classed
and presented clearly and distinctly, whenever deemed advisable, to our own
government for its diplomatic action 1
Where should an equitable tariff of duties be made but in the Board of Trade
of the country, where all interests are represented, and where the relative impor­
tance of all the interests involved should be ascertained and exhibited !
Now’ to examine into these and many other subjects which might be mention­
ed, of equal importance, it is necessary that much industry, perseverance, and
ability, should be employed.
To study the system or want of system of transport in the country, ascertain
and make known imperfections and wants, keep statistics of the amount of cap­
ital invested, and, as far as possible, of the business done and the persons em­
ployed, in order to show the relative importance of this great interest, is no small
labor.




Journal o f M ercantile Law .

711

And to obtain a knowledge of the navigation laws and customs regulations of
our own and other countries, and of all laws affecting Commerce, and to see how
far these laws interfere to the benefit or injury of our trade, is certainly a work
of laborious study and industry, and requires much practical knowledge.
Our vital interests in Boston harbor, and in our seamen, are not to be under­
stood and watched over in a day, nor are valuable reports upon the subjects of
usury, money, currency, and exchange, to be made without a careful examination
of the subjects, of what has been written upon them already, and a knowledge
of facts and of history.
Statistics of products, of exports and imports, of manufactures of wool, cotton,
and leather, of clothing, furniture, jewelry, books pianos, hardware, agricultural
implements, &c., &c., cannot be collected and systematized, and presented in a
form to be useful, without great perseverance and labor.
Nor can such improvements as are greatly needed in our system of weights
and measures, the establishment of tribunals of Commerce, the extension of the
limits of our city, and the new avenues to industry at home and to Commerce
abroad, be advocated and presented to your notice, without having much time
and study devoted to them.
Few of us can devote the time which is required to study these interests as
they ought to be studied, or gather the facts and necessary statistics and arrange
them systematically, in order that we may judge of the relative importance of the
different interests among us; but it is nevertheless proposed to take up, one by
one, ail these subjects, as particular opportunity may offer, and to examine and
report upon them in a manner which shall enable them to be understood, while
more immediate attention will be given to seeking redress for existing grievances,
and to the attainment of any objects presented, involving the general interests of
trade, which it might be difficult to attain by separate and individual exertion.
The government of the Board of Trade should represent and be the efficient
exponent of the wishes of its members; it should have the active co-operation of
the members of the board, and of all the merchants of Boston, and it is earnestly
hoped that they will give it their support, that there will not be a single com­
mercial firm in our city which is not represented among its members.
The more the board is identified with the commercial classes, the greater will
be the moral power which it will exercise for the promotion of their interests,
and thus sustained, it will exert a moral influence which it is not boasting to say
will be felt through the length and breadth of the land.

JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW.
seam en ’s w a g e s .

In the United States District Court, Boston, Massachusetts, March term, 1854.
James Whalen, el al., vs. the schooner Silver Spring.
This was a proceeding in rem instituted by the libelants to recover wages
alleged to have been received by them as fishermen on board the Silver Spring,
during the last season. The facts are sufficiently stated in the opinion of the
Court.
Sprague J. It is quite clear, T think, that this vessel was designed for a fish­
ing voyage in the season of 1853, and that the owners contemplated the voyage
so conducted as to secure the bounty, or allowance as it is called in the statute,
provided by law. Certain preliminary steps requisite for this purpose were taken
at Harwich, where the vessel was, and where the owners lived. The owners
provided a fisherman’s paper or agreement, which was there signed by the captain
and three men. And the vessel was inspected, and the certificate, which is one
requisite for obtaining the bounty issued, the number of the crew being left
blank, trusting to the honor of the master to ship them properly.




1 12

Journal o f M ercantile Law .

The vessel left Harwich to come to Boston to complete her crew, the owners
having- provided the proper fishing paper. And the master here hired the libel­
ants on wages. They subsequently signed the articles which had been brought
from Harwich. Had the owners at the time of the signing of the agreement by
the libelants, or at any time prior to receiving the agreement, any knowledge
that the libelants were hired on wages? I think not. Had the master any pre­
vious authority to hire men on wages? There is no evidence of any express
authority. The inquiry is therefore whether he has any implied authority as
master. I think the master has no implied authority in a fishing voyage to
hire men on wages, first, because the owners cannot obtain the bounty if the
men are hired at monthly wages, and, second,because the requirement of the law
of June 29, 1813, is positive and unequivocal, that the master of every fishing
vessel of more than twenty tons shall, before proceeding on his voyage, make an
agreement in writing, for shares, with every fisherman employed therein. By
this law the agreement is to be made with the master, and it is the master’s duty
to have the articles signed. And the presumption is, that he had no authority
other than that given him by law, and in conformity to the requirements of the
law.
Subsequently to the agreement actually made, the vessel did not return to
Harwich, till after the end of her first voyage or fare. But the master before
sailing from Boston, sent the owners the shipping articles properly signed and
filled up. There is no evidence o f any other communication to the owners at
that time— nothing to show that the owners had any knowledge at that time
that the crew were hired on monthly wages.
At the end of the first voyage the vessel returned to Harwich, and certain
payments were made to the libelants Do these payments bring home to the
owners the knowledge that the men were actually engaged on wages? It does
not appear that the payments were made to the men by the owners. And noth­
ing is more common when men are engaged on shares, as in whaling voyages,
for the master or owner to advance them money, deducting it from the amount
due, when the final settlement is made. Here the men received certain sums of
money; but this does not show that the owners knew the men were engaged on
wages. One man, John Ryan, left by permission o f the master at the end of
this voyage. He received a certain sum o f money as the amount due him. It
does not appear that he-was paid by the owners, nor does it follow, because be
received a sum of money as a settlement of his agreement, that the owners
knew he received it as monthly wages. They may have known it. But there is
no evidence before the Court to determine this. There is no evidence that the
owners then had any knowledge that the men were hired at monthly wages, or
that they did not suppose them to be on shares. There is no doubt, 1 think,
that the master agreed that these men should have monthly wages. He was
willing to pay them on the return from the second voyage, buthe had no money.
It is said that the libelants were induced to sign the written agreement by
fraud and deception. They are their own witnesses. And what is their story?
That after the master had agreed with 1hem for wages, he told them to sign the
articles in order that the owners might get the bounty. The articles were read
over to the libelants. They are both familiar with the practice in fishing voyages.
One probably knew something of the requirements of the law, for he at first re­
fused to sign the articles until assured the only object of them was to get the
bounty, and at the end of the second voyage, when a dispute arose, he told the
owners that they had only three sharesmen, and not three-fourths American
citizens on board. Now it stands thus—these persons, having agreed with the
master for monthly wages, signed the articles in order to enable the master to
commit a fraud in obtaining the bounty— a fraud upon the owners and upon the
government—a fraud which must at least deprive the owners of the right to
claim the bounty, or to retain it if paid.
And yet these persons seek now', by a proceeding against the vessel, to render
her liable for monthly wages according to their agreement with the master. The
Court of Admiralty goes far to enforce a seaman’s contract for wages; hut




Journal o f M ercantile Law .

713

never so far, I think, as to uphold him in committing a fraud. Shall the Court
allow the libelants to say that they are not bound by the written contract, be­
cause it was only signed to get the bounty—when they signed it with their eyes
open? I am not now called upon to decide whether the libelants can enforce
the written agreement, or whether this is so tainted with fraud that a Court will
not enforce it. But for the reasons already given the libel must be dismissed,
though as the parties were led into the transaction by the fraud of the master,
without costs.
CLAIM FOK FREIGHT— IMPORTANT TO CORN MERCHANTS.

In the Court of Exchequer, (British,) Gibson vs. Sturge.
The court deliveied judgment this morning in this case, which gave rise to a
question of some general importance to the shipping and commercial interests.
The plaintiff is the owner of a ship on board of which the defendant shipped a
large cargo of wheat at Odessa, to be carried to and delivered at London or Liv­
erpool at a certain freight. When the cargo was delivered it was found to ex­
ceed the quantity which had been measured and shipped at Odessa by 164 quar­
ters, or thereabouts, owing, in a great measure, to bad weather during the voyage,
and the consequent admixture of water with the grain, whieh greatly swelled.
Under these circumstances the defendant refused to pay freight on more than
the number of quarters known to have been shipped at Odessa, and this action
was brought by the plaintiff to recover £44 11s. 5d. as the freight for the sur­
plus quarters. At the trial before Mr. Baron Martin a verdict passed for the
plaintiff under his lordship’s direction, subject to a motion to enter a verdict for
the defendant; and a rule to that effect having been subsequently obtained in
Easter Term last, the same came on for argument recently, when the court took
time to consider its judgment. The learned Barons who heard the argument,
not being able to come to an unanimous opinion on the point, each now deliv­
ered his individual judgment.
Mr. Baron M a r t i n having stated the facts and the point raised, expressed his
opinion to be in favor o f the plaintiff. To hold, as the rest of the court were
inclined to do, that the claim for freight must be regulated by the quantity of
cargo shipped at the port of departure, and not by that delivered at the port of
arrival, would in his opinion, lead to the greatest possible inconvenience. It
would in many cases lead to the delay of payment of freight until the exact
measurement could be ascertained from places even more distant than Odessa.
It had been said that to allow the claim for freight to be regulated by the quan­
tity of cargo delivered on arrival would open the door to frauds. He did not
see the force of that argument, for with regard to any such supposed incentive
to fraud collusion between the master and owner, the law would be open to the
consignee, who could easily punish them for tampering with the bulk fraudu­
lently, with the intention of increasing the claim for freight. The chief objec­
tion to the law now about to be laid down by the majority of the court was the
great amount of inconvenience to which the view entertained by the rest of the
court would necessarily lead. He was, therefore, of opinion that the plaintiff
was entitled to recover, and that the rule ought to be discharged.
The C h ie f B a r o n , Mr. Baron A l d e r s o n , and Mr. B a r o n P l a t t , were all of
opinion that the rule ought to be made absolute. They thought that the plain­
tiff was not entitled to recover freight for any excess of quantity beyond the
measurement at Odessa, the port of delivery. That quantity seemed to have
increased during the voyage—from what cause was not accurately ascertained ;
but such was the fact. Now, a ship-owner had no right to freight except for
carrying cargo from the port of shipment to that of delivery. Here the excess
might only have been carried a few miles or days, as the swelling might have
taken place at any point in the voyage. This claim could not be ruled on the
terms of the bill of lading, nor could it be supported on general principles of
law. The jury had found that the bulk was increased on the voyage, and, as
that increase damaged the consignee, it was repugnant to justice that he should




714

Journal o f M ercantile Law .

pay freight for the excess. In the case o f a cargo o f sponge, to he paid by
weight, it would be unjust not to allow the consignee to squeeze out the water
which it might have imbibed during the voyage before the freight was calculated.
Here the exact measure o f the bulk shipped was ascertained, and all the excess
must have been water; and, though it might sometimes be difficult to separate
the two, yet the court could not exclude the truth where it was accessible, nor
reject it in all cases because it was not accessible in some. It was said that this
view would lead to inconvenience; but, on the other hand, the inconvenience
might be great, and dangerous, indeed, if the ship-owner were to have the power
o f increasing his freight by damaging the cargo. It was for better to make a
man’s duty and interest concur than to pursue the opposite course; and for these
reasons they were of opinion that the plaintiff could not recover, and, conse­
quently, that the rule should be made absolute.
Rule absolute accordingly.
LIABILITIES OF HOTEL-KEEPERS FOR PROPERTY LEFT FOR SAFE KEEPING.

In Superior Court (San Francisco, January 22, 1855,) before Judge SmithJohn A. Davis vs. John Ross and John Cox.
It was averred that the defendants were innkeepers under the name o f Ross
& Cox, and that while stopping at their hotel in the city as a guest, one James
A. Short had deposited with them for safe keeping $595 of coupons o f the Com­
missioners of the Funded Debt, which became lost. The action was to recover,
and brought in the name of the assignee. It had been held on demurrer that
the assignment was good, the action having been commenced before the amend­
ment to the Practice Act had gone into effect,
It appeared in evidence that Dr. Short had left a package of coupons at the
Franklin Hotel, which the defendants keep; he did not call upon the defendants,
but left it with the clerk; it also appeared that he had not stated what was the
amount of its contents, or that they were valuable; but the package was marked
“ $590 of coupons.”
The court charged the jury on the feasibility of the defendants. The general
law relating to innkeepers was, that they were to be held to a strict accountabil­
ity. This was for the general good. Consequently, whatever property o f the
guest was placed in the care of the innkeeper, or his bookkeeper or agent, was
a sacred trust, and the innkeeper was strictly responsible for it. But there was
danger on the other side of imposition; the guest might easily charge losses
which he had never sustained and which it would be difficult to dispose. It was
the duty of the jury in such eases to strietly investigate the reality of the loss.
The jury to find against the defendants must be fully satisfied that the deposit
was made.
The jury found for the plaintiff. The court then discharged the jury for the
term.
CANALS AND MILLS— RIGHT TO USE W ATER.

A canal company has been empowered under an act of the British Parliament
which expressly provides that the occupiers o f premises within a certain dis­
tance should be entitled to take water from the canal for the purpose of con­
densing steam only. A mill-owner had, however, taken and used the water for
generating as well as for condensing steam, without any interference, by law,
on the part of the company. After this had gone on for a number o f years,
another mill was built by the defendant, and within four years from the building
of the second mill an action was instituted to compel defendant to abstain from
using the water of the canal for any purpose other than that of condensing
steam.
It was held by the court, that with respect to the first mill, the long-continued
acquiescence of the canal company barred the suit; but as respected the second
mill, judgment was given in favor of the company. (Rochdale Canal Company
vs. King, 22 L. T. Rep. 73.)




Journal o f M ercantile Law .

'715

INJUNCTION IN RELATION TO TRADES AND EMPLOYMENTS.

In Superior Court (San Francisco, January 24, 1855,) before Judge Shattuck. William Horn vs. Thomas Fleming. On motion to dissolve injunction,
his Honor Judge Shattuck delivered the following opinion, which discloses the
facts:—
It seems there are two original contracts between the plaintiff and defendant
relative to the use of a cracker machine, the plaintiff’s contract forbidding the
use by defendant, and others through him within this State, and that retained
by the defendant only restraining him personally and within the city of San
Francisco. The question for the purposes of the motion is— which is the true
onel The defendant in his answer denies the validity of the contract set forth
by the plaintiff; but he, in opposing this motion to dissolve, has supported his
complaint by the subscribing witness to the contract, and the repeated acknowl­
edgments of the defendant. It must, therefore, for the present be considered
as the true one.
2.
It is insisted by the defendant that the contract, if true, would be illegal,
as restricting trade. Mr. Justice Story on the point says: “ And how the known
and established distinction is between such contracts and bargains as are in gen­
eral restraint of trade, and such as are in restraint of it only as to particular
places or persons. The latter, if founded on a good and valuable consideration,
are valid; the former are universally prohibited.” According to this rule, the
contract in question would not be ponsidered as in restraint of trade, nor against
the policy of the law. As this is the only point in the case, the injunction must
stand or fall with the contract, and remain until the truth of the plaintiff’s inden­
ture can be established. The motion to dissolve is denied.
LIABILITY OF MOIST WOOL TO INCREASED DUTY— IMPORTANT TO IMPORTERS.

In the United States District Court, before the Hon. Judge Betts.
United States vs. Pierre Choteau and others.

The

This was a suit to recover duty upon the alleged weight of a quantity of wool
imported by the defendants. The custom-house weighers made returns show­
ing an excess over the weights specified in the invoice, which would amount to
about $300. Mr. Joachimsen, Assistant United States Attorney, produced wit­
nesses to prove that the weight of the wool on its arrival here exceeded that
specified in th.e invoice.
Messrs. Porter and Sanford, for the defendants, produced evidence to show
that wool, by absorbing moisture while at sea, becomes heavier from one to five
per cent. That the wool in question was weighed in England, and the weigh­
ers gave the weight mentioned in the invoice; that the wool was kept here in a
dry place after its arrival, and so decreased in weight that it was sold at a less
weight than that mentioned in the invoice.
The court charged the jury that although the increased weight may have ac­
crued from moisture, or any other action o f the elements—except being exposed
to or injured by sea water—the wool was liable to pay duty at this port on the
weight here.
The jury brought in a sealed verdict for plaintiff.
Mr. Joachimsen'moved for a reference to ascertain the amount o f duty to
which the wool was liable, and named Mr. Bridgham as the referee.
AUTHORITY OF MASTERS OF SHIPS TO BORROW MONEY.

The British Court of Queen’s Bench has also ruled that when it appears that
necessaries are required by the crew of a wind-bound vessel, the master is au­
thorized to borrow money on the credit of the owner, and that the latter is liable
to repayment of the same; but it was at the same time intimated by the court,
that such authority of the master, or liability on the part of the owner, could ex­
ist only under circumstances of pressing necessity.




116

Journal o f M ercantile Law .
SHIPPING OP COTTON— LIABILITY OF SHIP-OWNERS.

We find in the Liverpool Mail the report o f a case recently decided in the
Court of Queen’s Bench, at Liverpool. The principle determined is an impor­
tant one to all engaged in the shipping of cotton.
The action came before the court upon a special case for the opinion of the
judges. It was brought to recover from the defendants, as owners of the ship
Barbara, the values o f certain bales of cotton destroyed by fire while on board
the lighter in Mobile Bay. The bill of lading was signed, as usual, in Mobile,
on the receipt of the cotton by the lighter. In order to protect themselves from
the common law liability as carriers, the defendants pleaded the statute which
protects ship-owners from loss by fire on board their ships, but on demurrer to
this plea, the court held that as the fire took place in the lighter and not in the
ship, the ship-owners were not protected as to the loss by that act. The defen­
dants then pleaded a custom at Mobile, that when cotton is received on board the
lighters, as in this case, it is received on board such lighters, at the risk of the
owners of the cotton, as to the loss by accidental fire. Lord Campbell said, that
in his opinion, there was no evidence o f the custom set up by the defendants
upon which the court could rely, such custom must be proved by facts, not
mere assertions. The evidence which had been taken and was before the court,
rather went to show that the parties giving it thought that the loss wras covered
by insurance than to prove the custom. In his opinion the defendants were
liable primafacie, and had not established any exemption. The judgment would
therefore be for the plaintiffs.
Should the liability of vessels for cotton lost by fire on board of lighters, bo
settled by the above decision, it will cause much inconvenience to our merchants,
as ship-captains will hereafter refuse to sign bills of lading until the cotton is
actually on board their vessel.
MARINE ASSURANCE— PIRATICAL SEIZURE BY PASSENGERS.

In this case a policy of insurance had been effected upon a vessel engaged in
conveying Coolies from China to Peru. The assurance was against “ pirates
and thieves,” and, in fact, against all the usual perils comprehended in such in­
struments. During the voyage the Coolies rose upon the captain and murdered
him, took possession of the vessel, and steered her to the nearest land. Pecuni­
ary advances had been made upon the Coolies; the amount of these advances
(which of course was lost, inasmuch as the Coolies never arrived at their desti­
nation) had been insured by the policy, and this amount the plaintiffs sought to
recover from the insurance company, which resisted the demand, on the ground
that the seizure of the vessels by persons who were her passengers, and who
wanted to escape from her, did not come under the meaning of the risk contem­
plated by the words “ pirates and thieves” in the policy. The court disallowed
this defense, and gave judgment for the plaintiff, holding that the seizure of the
vessel by the Coolies came within the policy, and was a peril insured against,
and occasioned total loss of the advances insured.— 21 L. T., Rep. 168.
COLLISION— STEAMBOATS.

In United States District Court, New York, 1855, before Judge Hall. Sitting
in Admiralty. Oliver H. Clark vs. Steamboat Ellen.
This libel is filed by the owner of the steamboat King Philip, to recover the
damages occasioned by a collision between the two steamboats, which happened
September 14, 1853, in the East River, near the slip on the Brooklyn side of the
Catherine Ferry. The Ellen was one of the regular ferryboats at that ferry, and
was crossing from New York. The King Philip was a towboat about the har­
bor, and was bound from Grand-street to Staten Island. She had stopped just
above the ferry to take a schooner in tow, but not succeeding in obtaining the
job, she started ahead, straight down the river. The Ellen was in sight, heading
for her slip before the King Philip started. The King Philip went on until




Com mercial Chronicle and Review .

Ill

about abreast of the upper slip of the ferry, when the Ellen was discovered, and
the engine was stopped and backed, but the Ellen came into her, striking her
nearly at right angles. The engine of the Ellen was stopped and backed, but
at the last moment. The collision occurred about three or four o’clock in the
afternoon, and the tide was flood.
Held by the court, that upon the proofsthere was no proper look-out on board
the King Philip.
That it was the duty of the King Philip when she started ahead, in accord­
ance with the State law of April, 1848, to take such measures as would bring
her to the center of the river, by the most direct and shortest route which was
practicable under the circumstances, and to do so she would necessarily also
follow the general rule of navigation by porting her helm as she approached the
Ellen.
That on the evidence she was so far above the Ellen, that if she had so done
she would have passed under the Ellen’s stern.
But if she was not distant enough to have done so, as was claimed by the
libelant, a difficult duty was imposed upon her. She was at rest, and could
choose her own time for changing her position. The Ellen was in full view, and
her purpose, and destination, and speed were sufficiently known; and those in
charge of the King Philip knew, or were bound to know the capabilities of
their own vessel. They were also bound to know whether or not she could
get under way and pass under the bows of the Ellen with safety, and if she
could not, she should have remained at rest until the Ellen had so far passed
that the King Philip could pass in Bafety under her stern. (The Jamaica, 11
Log., Obs. 242.)
That the King Philip, therefore, was in fault, whatever her position was.
That it is probable also that if her engines had not been stopped, she would
have passed the slip before the Ellen reached it, and no collision would have
taken place.
That the pilot of the Ellen had a right to assume that no steamer lying at rest
at a safe distance above his track would suddenly be put in motion and run di­
rectly under his bows, so as to block the entrance into the slip, and especially
that no steamer would suddenly get under way to cross his bows, and then as
suddenly reverse her engine so as to block the entrance—and when he saw the
wheels of the King Philip in motion, he was bound to act upon the supposition
that the statute and the laws of navigation would be complied with, until a con­
trary intention was clearly manifested. He was right in relying upon the proper
navigation of the King Philip until the last moment, and then the engine was
stopped and backed and the helm ported, which was the proper course under the
circumstances.
Libel dismissed with costs.

COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW .
GENERAL REM ARKS

UPON

TH E

TRADE

OF

TH E

C O U N T R Y — T H E E F F E C T O F H IG H P R I C E S U PON C O N ­

S U M P T IO N — T H E S T A T E O F T H E C R O P S — P R O G R E S S O F R A IL R O A D E N T E R P R I S E S — F O R E I G N E X C H A N G E
— T H E BANK M OVEM ENT— TH E

SU PPL Y OF G O L D — F O R E IG N

IM P O R T S A T N E W Y O R K FO R A P R IL AND

S IN C E J A N U A R Y 1 S T , IN C L U D IN G I M P O R T S OF D R Y G O O D S — E X P O R T S F R O M N E W Y O R K F O R A P R I L A N D
SIN C E J A N U A R Y 1 S T — I M P O R T S A N D E X P O R T S F O R T E N M O N T H S OF T H E F IS C A L Y E A R — C A S H D U T I E S
R E C E IV E D

A T NEW

Y O R K , P H IL A D E L P H IA , A N D

B O S T O N — S P E C U L A T IO N S

IN G R A IN — E X P O R T S

OF

D O M E S T IC P R O D U C E — P R O S P E C T S F O R T H E F U T U R E , E T C .

T he disinclination to engage in new enterprises which was noticed last month,
is still exhibited, and business of nearly all descriptions has been contracted or
cautiously conducted. The trade in merchandise throughout the country is only
about two-thirds the average of the same season in the past three years, and




718

Com mercial Chronicle and Review .

there has been a great falling off in the consumption of both foreign and do­
mestic goods. One effect of this general curtailment has been seen in the abund­
ance of capital at the great centers of Commerce. At first the pressure was
very severe; but after the liquidation had progressed, there was a large amount
of active capital thrown out of employment, which, added to that which was
withdrawn from enterprises of doubtful character, made money very plenty.
There is now little hope of a renewal of the general activity until after some­
thing more definite is known in regard to another harvest. Our readers will re­
member that we did not join in the general panic, when some of the papers pre­
dicted a famine. W e believed that there was a sufficient supply of cereals to
feed the country until the season of in-gathering, with some to spare for export,
and the result has proved that we were not mistaken. Prices have ruled high on
the seaboard, but there has been at no time or in any place such a scarcity as to
afford room for any well-grounded apprehensions. And now that navigation by
canals has commenced, there is no one who fears for a failure in the supply.
Some are making low estimates of the stock, and predicting very high prices
during the next two months. We do not pretend to make any prophecy in re­
gard to the price, but we have no fears of a scarcity for the purposes of neces­
sary consumption. And we would warn our friends, both in town and country,
not to base their hopes o f profit in their speculative movements upon the pub­
lished estimates of supplies. We never knew a speculator who worked out his
probable profits from counting-house statistics who did not wofully fail in his
expectations. And the reason obviously is, that he is almost sure to overlook
some of the elements of the calculation. A New York merchant, who furnishes
almost the total supply of flour for a certain district in the Eastern States, esti­
mated last fall that his customers would need 13,000 bbls. of flour to carry them
to the opening of navigation this spring. His orders, however, fell off' to 4,700
bbls. He was expecting a demand by railway during the winter, but none came.
He looked for a general rush when the rivers first became navigable, but there
was little inquiry. He afterwards paid a visit to the center of his trade, and
found the merchants universally complaining of the want of demand. The fam­
ilies who ate two barrels o f wheat flour when the price" was $6, would not buy
one barrel when the price was 810, and would hatdly purchase a baking when
the rates were advanced to $12. A few of the wealthy make little change in
their domestic economy, no matter what is the price of food, although a barrel
of flour at $12 will last a little longer in almost any family than one at $6; but
with the mass of the people, the consumption decreases as the price advances,
in a ratio difficult to calculate before the experiment is tried. The supplies go­
ing forward to the seaboard are larger than expected, and with the diminished
consumption will be more than sufficient for the wants of buyers. If the accu­
mulation should greatly reduce the price, the consumption will increase, so that
the one will regulate the other, the laws of nature being better founded both in
reason and justice than most human enactments.
Upon the next crop depends, in a degree almost beyond precedent, the trade
o f the coming year. The ground sown or planted with breadstuffs is greater
than ever before known in the history of the world. The winter wheat looks
well in nearly all parts of the country, and in the South-west is almost beyond
the reach of drought. In the Middle and North-western States, and in the




Com mercial Chronicle and Review .

719

Southern Atlantic States, the quantity of the final in-gathering will he governed
by the weather for the next month. Some complaints have been made of
drought, but there is no reason to apprehend any general damage to the crop.
The railroad enterprises yet unfinished, especially those not provided with
most of the needed funds before the late commercial embarrassments, drag their
slow lengths along, and give no easy task to their financial managers. By ex­
ertions, more or less desperate, the greater part will finally succeed in complet­
ing their task, but the old animation in this class of speculations cannot be re­
vived for some years to come.
There is very little of what is called “ outside ” speculation going on in stocks
of any description. The brokers have been doing a little business on their own
account, and the “ longs ” and “ shorts ” have their petty contests, but no per­
manent upward movement in prices can be secured until capitalists are once
more tempted into the mania of stock dealing.
Foreign exchange has been unusually high throughout the month, and con­
sidering the large shipments of coin, many have been surprised at the continued
scarcity. There can be no question but what the contraction of business has
not lessened the demand for exchange in the same proportion. The desire for a
closer liquidation has, in many cases, increased the payments, and this will con­
tinue until many old accounts are settled. The speculative movement in cotton
which has been going on both in the cotton districts and the more northern mar­
kets, has also prevented the accumulation of exchange, by keeping the prices
above export orders, and centering the stock in the hands of speculators instead
of shippers. This will not last much longer, when exchange will be made again
very rapidly.
The bank movement has not exhibited any striking changes since our last.
The supply of specie at the great commercial centers has not decreased in spite
of the continued export. The following will show the total of the weekly aver­
ages at New York since the opening of the year:—
W EEKLY

AVERAGES N EW

Date.

Capital.

Loan9 and
Discounts.

Jan. 6, 1855
Jan. 13........
Jan. 20.........
Jan. 27.........
Feb. 3.........
Feb. 10.........
Feb. 17.........
Feb. 24.........
March 3 ___
March 10 . . .
March 1 7 . . .
March 24 . . .
March 31 . . .
April 7 ..
April 14 . . .
April 21 . . .
April 28___
May 5 . . . .
May 1 2 ___
May 1 9 ___

48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
48,000,000
47,683,415
47,855,665
47,855,665
47,855,665
47,855,665
47,855,665
47.855,665
47,855,665

82,244,706
83,976,081
85,447,998
86,654,657
88,145,697
89,862,170
90,850,031
91,590,504
92,386,125
92,331,789
92,447,345
93,050,773
93,634,041
94,499,394
94,140,899
93,632,893
92,505,951
93,093,243
91,642,498
91,675,500

YORK

C IT Y

Specie.

13,596,963
15,488,525
16,372,127
16,697,260
17,489,196
17,124,391
17,339,085
16,370,875
16,531,279
16,870,669
16,933,932
16,602,729
16,018,105
14,968,004
14,890,979
14,355,041
14,282,424
14,325,050
14,585,626
15,225,056

BANKS.

Circulation.

7,049,982
6,686,461
6,681.355
6,739,823
7,000,766
6,969,111
6,941,606
6,963,562
7,106,710
7,131,998
7,061,018
7,452,231
7,337,633
7,771,534
7,523,528
7,510,124
7,610,985
8,087,609
7,804,977
7,638,630

Deposits.

64,982,158
67,803,398
69,647,618
20,136.618
72,923,317
73,794,342
75,193,636
74,544,721
75,958,344
76,259,484
76,524,227
76,289,923
75,600,186
77,313,908
77,282,242
75,744,921
76,219,951
78,214,169
76,850,592
77,351,218

W e also annex a statement of the comparative footings of the Boston banks,
continued from our last:—




•72 0

Com m ercial Chronicle and R eview .
April 23.

Capital.............................................. $32,598,142
Loans and discounts....................... 52,677,666
Specie...............................................
3,369,913
8,442,511
Due from other banks....................
Due to other banks.......................
6,677,700
D eposits.......................................... 15,563,381
Circulation......................................
7,317,795

April 30.

May 7.

May 14.

$32,644,917 $32,710,000 $32,710,000
52,405,113 52,691,058 52,423,551
3,132,596
3,021,629
3,071,361
8,030,995
8,222,410 8,132,618
6,269,782
6,006,853 5,954,757
15,000,887 15,141,185 14,917,190
7,272,050
7,616,105 7,454,895

The supply o f gold from California, which was interrupted by the failures
there already noticed, is now com ing forward more freely, but the channels are
not yet fully established, and the returning miners still bring large parcels in
their belts and pockets. A large portion o f the arrivals are now brought in bars
or private coins, and being wanted for export, are not deposited either at the
Assay Office in New York or at any o f the Mints, so that the total can only be
estimated. The follow ing will show the deposits at the New Y ork Assay Office
during the month o f A p ril:—
D E P O S IT S A T T H E A S S A Y O F F IC E , N E W Y O R K , F O R T H E M O N T H E N D I N G A P R I L

Gold.
Foreign coins..................................... .
Foreign bullion.................................
Domestic bullion.................................

Silver.
$3,200
3,350
7,820

30, 1855.
Total.
$10,200
31,850
1,043,820

Total deposits.......................
Total deposits payable in bars.............................................
Total deposits payable in coins............................................

$14,370
$1,085,370
$997,000
88,370
-------- - $1,085,370 00
Gold bars stam ped.....................................................................................
846,393 79
Transmitted to the United States Mint at Philadelphia for coinage..
5,450 59
Included in the deposits were $32,000 in gold bars from the California Branch

Mint. The operations at the Philadelphia Mint for the month o f April show
gold deposits to the amount o f $294,300; silver, $220,200; making a total o f
$514,500. The coinage was in gold $463,607 ; in silver, $165,000 ; and in cop ­
per, $282 5 0 ; making a total o f $628,889 50.
The imports from foreign ports continue to show a decline far greater than
was anticipated. The total landed at New York during the month o f April was
$7,476,423 less than for April o f last year, $6,391,246 less than for April, 1853,
and $1,859,254 less than for the same month o f 1852, as will appear from the
follow ing com parison:—
F O R E IG N IM P O R T S AT N E W

YORK

FOR

A P R IL .

1852.

Entered for consumption...............
Entered for warehousing...............
Free goods........................................
Specie and bullion.........................

m i
1854.
1855.
$8,410,448 $11,746,904 $11,978,281 $6,343,512
732,422
2,236,423
2,516,996
1,422,006
1,496,449
1,342,467
2,018,091
1,266,998
327,400
172,917
70,520
74,949

Total entered at the p o r t.............. $10,966,719 $15,498,711 $16,583,888
Withdrawn from warehouse.........
1,255,429
1,229,708
1,151,991

$9,107,465
1,814,318

T he receipts o f free goods during the month were far less than for last year,
and were also behind the corresponding total in either o f the previous years
named in the comparison.

The total decline for the month at this port, where

over two-thirds o f the foreign imports o f the country are landed, is over 45 per
cent, as compared with the same month o f last year. This leaves the total im­
ports since January 1st at this port, $19,536,530 less than for the corresponding




721

C om m ercial Chronicle and R eview .

four months o f last year, $21,527,598 less than for the same time in 1853; and
only $491,536 above the total for the same period o f 1852, as shown in the an­
nexed summary:—
F O R E IG N IM P O R T S AT

NEW

YORK

FOR

FO U R M ONTH S FR O M JA N U A R Y

m

1858.

1854.

1ST.

1855.

Entered for consumption ........... $33,321,735 $52,987,576 $49,967,646 $29,794,726
Entered for warehousing..............
3,933,918
5,906,277
7,569,140 8,779,687
Free goods .....................................
5,492,792
6,364,459
5,224,287 5,417,671
Specie and bullion ........................
1,067,850
577,117
1,083,288
315,747
Total entered at the port . . . $43,816,295 $65,835,429 $63,844,361 $44,307,831
Withdrawn from warehouse.
6,234,927
4,293,708
7,696,720
9,153,616
Both the entries and withdrawals in warehouse have increased, but the latter
shows the greatest difference. The importation o f dry goods (contained in the
above) shows a greater comparative decrease than the receipts o f general mer­
chandise. The total imports o f this class for April are $3,690,636 less than for
April, 1854; $2,616,664 less than for April, 1853; and $366,294 less than the
small total for April, 1852.
This falling o ff has extended to every department
o f goods, and is even seen in the total entered for warehousing:—
IM P O R T S O F F O R E I G N D R Y G O O D S A T N E W Y O R K IN A P R I L .
E N T E R E I ►F O R

C O N S U M P T IO N .

1851.

1851.

1854.

1855.

$762,030
768,902
999,303
604,499
291,033

$1,421,906
921,310
2,104,615
609,780
522,563

$1,696,666
1,098,746
2,204.071
666,177
467,340

$822,291
429,653
1,318,191
378,495
270,345

Total entered for consumption . $3,425,767

$5,580,174

$6,133,000 $3,218,976

Manufactures o f w o o l........................
Manufactures of cotton .....................
Manufactures of s ilk ..........................
Manufactures of f la x .........................
Miscellaneous dry goods...................

W IT H D R A W N

FROM

W AREH O U SE.

1851

1851.

1854.

1855.

Manufactures of w o o l.......................
Manufactures o f co tto n ...................
Manufactures o f s ilk .........................
Manufactures o f f la x .......................
Miscellaneous dry g o o d s .................

$149,562
144,867
155,249
75,329
56,554

$96,484
100,071
100,671
16,228
49,024

$157,963
167,010
148,412
58,738
32,943

$146,822
228,186
197,958
105,144
75,298

T o t a l............................................
Add entered for consumption...........

$581,561
3,425,767

$362,478
5,580,174

$565,066
6,133,000

$753,408
3,218,975

Total thrown on the m arket. . . $4,007,328

$5,942,652

ENTERED

$6,698,066 $3,972,383

F O R W A R E H O U S IN G .

1851

1S54.

1855.

Manufactures o f w o o l.......................
Manufactures of co tto n .....................
Manufactures of s ilk ..........................
Manufactures of flax...........................
Miscellaneous dry g o o d s...................

$121,917
80,924
203,334
48,191
45,301

$213,942
120,166
144,313
56,320
60,929

$394,431
235,331
365,506
85,597
35,951

$57,863
59,960
103,618
90,505
28,259

Total............................................
Add entered for consumption..........

$499,707
3,425,767

$595,670
5,580,174

$1,116,816
6,133,000

$340,205
3,218,975

Total entered at the p o r t ......... $3,925,474
46
VOL. XXXII.----NO. VI.

$6,175,844




1853.

$7,249,816 $3,559,180

C om m ercial C hronicle and R eview .

722

This leaves the total imports o f dry good s for the four months, since January
1st, $14,420,54Tiess than for the same time o f last year; $13,664,780 less than
for the same in 1853; and $2,646,078 less than for the same time in 1852, as
shown in the annexed statement:—
I M P O R T S O F F O R E IG N

DRY

GO O D S A T T H E

T O R T OF N E W Y O R K

JA N U A R Y
ENTERED

FOR

C O N S U M PTIO N .

1858.
Manufactures o f w o o l ...................
Manufactures of cotton...................
Manufactures o f silk.......................
Manufactures of flax.......................
Miscellaneous dry goods................

F O R FO U R M ONTH S, F R O M

1ST.

1853.

$4,191,564
4,017,916
7,638,189
2,379,782
1,611,726

$7,468,666
6,338,482
11,894,953
3,441,942
2,298,223

1854.

1855.

$6,602,680 $3,859,513
7,209,432 3,035,688
11,123,052 5,716,694
3,076,409 1,763,077
2,409,553 1,752,746

T o ta l............................................ $19,839,177 $31,442,266 $30,421,126 $16,127,618
W IT H D R A W N

FROM

W AREH O U SE.

1855.

1854.

1852.

1853.

Manufactures of w o o l...................
Manufactures of co tton .................
Manufactures of silk .....................
Manufactures of flax.......................
Miscellaneous dry goods................

$709,026
966,328
1,024,933
525,794
192,619

$415,224
525,591
592,479
107,840
192,181

$1,001,620
1,416,409
1,208,485
472,721
178,165

$958,540
1,534,555
1,357,366
665,992
448,739

Total withdrawn.......................
Add entered for consumption . . .

$3,418,700
19,839,177

$1,833,295
31,442,266

$4,277,400
30,421,126

$4,965,192
16,127,618

Total thrown upon the market. $23,257,877 $33,275,561 $34,698,526 $21,092,810
ENTERED

FOR

W A R E H O U S IN G .

1854.

1855.

1852.

1851

Manufactures of w ool....................
Manufactures of co tto n .................
Manufactures of s ilk ......................
Manufactures of flax.......................
Miscellaneous dry g o o d s ...............

$573,699
496,554
1,323,201
161,192
168,150

$588,284
541,287
719,084
111,554
178,200

$1,060,313
1,184,396
1,207,785
355,856
106,960

$682,347
880,710
1,245,100
568,037
412,083

Total........................................
A dd entered for consum ption... .

$2,722,796
19,889,177

$2,138,409
31,422,266

$8,915,310
30,421,126

$3,788,277
16,127,618

Total entered at the p o r t ......... $22,561,973 $33,580,675 $34,336,436 $19,915,895
T he exports have also declined, but only for a very trifling amount.

The

total from N ew 'Y ork to foreign ports for the month o f April, exclusive o f specie,
is only $231,201 less than for April, 1854; $1,097,255 less than for April,
1853; and $47,695 more than for April, 1852.

W e annex a comparative sum­

mary1 ncluding also the shipments o f co in :—
EXPORTS

FROM

NEW

Y O R K TO F O R E IG N P O R T S F O R TH E M ONTH OF

A P R IL .

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

Domestic produce...........................
Foreign merchandise (free)...........
Foreign merchandise (dutiable)...
S p e cie ..............................................

$4,244,044
67,719
353,262
200,266

$5,178,471
208,708
422,796
767,055

$4,578,693
125,717
239,511
3,474,525

$4,349,944
100,092
262,684
3,313,447

Total e x p o rts..............................
Total, exclusive o f specie..........

$4,865,291
4,665,025

$6,577,030
5,809,975

$8,418,446
4,943,921

$8,026,167
4,712,720




C om m ercial C hronicle and R eview .

72S

'"'T h is leaves the total exports from that port since January 1st, exclusive o f
specie, only $1,268,819 less than for the corresponding period o f last year; and
$3,812,638 greater than for the same time in 1853; and $5,505,826 greater than
for the same time in 1852:—
EXPORTS FROM

NEW YORK

TO F O R E IG N

PORTS F O R

1851

FOUR

M ONTHS FRO M

JA N U ART 1ST.

1851.

1851

1865 .

Domestic produce........................... 014,829,528 016,199,107 020,846,630 017,308,828
Foreign merchandise (free)...........
288,901
344,211
451,866
2,311,621
Foreign merchandise (dutiable)..
1,391,008
1,159,307
1,485,586
1,894,814
Specie...............................................
7,232,761
3,228,233
7,366,058 7,892,250
Total exp orts............................. 023,242,198 020,930,858 $30,150,140 $29,407,513
Total, exclusive of s p e c ie ......... 16,009,437 17,702,625 22,784,082 21,515,263
A s w e are now approaching the close o f the fiscal year, we have carefully com­
piled a statement o f the total foreign imports and exports since the commence­
ment o f the year— that is, from the 1st o f July:—
F O R E IG N I M P O R T S A N D E X P O R T S

AT N E W

YORK

FOR

TEN

M O N T H S , E N D IN G

Exports o f specie. Total exports.

A P R IL

SOTH.

Total imports.

1855.........................................................
1S54.........................................................

$28,875,789
25,464,432

$80,283,799
87,224,409

$130,866,928
160,105,490

Difference............................................

$3,411,357

$6,940,710

$29,239,562

T he specie exports have increased $3,411,357; the total exports have de­
creased $6,940,710; while the total imports have decreased $29,239,562.

The

falling o ff in the imports is nearly 20 per cent, while the decrease in the exports
is less than 8 per cent.
Notwithstanding the decrease in the imports, the cash revenue is sufficient for
the wants of the government, while the Treasury has an available balance o f
about $20,000,000.
CASH

D U T IE S R E C E IV E D

AT N E W

YORK

1851
January......................
February.....................
March..........................

F O R F O U R M O N TH S , F R O M J A N U A R Y

1851

1854.

$3,311,137 37
3,878,395 47
3,935,967 63

1855.

$4,379,285 32
2,867,294 50
3,627,119 49

$2,560,038 32
2,665,164 94
2,363,084 95

$7,617,887 72 $11,125,500 47 $10,873,699 31
2,447,634 07
3,348,252 14
3,168,490 21

$7,588,288 21
1,994,710 10

Total 4 months.. $10,065 521 79 $14,473,752 61 $14,042,189 62

$9,582,998 31

Total 3 months..
A pril.........................

$2,600,662 64
2,286,955 47
2,730,369 61

1ST.

T he follow ing will show the comparative receipts for duties at each o f the
ports named, since January 1st:—
R E C E IP T S

FOR

D U T IE S .

,-------------------BO STO N .--------------------,

First quarter..............................
A pril............................................
Total from January 1 s t ___




,--------- P H I L A D E L P H IA .----------,

1854.

1855.

1854.

1855.

$2,343 504
680,9U8

$1,998,638
624,818

$1,380,724
379,472

$958,711
228,983

$3,024,412

$2,623,456

$1,760,196 $1,187,694

724

C om m ercial Chronicle and R eview .

It will be seen that the revenue shows a decrease at each o f the three prin­
cipal Northern ports.
There was toward the close o f the month an increased demand for corn for
export to Liverpool, but the limited stock at the seaboard prevented heavy ship­
ments. Some purchases were made at New York at $1 14 a $1 17 for yellow
Southern, the freight to Liverpool having been engaged at 2 fd . a 3fd. per
bushel. An active speculative demand for bread-stuffs, but especially for Indian
corn, has been noticed for several weeks.
Throughout the interior capitalists
have bought up the supplies where they could obtain them, paying in the neigh­
borhood o f Chicago 50 cents per bushel, and a higher rate the nearer the supply
was to market.

A great deal o f this corn thus bought during the winter has

been now resold on the spot at a large advance.

A t Chicago, one or two hun­

dred thousand bushels were sold out at 70 cents, making a gain o f 20 cents per
bushel.
A t New York large contracts have been made for future delivery— a few at
the commencement as low as 90c. a 92ic. for W estern mixed, but most at about
$1 00 for June and July, and $1 02 a $1 05 for July and August.
tracts will keep the markets unsettled throughout the summer.

These con­
W e annex a

comparative summary o f the exports o f certain leading articles o f domestic pro­
duce from New York to foreign ports from January 1st to May 18th :—
EXPORTS

OF

C E R T A IN

A R T IC L E S
PORTS

OF

1851.
Ashes— p o ts .. . .bbls.
pearls...........
Beeswax..................lbs.

D O M E S T IC

FROM JA N U A R Y

PRODUCE

FROM

1 S T TO M A Y

1855.

NEW

YORK

TO

F O R E IG N

1 8 t H I-----

1854.

1855.

1,944
241
79,663

3,260 Naval stores.. . .bbls. 244,631 256,135
797 Oils— w h a le.. . .galls.
87,566
56,662
68,986
sperm .............. 179,276 203,275
la r d .................
12,650
26,042
Breadstuff's—
lin seed............
1,540
2,784
Wheat flo u r., bbls.
613,377 169,287
Eye flo u r...............
7,855
10,763 Provisions—
Corn meal...............
33,726
20,609
Pork............... bbls.
33,841
89,579
29,803
W h e a t...........bush. 1,065,016
Beef.........................
31,320
38,702
E y e ......................... 315,158
5,139
Cut meats........lbs.8,359,855 12,379,153
Oats .......................
11,503
12,111
B u tte r.................... 976,356 256,583
C orn ....................... 1,916,380 1,323,796
Cheese..................... 683,916 888,447
Candles— mold-boxes
22,154 22,644
Lard........................ 6,581,365 4,479,162
2,740
5,623 R ic e ......................tres
13,656
6,969
sperm.........
C oal........................tons
13,260
2,749 Tallow................... lbs. 1,483,527 1,084,079
15,943
16,465
Cotton...................bales 124,355
98,980 Tobacco, crude. . pkgs
H a y ..............................
1,548
2,449 Do., manufactured.lbs. 1,327,627 1,680,595
H o p s ...........................
404
4,403 W halebone................ 474,002 361,842
T he above shows a general decline in the exports o f every article o f breadstuffs, not because the markets to which we usually ship would not welcome
our produce, but because we have had little to spare. The exports o f cotton at
this port since January 1st also show a decline, as compared with last year; but
the total exports from all the ports have increased.

In provisions, it will be

seen that a marked improvement has taken place in the shipments, especially in
pork, the clearances o f which are nearly three times as large as for the corres­
ponding period o f last year.
It is now evident that if the war in Europe continues, there must be a large
demand for American produce.




W e do not look for the continuance o f present

C om m ercial Chronicle an d R eview .

125

rates in breadstuff's, but at a far less price the farmer would be well remunerated
for his toil. The railroads throughout the W est are no longer monopolizing the
labor, and cultivators o f the soil will not be driven to such straits for harvest
hands, even if all their fields should yield abundantly. T o o much labor has been
diverted from the soil during the last two or three years ; the times will once
more compel a return to this employment, and the whole country will reap the
benefit o f the change.
NEW YORK COTTON MARKET FOR THE MONTH ENDING MAY 18.
PREPARED

FOR T H E

M B R C IIA N T s’ M A G A Z IN E B Y U H L H O R N &

F R E D E R I C K S !) ! * , B R O K E R S , N E W Y O R K .

Our last monthly report closed April 20th, since which a speculative demand has
existed, and prices have advanced one cent to one cent and a quarter per pound on
all grades. The transactions have been extensive, and the rapid advance during the
last two weeks o f the month gave a degree of animation to our market which our
small stock would otherwise have failed to impart. Our own spinners continue to
purchase only for their immediate wants, the improvement in the manufactured
article barely meeting the increased cost of the raw material, and but for the difficulty
in starting anew their works, many of our best mills would cease to operate for the
present.
Not so much to her vast machinery, nor to her cheap motive power, neither to her
superabundant population, nor her nearness to a market— to neither of these is Eng­
land so indebted to her supremacy in manufacturing over the United States, as to her
system o f credits, which is less than one-half what the purchaser on this side obtains
from the American spinner. Our own manufacturers are too much isolated; there is
a great want of congeniality amongst them, or of any expression of opinion by which
their condition could be improved. Why not come to some resolution, and form your
Cloth Ball, and have it open at stated days, either in New York, Boston, or Provb
dence ? By this means you would be able to shorten your credits, and impart to the
manufacturing interests of the country that standing and position which its increasing
responsibility demands. Give England the advantages which America possesses as
regards her capabilities for manufacturing and the production of the cotton crop, and
not a single pound would the United States obtain unless manufactured in part or in
whole.
Up to the latest accounts from England, we find that notwithstanding that country
is engaged in a war the continuation of which is likely to embroil other nations, and
the termination of which is not seen by the throne itself, still the consumption of cot­
ton, even at advancing prices, is beyond that of any former period, and that, too, with­
out any apparent increase in the manufactured stock on hand. The cotton lords of
Manchester and Bolton scan with a closer scrutiny the reports of the American cotton
market than the dispatches from the ill-fated expedition to the Crimea, and see in our
present deficiency in receipts, a greater cause for complaint than the non-success of
their armies abroad.
The business in cotton during the past month, although of a highly speculative char­
acter, is not without some support from other causes. A continued and extensive con­
sumption abroad, and a decrease in receipts as compared with last year of 200,000 bales,
with low rivers without much prospect of a rise, and a backward season for the new
crop, are of themselves sufficient to cause the advance, when aided, too, by an easy
money market. The trade in transitu cottons has been large, and with many has be­
come the favorite mode of purchasing. This branch of the business is now almost
over for this season, and as the complaints against the system have been found to be




726

C om m ercial Chronicle and R eview .

manageable, it 13 not unlikely that a continuation of this portion of the trade may be
anticipated on more extensive grounds and greater facilities at the commencement of
a new season.
The transactions for the week ending April 27th, were 11,000 bales ; the market
was fc . a fc . per lb. better under the foreign advices to hand per Nashville. Our own
spinners took about 3,000 bales, and 5,000 bales were reported sold in transitu. The
market closed with free offerings on the part of holders at—
P R IC E S

ADOPTED

A P R IL

27th

FOR

THE

F O L L O W IN G

Upland.

Florida.

Ordinary................................................
Middling.................................................
Middling fa ir .......................................
Fair........................................................

8
9f
lO f
10f

Q U A L IT IE S I-----

Mobile. N. O. & Texas.

8
9f
lO f
lO f

8f
9f
lO f
Hi

8f
9f
Ilf
Ilf

For the week ending May 4th, an advance equal to the week previous took place
on sales of 15,000 bales. Holders were firm in their pretensions, being aided by tele­
graphic advices from the South of short receipts and an advancing tendency in prices.
The operations of the week were mostly for export, the market closing firm at—
P R IC E S

ADOPTED

MAY

4TH

FOR

TH E

F O L L O W IN G

Q U A L IT IE S I-----

Upland.

Florida.

Mobile.

N. O. & Texas.

8f
9f
lO f
10f

8f
9f
10f
11

8f
9f
10f
Ilf

8f
lO f
I lf
Ilf

O rdinary............................................
Middling............................................
Middling fair.....................................
F a ir....................................................

The market for the week ending May 11th, was one of excitement and speculation ;
the accounts from the South spoke discouragingly of the growing crop, and the drouth
was seen in the almost unprecedented low stage of the rivers. The sales were esti­
mated at 20,000 bales, and the advance f c. a fc. per lb.; even at this improvement
the disposition to sell was moderate, and the conviction seemed mutual on the part o f
both buyers aud sellers, that under all circumstances, prices were not only likely to be
maintained, but considerably augmented under the enormous consumption abroad and
decreasing receipts at home. The market closed firm at—
P R IC E S A D O P T E D

MAY

llT H

FOR

TH E

F O L L O W IN G

Upland.

O rdinary...........................................
Middling............................................
Middling f a i r ....................................
F a ir....................................................

8f
lO f
11
I lf

Q U A L IT IE S I-----

Florida.

Mobile.

8f
10f
Ilf
Ilf

N. O. & Texas.

8f
lO f
I lf
12

9
lO f
Ilf
12f

The speculative inquiry continued during the week ending May 18th, at a still
further advance of fc. a f c. per lb. on sales of 15,000 bales. The inquiry for export
was limited for cotton on the spot, and parcels in transitu were in better request.
The home trade confined their purchases to their present necessities ; they are, as a
general thing, short of stock, and must aid by their daily transactions to sustain
our market, even in the absence of a shipping demand. Our market closed with an
upward tendency at—
P R IC E S A D O P T E D M A Y

18tH

FOR

T H E F O L L O W IN G

Upland.

Ordinary........................... .................
Middling........................... .................
Middling f a ir ................... .................
F a ir ..................................




8J
10f
Hf

Q U A L I T I E S :-----

Florida.
9
10f

Ilf
12f

M obile. N. O. & Texas.
91
n
10f
lO f
12
n f
12f
12f

121

C om m ercial Statistics.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.
TONNAGE OF THE COLLECTION DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES,
ST A T E M E N T E X H IB IT IN G A CO N D E N SE D V I E W O f T H E T O N N A G E O F T H E S E V E R A L D IS T R IC T S
O F T H E U N IT E D S TATES O N T H E 3 0 T H O F JU N E , 1 8 5 4 .

Districts.
Passamaquoddy, Maine..........
Machias
“ .........
Frenchman’s Bay “ .........
Penobscot
“ .........
Belfast
“
.........
Bangor
“ .........
W aldoborough
“ .........
Wiscasset
“
Bath
“ .........
Portland
“
.........
Saco
“ .........
Kennebunk
“
.........
York
“ .........
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Burlington, V erm on t.............
Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Ipswich
“
Gloucester
“
Salem
“
Beverly
“
Marblehead
“
Boston
“
Plymouth
“
Fall River
“
New Bedford
“
Barnstable
“
Edgartown
“
Nantucket
“
Providence, Rhode Island... .
Bristol
Newport
“
Middletown, Connecticut........
New London
“
....
Stonington
“
...,
New Haven
“
....
Fairfield
“
.. . .
Qhamplain, New Y ork...........
Sackett’s Harbor “
...........
Oswego
“
...........
Niagara
“
...........
Genesee
“
...........
Oswegatchie
“
...........
Buffalo Creek
“
...........
Sag Harbor
“
...........
Greenport
“
...........
New York
“
...........
Cape Vincent
“
...........
Cold Spring
“
...........
Perth Amboy, New Jersey...
Bridgetown
“
..
Burlington
“
Camden
“




Registered.
Tons. Ooths.

13/289
4,356
3,890
4,884
17,504
15,687
53,824
6,063
124,922
90,234
2,531
14,695

49
08 .
01
53
31
80
87
87
68
21
94
23

19,917 50
27,986 26
2,805 56
20,300 86
437,323 66
2,210 06
3,951 94
156,568 20
7,514 55
5,725 36
22,335 90
10,254 21
12,642 '70
7,462 46
794 50
25,324 43
14,109 31
7,220 25
2,118 08

8,713 58
3,812 54
754,490 40
2,924 19

Enrolled
and licensed.
Tons. 95ths.

Total
each district.
Tons. 95ths.

17,394
23,329
39,979
40,107
38,394
23,751
68,910
73,628
29,578
33,438
2,461
3,405
1,835
8,920
7,374
9,814
265
29,764
10,228
4,035
6,467
58,555
S,399
13,405
9,342
74,442
2,245
2,374
9,151
1,960
4,439
15,366
17,095
9,972
13,125
24,192
1,342
7,570
24,365
868

30,683
27,685
41,869
44,991
55,899
39,438
122,735
79,692
154,501
123,672
4,993
18,100
1,835
28,838
7,374
37,810
265
32,570
30,528
4,035
6,467
495,879
10,609
17,357
165,910
81,957
7,971
24,710
19,405
14,603
11,902
16,161
42,419
24,081
20,346
26,310
1,342
7,570
24,365
868

3,749
82,678
4,288
6,442
508,307
4,801
675
20,229
18,622
13,219
17,975

14
32
87
41
68
13
88
26
54
27
85
50
02
62
84
25
60
70
03
30
47
80
82
86
08
53
75
39
16
55
82
86
16
04
73
17
24
30
30
22

63
40
88
9*4
04
93
80
18
27
48
84
73
02
17
84
51
60
31
89
30
47
51
88
85
28
13
16
34
37
so
33
41
59
35
03
25
24
30
30
22

3,749 17
17
80
82,678 80
62
13,002 25
10,254 84
30
63 1,262,798 08
4,801 93
93
3,599 93
74
84
20,229 84
18,622 37
37
01
13,219 01
10
17,974 10

728

Com m ercial Statistics.

Districts.
Newark,
New Jersey.............
Little Egg Harbor “
.............
Great Egg Harbor “
.............
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.............
Presque Jsle
“
.............
Pittsburg
“
.............
Wilmington, Delaware.....................
Newcastle
“
.....................
Baltimore, Maryland.......................
Oxford
“
.......................
Vienna
“
.......................
Snowden
u
.......................
St. Mary’s
“
.......................
Town Creek
“
.......................
Annapolis
“
.......................
Georgetown, District of Columbia..
Alexandria, Virginia.....................
Norfolk
“
.....................
Petersburg
“
.....................
Richmond
“
.....................
York town
“
.....................
Tappahannock
“
................... .
Accomac, C. H. “
................... .
ast River
“
................... .
eocomico
“
................... .
Cherrystone
“
................... .
Wheeling
“
...................
Wilmington, North Carolina..........
Washington
“
......... .
Newbern
u
.........
Edenton
“
.........
Camden
“
.........
Beaufort
“
.........
Plymouth
“
.........
Ocracoke
“
.........
Charleston, South Carolina............
Georgetown
“
...........
Beaufort
“
...........
Savannah, Georgia..........................
S unbury
“
......................... .
Brunswick
“
.........................
Hardwick
“
.........................
St. Mary’s
“
.........................
Pensacola, Florida...........................
St. Augustine “ ............................
St. Mark’s
“ ............................
St. John’s
“ ............................
Appalachicola “ ...........................
Key West
“
Pearl River, Mississippi.................
Vicksburg
“
.................
New Orleans, Louisiana.................
Teche
“
.................
Nashville, Tennessee.....................
Memphis
“
.....................
Louisville, K entucky.....................
St. Louis, Missouri...........................
Chicago, Illinois.............................
Sandusky, O hio.............................
Cuyahoga
“ .............................
Cincinnati
“ .............................
Miami
u ..............................

Registered.
Tons. 95ths.

I ......
74,951 76
845 33
102,147 03
138 05
1,690 07

2,883 85
3,770 67
13,253 04
6,172 05
181 91

f




10,683
1,838
1,320
133
1,208
394
1,155

84
74
08
80
72
66
11

13,726 85
1,838 66

Enrolled
and licensed.
Tons. 95ths.

Total
each district.
Tons. 95ths.

8,614 10
8,614 10
9,745 57
9,745 57
17,541 71
17,541 71
268,746 62
193,794 81
8,210 22
8,210 22
84,870 68
84,870 68
14,274 15
13,428 77
4,280 51
4,280 51
170,835 35
68,688 32
12,586 14
12,452 09
24,697 49
23,007 42
5,305 56
5,305 56
3,180 68
3,180 68
1,646 65
1,646 55
1,957 23
1,957 23
35,982 70
33,098 80
12,234 34
8,643 62
29,440 07
16,186 18
2,195 26
2,195 26
11,881 44
6,709 39
5,911 12
5,911 12
6,295 19
6,113 23
6,019 88
6,019 88
1,606 08
1,606 08
3,955 74
3,955 74
1,173 21
1,173 21
4,127 89
4,127 89
19,955 24
9,271 35
8,761 10
6,922 31
5,442 38
4,122 30
925 84
792 04
13,861 80
12,653 08
2,981 69
2,587 03
4,430 37
3,275 26
1,442 47
1,442 47 '
38,102 60
24,375 70
4,013 15
2,174 44

15,533 17

9,409 26

24,942 43

117 71

1,051 14

1,168 85

397 65
799 35

792 93
2,054 16

1,190 63
2,853 51

1,069
2,110
2,265
1,363

01
01
28
66

1,363
1,280
2,207
6,689
1,363

23
43
75
05
66

79,821
3,255
5,726
1,894
20,122
48,575
31,041
6,054
45,483
23,842
5,479

93
70
73
84
89
51
04
15
48
73
58

183,818
3,255
5,726
1,894
20,122
48,575
31,041
6,054
45,483
23,842
5,479

08
70
73
84
89
51
04
15
48
73
58

1,363
211
97
4,423

23
42
74
72

103,996 13

Y 29

Com m ercial Statistics.

Districts.
New Albany, Indiana....................
Milwaukie, Wisconsin....................
Detroit,
Michigan....................
Michilimackinac “
...................
Galveston, Texas.............................
Saluria
“
........................... ...........
Point Isabel “
...........................
San Francisco, California...............
Sonoma
“
...............
Sacramento
“
............... ...........
Alton, Illinois.................................
Galena
“
.................................
Mobile, A labam a...........................
Puget Sound, Oregon.....................

Registered.
Tons. 95tlis.
/

45
109 07
60
76
629 58
24
70

Enrolled
and licensed.
Tons. 95ths.
2,952 31
14,217 35
52,456 08
4,393 00
5,818 69
1,036 75
226 96
47,257 06
1,216 36
5,892 66
309 33
334 40
21,994 26
1,149 68

Total
each district.
Tons. 95ths.
2,952 31
14,217 85
52,456 08
4,393 00
7,681 19
1,145 82
871 59
93,519 82
1,215 86
6,522 29
309 33
334 40
33,599 50
1,192 43

16 2,469,083 47 4,802,902 63

Total....................................

NATIONAL CHARACTER OF VESSELS TRADING WITH UNITED STATES.
S T A T E M E N T E X H IB IT IN G T H E
TERED
THE

IN T O

TEAR

AND

E N D IN G JU N E

Character of vessels.

N A T IO N A L

CLEARED

CHARACTER

FROM TH E

OK T H E

F O R E IG N V E S S E L S W H I C H E N ­

U N IT E D S T A T E S F O R F O R E IG N C O U N TR IE S D U R IN G

SO, 1854 I—

---------- ENTE
No.
Tons.

R E D . -------

Men.

■\

Boys.

No.

----------- C L E A R E D . -------- \
Tons.
Men.
Boys.

Russian.................
9
3,406
155
6
2,652
106
Prussian...............
82
12,396
437
5
32
12,138
376
Sw edish...............
4
29,901
1,117
90
31,355
4
87
1,027
Danish . . . . . . . . .
336 . . . .
7,467
38
7,684
338
38
H am burg.............
1,475 . . . .
93
38,110
98
40,081
1,427
Bremen.................
261
5
126,504 4,396
269
2
129,337 4,614
D u tch ...................
45
15,554
663 . . . .
49
16,779
603
Belgian.................
20
7,709
290 . . . .
9,081
23
324
L u b e c...................
56 . . . .
5
1,656
3
854
31
Mecklenburg . . . .
20
6,152
232 . . . .
5,005
17
173
Oldenburg............
53
17,501
639
49
15,554
554
Hanoverian.........
13
3,761
147
. . .
13
3,715
137
British................... 8,508 1,748,380 84,403 1,177 8,340 1,718,049 83,141 1,171
French ..................
79
2
88
2
21,837
1,111
24,570
1,125
Spanish.................
169
2,263
19
165
41,178
39,984 2,158
17
Portuguese...........
28
251
24
4,777
4,147
235
Italian...................
3
716
48
Austrian..............
4
2,444
5
87
2,014
70
Sicilian.................
11,048
483
41
41
10.5S0
487
Sardinian.............
5,265
241
24
6,871
18
299
Tuscan.................
3
675
26
28
3
463
M exican...............
46
4,686
418
48
4,842
406
....
....
Central American.
2
841
37
25
New Grenadian...
2
575
2
1,048
30
6
5
40
1,024
58
Venezuelan.........
847
..
1
8
H aytian................
...
160
..
...
1
Oriental................
279
13
..
1
Argentine............
214
12
Brazilian..............
1,670
58
77
7
1,275
7
Chilian..................
610
14,168
39
13,874
45
613
Chinese.................
14
3
1,462
1
474
44
Peruvian..............
61
6
5
1,285
1,735
77
Hawaiian.............
4
816
544
30
6
47
46
Tahitian...............
2
138
5
464
15
12
Pontifical.............
1
255
....
....
.........
Total.................




9,64S 2,132,224 100,243 1,212 9,503 2,107,802 98,617 1,196

130

C om m ercial S tatistics.
THE TO,WAGE OF THE UNITED STATES ON 30TH JUNE, 1854.
R E G IS T E R E D

TONNAGE.

Tons & 95ths.
The registered vessels employed in the foreign trade on the 30th of
June, 1854 ...............................................................................................
ENROLLED AND

L IC E N S E D

2,333,819 16

TONNAGE.

Tons & 95ths.
The enrolled vessels employed in the coasting trade
on the 30th June, 1854..............................................
The vessels employed in the coasting trade under 20
tons on the 30th June, 1854......................................

2,213,900 48
48,214 32
2,312,114 80

F IS H IN G

V E SSE LS.

The enrolled vessels employed in the cod fishery on
the 30th June, 1854 ...................................................
The enrolled vessels employed in the mackerel fish­
ery on the 30th June, 1854........................................
The enrolled vessels employed in the whale fishery
on the 30th June, 1854 ..............................................
The licensed vessels under 20 tons employed in the
cod fishery on the 30th June, 1854.........................

102,194 15
35,041 14

9,133 33
146,968 62

T o ta l....................................................................................................
The registered tonnage employed in the whale fishery on the 30th
June, 1854 ..............................................................................................
The registered tonnage employed other than in the whale fishery on
the 30th June, 1854 ..............................................................................

4.802.902 63
181,901 02
2,151,918 14
2.333.819 16

D E S C R IP T IO N

O F TO N N A G E .

The aggregate amount of the tonnage o f the United States on the
30th June, 1854......................................................................................
Whereof—
Permanent registered tonnage.................................. 1,829,286 56
504,532 55
Temporary registered tonnage...................................

4.802.902 63

Total registered tonnage....................... ..........................................
Permanent enrolled tonnage...................................... 2,391,351 16
Temporary enrolled tonnage.....................................
13,118 01

2.333.819 16

Total enrolled tonnage......................................................................
Licensed tonnage under 20 tons employed in the
coasting trad e.........................................................
48,214 32
Licensed tonnage under 20 tons employed in the
cod fishery...............................................................
9,133 33

2.411.135 11

Total licensed tonnage under 20 tons

51,941 65
4.802.902 63

Of the enrolled and licensed tonnage, there were employed in the—
Coasting trade........................................................................................
Cod .fishery.............................................................................................
Mackerel fishery.....................................................................................

2,213,900 48
102,194 15
35,041 14
2.411.135 11

Of the registered tonnage, (amounting, as above stated, to
2,333,819 16.) there were employed in steam navigation...............
Of the enrolled tonnage, (amounting, as above stated, to
2,411,135 11,) there were employed in steam navigation...............
Total steam tonnage




95,036 30
581,510 11
616,601 12

Com m ercial Statistics.

731

EXPORTS OF MANUFACTURED TOBACCO FROM THE UNITED STATES.
The following table, which we have compiled from the report of the Register of
the Treasury, exhibits the quantity and value o f manufactured snuff and tobacco ex­
ported from the United States to the several foreign countries during the year ending
June 30th, 1854 : —
Value.
Tobacco.
Whither exported.
Snuff.
Russia...................... .............................................. lbs.
$1,207
8,307
Sweden and Norway.....................................................
6,043
30,248
Swedish West Indies....................................................
17
106
166
D enm ark.......................................................................
800
3,544
Danish West Indies......................................................
21,899
H am burg.......................................................................
12,534
150
107,370
Bremen...........................................................................
32,577
25
233,773
7,316
Holland...................................................................... ..
74,947
Dutch East Indies........................................................
683
7,190
99,262
16,064
Dutch West Indies........................................................
951
Belgium .........................................................................
11,360
84,421
24
England.........................................................................
304,685
10 1,457,834
64,800
Scotland.........................................................................
329,963
43,840
G ibraltar.......................................................................
349,267
....
22,914
M alta.............................................................................
166,777
Cape of Good Hope.....................................................
52,759
397,876
67,086
British East Indies......................................................
....
578,087
„_. «
1,936
British Honduras...........................................................
14,384
British Guiana................................................................
476
3,933
48,340
British West Indies......................................................
9.673
428,350
Canada................................... .........................................
375,155
18,984 2,530,323
181,009
British American Colonies..........................................
1,353,382
1,571
Australia........................................................................
126,014
3,713
652,418
1,841
France on the Atlantic................................................
32
9,427
French West Indies......................................................
8,641
64,668
200
French Guiana...............................................................
125
407
Spain on the Atlantic...................................................
49
37
45
Spa n on the Mediterranean....................................
45
Cuba................................................................................
17,245
138,328
SO
13,955
Other Spanish West In d ies........................................
141,445
M adeira.........................................................................
15
60
Cape de Verdes...................................................... ..
1,078
7,874
Sicily...............................................................................
248
2,038
200
Sardinia................................ ......................................
60
1,000
Trieste and other Austrian ports................................
60
120
__
5,141
Turkey, Levant, die.......................................................
43,838
H a y t i.............................................................................
13,706
129,514
M exico...........................................................................
10,488
56,419
12
1,864
Central Republic of A m erica ....................................
12,385
New Grenada...............................................................
2,139
....
11,624
Venezuela...................................... ..............................
7,927
55,652
Brazil ...........................................................................
11,092
116,346
2,196
Oriental Republic of U ru guay..................................
15,065
Argentine Republic......................................................
3,855
27,223
C h ili...............................................................................
13,876
123,309
Peru................................................................................
3,266
18,747
C hina.............................................................................
2,621
18,723
West Indies generally................................................
1,125
10,290
105
South America generally............................................
640
37,611
Africa gen erally...........................................................
284,480
400
9,428
South Seas and Pacific Ocean....................................
53,793
Total.......................................................................

36,287 10,273,152 $1,550,327

The exports of unmanufactured tobacco to all foreign countries during the year was
126,107 hogsheads, valued at 110,016,046.




Commercial Statistics.

732

PRICE OF FLOUR IN PHILADELPHIA FOR G8 YEARS,
W e compile from the Commercial List the subjoined table, showing the price of
flour in the months of January, April, July, and October, in the Philadelphia market
in each year from 1785 to 1854, inclusive— embracing a period iof sixty-eight years:
Year.

1
1
1
I
6
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
1:
1
1
1
1
I
I
I

1
1
I
I
I
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

January.

April.

July.

1785..
43s . Od.
44s . Od.
. Od.
1786.. ..........
40 6
43 0
1787..
42 6
0
40 0
1 788.. ................
35 0
36 0
1789..
0
38 8
35 0
.
1790.. ............. 44 6
1791.. ............. 45 0
38 0
40 6
1792.. ............. 37 6
37 6
37 6
.,
..
1793.. ............. 45 0
,,
54 0
1794.. ..........
86 3
75 0
1795.. .....................
1796. .............812 00
811 75
814 00
8 50
1797.. ............. 10 00
9 00 a 8 50
1798.. .............
6 75
8 50
8 50 a 7 50
10 00 a 9 50
1799.. .............
9 50
9 25
1800..
10 25
9 50
11 50 a 11 00
1801.. ............. 11 50
11 00
1802.
7 25
00
7 00
1803..
50
7 00
6 00
1804..
50
7 00
7 75
1805..
00
12 00
10 76 a 9 00
8 00
1 806.. .............
6 50 a 7 00
7 50
6 75
1807.. .............
7 50
7 25
5 00 a 5 75
1808.. .............
6 00
6 18f
6 25
6 12 a 7 00
1809.. .............
5 50
8 25
10 00 a 11 00
1810.................
7 75
1 811.. ............. 11 00
50
10
10
00 a 11. 00
1812..
....<
8 50
9 00 a 7' 00
1813..
75
a
1C
1
00
50
00
9
7
1814 . ........... .
.. •
7 00 a 7 25
1815..
00
9 25 a 8 75
7 75
11 00
1816.. .............
9 00
7 75
1817.. ............. 13 50
14 00 a 14 25 10 50 a 11 50
1818..
25 a 10 00
10 00
10 25
1819.. .............
9 00
6 00
7 25
4 50 a 4 75
1820.. .............
6 00 a 5 37*
4 75
00
4 00
4 00 a 4 50
1821..
6 50
6 75 a 6 25
1822.. .............
6 25
6 50 a 7 00
7 00
1823.. .............
7 25
09
6 12
1824..
5 25
5 50 a 4 50
4 87*
5 00
1825.. .............
4 25
4 37 a 4 50
1826.. .............
4 75
25 a 6 00
5 12 a 5 00
5 00
1827..
4 50 a 4 75
4 75
1828 . .............
5 00 a 4 75
6 00 a 5 00
8 25
7 50 a 6 75
1829.................
4 50 a 5 25
4 62* a 4 50
4 50 a 5 00
1830.................
25 :a 6 00
5 37 a 4 75
1831..
6 37 a 7 00
6 00
5 50
5 25 a 5 50
1832.................
6 00 a 6 50
1833. ...............
5 75
5 25
5 25 a 5 50
1834. ...............
5 25
4 75 a 5 25
5 18f
6 81
1835. ...............
4 93*
62*
1836.
6 81*
7 00
9 31f
9 50 a 9 95
1837. ________ 11 00 a 11 25
1838.
6 43 a 7 12
12* a 8 62*
7 50 a 8 00
5 50 a 6 12
1839. ...............
8 25 a 8 50
7 37 a 7 50
75
4 87
5 25
1840.
65 a 5 25
5 25 a 5 60
1841.
4 62 a 5 00




October.
43s. 6d.
42 6
33 0
34 6
42 6
43 3
36 0
38 6
47 6
56 0
813 00
12 00
8 50
8 50
9 50 a 10 00
9 50
9 25
6 50
7 50
9 00
8 00
6 75
7 25 a 6 75
6 00
7 25
10 75 a 11 50
8 50
10 25 a 10 00
9 25 a 8 25
8 75
9 00
10 00 a 11 00
9 00
9 75
6 50
4 25
5 50 a 7 50
6 62
6 75
6 12
5 00 a 5 12
5 00 a 5. 25
5 25
6 25 a 7 00
5 25 a 5 00
5 25 a 5 00
6 50
5 50 a 6 00
5 87 a 5 75
5 25
6 06*
9 31
8 25 a 9 00
8 25 a 8 40
5 87 a 6 00
5 00
6 12 a 6 30

I

f

If*

j

1

C om m ercial S tatistics.
Years.
1842...........
1843...........
1844...........
1845...........
1846...........
1847...........
1848..........
1849...........
1850...........
1851...........
1852...........
1853...........
1854...........

January.
...

3 98
4 50

...

4 83£

...

5 00

...
...

5 87*
7 50

April.
5 62 a 5 80
4 22
4 68
5 38
4 81
6 87
5 93f
4 50
5 00
4 50
4 06£
4 90
8 08

733

July.
5 50 a
5 25 a
4 00 a
4 21 a
3 84
5 91
5 25
4 56J
5 06£
4 25
4 12
5 00
8 06 a

5
5
4
4

37
37
37
62

8 29

October.
4 49
4 25 a 4 50
4 00 a 4 50
5 06£
5 18
6 45
5 42
5 10
4 83
4 12
4 48
6 61
8 33 a 8 58

EXPORTS OF COTTON FROM THE UNITED STATES IN 1854.
The following table shows the quantity and value of cotton-wool exported from
the United States to each foreign country during the year ending June 30th, 1854, as
derived and compiled from the report of the Register of the Treasury:—
Whither exported.

Sea Island.

Sweden and Norway ....................................
Brem en...........................................................
Holland...........................................................
Belgium ..........................................................
England..........................................................
Scotland.........................................................

British American colonies...........................
Australia........................................................
France on the A tlantic................................
France on the Mediterranean.....................
French Guiana...............................................
Spain on the Atlantic .................................
Spain on the Mediterranean.......................
C u ba...............................................................
Portugal.........................................................
Madeira...........................................................
S icily...............................................................
Sardinia..........................................................
Trieste and other Austrian p o r ts ...............
Turkey, Levant, &c..................................
M exico............................................................
Brazil ..............................................................
China..............................................................
Europe generaUy..........................................
T o ta l...........................................................

4,210
602
7,370,595
163,854

2,947,662

10,486,423

Other.
2,914,954
9,212,710
32,983
13,760^266
23,955,446
6,048,165
13,979,858
680,164,224
7,218,058
1,330,816
1,381,511
68,126
4,664

Value.
$301,293
898,926
3,346
1,304,138
2,232,222
567,482
1,342,962
63,938,234
677,878
120,289
124,634
7,055
415

139,705,747
1,774,951

14,369,988
162,724

6,371,447
28,652,627
250,633
121,059
10,753,339
327,119
1,645,372
14,961,144
49,171
12,146,080
270,281
200,000
45,932

677,257
3,005,788
7,379
11,508
991.451
31,631
147,462
1,370,402
6,484
1,245,294
27,028
18,000
5,050

977,346,683

$93,596,220

STATISTICS OF THE TRADE AND COMMERCE OF BOSTON.
We have compiled the following tables o f the Commerce and navigation of the
Collection Districts of Boston and Charlestown from the first annual report of the
Boston Board of Trade, as presented to that Board in January, 1855. The tables
were made up from the books of the custom-house, and may therefore be regarded as




734

Com m ercial S tatistics.

generally accurate. The figures are for each quarter of the calendar years 1853 and
1854, commencing on the 1st of January and ending on 31st o f December.
Statement of the declared value of goods, wares, and merchandise of the growth,
produce, and manufacture of the United States, and also of foreign countries, exported
from the district of Boston and Charlestown to foreign countries during the years 1853
and 1854:—
American merchandise.
Foreign merchandise.

1853.

1854.

1851

1854.

Quarter ending March 31............
“
June 30 ..............
“
September 30 . .
“
December 3 1 __

$3,184,914
3,115,180
1,962,028
2,350,707

$2,084,941
2,078,925
2,059,992
2,450,255

$415,857
515,121
477,575
365,056

$627,016
607,957
582,789
574,317

Total in American vessels.. . .
Quarter ending March 3 1 ...........
“
June 3 0 .............
“
September 30 . .
“
December 3 1 ....

10,613,029
768.286
1,672,030
1,745,472
8,000,572

8,674,113
934 822
2,250,874
2,587,796
2,206,398

1,774,209
279,208
378,954
220,427
321,366

2,392,079
293,168
430,790
301,710
185,167

Total in foreign vessels...........
Do. American as a b ove...........

7,186,360
10,613,029

7,979,890
8,674,113

1,199,575
1,774,209

1,210,835
2,392,079

Total.......................................

17,999,389

16,654,003

2,973,784

3,602,914

STATISTICS OF BRITISH SHIPPING.
The shipping returns of the Board of Trade for the past year have just been pub­
lished, and their general results are exhibited in the following table. Notwithstand­
ing the great increase in the employment of British tonnage that took place in 1853,
a large augmentation is again observable On the other hand, with regard to foreign
vessels, the conditions are reversed, the extraordinary increase of 1853 having been
followed by a reaction such as to confirm the view that the employment of foreign
tonnage arose simply from a scarcity of British, and that when there is a sufficient
supply of both, preference is given to the latter:—
E N T E R E D IN W A R D S .

British vessels......................
United States’ vessels___
Other countries...................
Total.......... ..............

1851

1851.

1854.

4,267,815
863,660
1,598,694

4,513,207
901,575
2,382,768

4,789,986
1,179,044
1,930,712

6,730,169

7,797,550

7,899,742

CLEARANCES OUTW ARD.

British vessels.................. . ................... tons
United States’ vessels___ ...........................
Other countries................... ...........................
Total.........................

1851

1851.

1854.

4,459,321
821,844
1,591,416

4,551,498
962,337
2,069,776

4,683,654
1,057,767
2,129,115

6,872,581

7,583,611

7,870,536

The above figures show an aggregate increase in entries and clearances for the year
o f 2i per cent, and increase in the employment of British tonnage of 44 per cent, and
a decrease in foreign of ■§ per cent, although there has been the war stimulus to the
use o f neutral flags.
With respect to the coasting trade, it appears that the tonnage entered inwards was
12,475,401 in the year 1852, 12,820,745 in 1S53, and 12,808,590 during the past year.
The clearances outward were 13,441,815 in 1852, 13,493,804 in 1853, and 13,944,501
in 1854.




Com m ercial S tatistics.

135

DUTIES RECEIVED ON MERCHANDISE IN GREAT BRITAIN.
The British Board of Trade have issued an account of the customs duties received
during the past year, as compared with the two preceding years. The subjoined
table shows the total, and specifies the amounts obtained from the fourteen principal
articles. In the receipts on tea the reduction of duty has caused a falling off of
£904,292. Grain and flour have likewise produced less; while the total on fruits
again shows the effect of the currant blight, and that on tallow a diminution from the
blockade. Increased receipts on sugar, timber, and other articles have, however, in a
great degree, made up the deficiency thus occasioned:—
GROSS

D U T Y R E C E IV E D .

1852.
Tea.................................................
Tobacco.............................................................
S u ga r............................................
Spirits............................................
W ine..............................................
T im ber..........................................
Grain and flo u r........................... ...................
C offee...........................................
F ru its...........................................
S ilk s ................................................................
Butter and ch eese..................... .
Spices...........................................
Tallow..........................................
Other articles............................... ...................
Total....................................................

1851.

1854.

1,021,430

£5,636,193
4,751,777
3,913,729
2,677,187
2,036,075
564,806
532,693
466,666
367,168
333,994
191,418
109,135
89,744
892153

£4,781,901
4,875,470
4,533,110
2,692,903
2,022,527
621,803
416,279
468,393
311,953
245,991
168,593
111,938
52,115
1,054,412

£22,187,149

£22,612,738

£22,357,388

4,560,742

406,826
121,233

COMMERCE OF FRANCE AND THE UNITED STATES,
The importance of the commercial relations of the two countries may be learned
from the following official returns published by the French customs:—
As regards both imports and exports, the United States stand second on the list of
foreign Commerce. In 1853 France imported from the United States merchandise to
the amount of 149,850,000 francs, whilst the exports to that country were 266,049,000
francs— making a total o f 416,899,000 francs. Amongst the articles imported into
France for consumption were—
Cotton......................... francs
Corn ....................................
Staves....................................
/

117,970,000
9,181,000
4,854,000

Rice ......................... francs
Tobacco ...............................

1.664.000
3.606.000

Among the exports from France to the United States—

Silk goods.................francs
W ine....................................
B ran dy................................

120, 888,000
23.402.000
16.661.000

Woolen g o o d s ...........francs
Dressed skins and gloves..
Mercury and buttons........

22.876.000
20.875.000
8,132,000

It results from these indications that whilst the United States amply provides for
the wants of French industry, it has a vast market for its productions. But if France
sells to that country more than she buys there in return, the comparison of transports
is far from being so advantageous to France. Of 352 vessels which arrived in the
French ports in 1853, measuring 205,078 tons, the American flag stands for 302 ves­
sels, measuring 191,064 tons; the French flag, 32 vessels, and 19,725 tons; and the
remaining 18 vessels belonged to different nations. During the same period the num­
ber o f vessels which left France for the United States was 879, measuring 209,165
tons; o f which 274 vessels, 181,815 tons, belonged to the United States; 58, 14,144
tons, to France; and 47, 13,206 tons, to other nations. The maritime operations of
last year, therefore, occupied 731 vessels, measuring together 414,343 tons ; of which
576 were American vessels, embracing 372.875 tons— namely, four-fifths— thus show­
ing the proportion in which the United States were gainers by the trade.




736

J o u rn a l o f B a n k in g , C urrency, an d F in ance.
COMPARATIVE COMMERCE OF THE ATLANTIC PORTS.

The following figures, compiled from the returns made to the Treasury Depart­
ment at Washington, exhibiting the revenue received during the last six months of
1853-1854 at the ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston,
and New Orleans, furnish at a glance the comparative commercial importance of the
principal Atlantic ports in the United States :—

,---------------BOS’]:
J u ly .. .
August.
S e p t.. .
O ct. . . .
N o v .....
Dec.. . .

on

.---------------N

1853.

1854.

$632,165
855,471
845,089
531,338
638,549
500,787

$765,698
921,532
684,016
570,773
498,448
387,599

,-------------- N E W

,-------- B A L T IM O U E .— ,

mi

Y O R K .---------------^

m i
$4,648,922
4,653,898
4,237,890
2,716,183
2,650,959
2,964,860

1851.

1851.

$4,061,071
5,221,711
3,448,021
2,411,900
1,756,640
1,676,848

$530,091
541,236
522,240
303,420
312,653
476,158

$489,274
609,196
428,616
152,184
219,340
103,168

,— C H A R L E S T O N .— ,

18 54 .

21,401
32,505
64,472
36,318
40,485
32,314

,------- N E W O R L E A N S .—

1851.

1851

1854.

22,566
15,015
41,822
35,709
43,812
60,316

141,560
85,333
238,219
241,240
207,784
245,362

67,301
95,007
212,759
192,182
332,369
224,733

1851

J u ly .......................
47,157 80,548
A u gu st..............
121,559
143,730
September. . . .
93,957
11 6,441
October..............
64,114
70,137
November.........
47,277
69,658
December.........
73,668
59,671

,------ P H I L A D E L P H IA .------ \

1851.

JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE.
COINAGE AND CURRENCY OF THE UNITED STATES.
AN N U AL R E P O R T OF T H E
E N T IR E

GO LD AND

D IR E C T O R

S IL V E R

CO M M E N C E M E N T OF T H E IR

OF T H E

C O IN A G E

OF

U N IT E D

TH E

STATES

U N IT E D

O P E R A T IO N S — E N T IR E

M IN T — A S S A Y O F F IC E IN N E W

STATES

D E P O S IT S

OF

M IN T A N D

YORK—

B R AN CH E S, FROM TH E

G O L D , E T C .— V A L U E O F F O R E IG N

C O IN S , E T C ., E T C .

W e lay before the readers of the Merchants’ Magazine the substance of the interest­
ing Report of the Director o f the United States Mint, for 1854, which has just been
printed. It contains statements and recommendations of importance, respecting the
coinage and currency of the United States. The recommendation of the repeal o f the
laws authorizing the circulation of the coins of other countries will, we trust, be adopt­
ed by the next Congress, as they must be generally approved.
The deposits received and coinage executed at the principal mint, (Philadelphia,)
during the year 1854, were as follows : gold deposits received, 136,269,388 68 ; gold
coins struck, 20,049,799; fine gold bars, $17,643,270 68. Silver deposits, including
the silver parted from California gold and the silver purchased pursuant to the act of
3d March, 1853, $4,480,741 14; silver coinage executed was $5,373,270; the copper
coinage, $42,638 35. Total deposits of gold and silver during the year, $40,750,129 82 ;
and the total coinage, including the fine gold bors, was $43,108,977 98. This coinage
was comprised in 33,919,921 pieces.
The deposits of gold received at the Branch Mint at New Orleans, during the year,
were of the value of $1,139,135 43; and the deposits of silver, including silver parted
from the California gold and amount purchased, were of the value of $1,811,703 56.
The gold coinage amounted to $1,274,500; the silver coinage to $3,246,000. Aggre­
gate deposits of gold and silver, $2,450,838 99 ; the total coinage of gold and silver,
$4,520,500. comprised in 10,332,750 pieces. The coinage exceeds the deposits in con­
sequence of this branch having a large amount of bullion remaining from the deposits
of the previous year; and this remark applies also, to some extent, to the Mint and
the other branches.
The deposits at the Branch Mint at Dahlonega, in gold, were of the value of




J o u rn a l o f B a n k in g , C u rrency, and F in a n ce.

737

$281,936 06, including silver parted therefrom of the value of $1,706 61. The coinage (gold) amounted to $292,760, comprised in 62,228 pieces.
The deposits of gold received at the Branch Mint of Charlotte were of the value of
$213,606 21; the coinage executed amounted to $214,652 50, comprised in 46,578
pieces.
The last year has been marked by the establishment of an additional Branch Mint
and an assay office. The former at San Francisco, in California, commenced receiving
deposits on the 3d of April last, from which time to the end of the year it has received
deposits to the value of $10,404,560. The coinage thereat during the same period
amounted to the sum of $4,084,207, and the manufacture of fine bars of the value of
$5,863 16, and of unparted bars, prepared, assayed, and stamped, to the value of
$5,641,504 05 ; making a total of $9,731,574 21.
The assay office at New York commenced operations on the 10th o f October, 1854.
The deposits received up to the end of the year amounted to $9,337,200 69, of which
amount $76,307 was in silver, principally parted from California gold. The amount
of fine bars prepared, assayed, and stamped at that office during this period, was
$2,88S,039 18; and the further sum of $1,050,000, in fine bars, was transmitted from
the Mint at Philadelphia, and paid out at that office during the commencement of its
operations. Of the amount received the sum of $6,362,565 57 was deposited for
coins. This last amount, pursuant to the 11th section of the Assay Office law, was
transferred to the Mint of the United States for coinage.
As well as it can be ascertained from the reports of the several institutions, the
entire deposits of the year in gold $49,987,222 23; silver deposits, including silver
purchases, $5,871,758 82; total gold and silver deposits, $55,858,982 05. The coin­
age for the same period was as follows: gold coins, including bars, $52,094,595 47;
silver coins, $8,619,270; copper coins, $42,638 35; total coinage, $60,756,503 82,
comprised in 44,645,011 pieces.
The amount of gold of domestic production received at the several Mints and the
Assay Office during the year, was $49,217,021; o f which sum $48,892,794 was ff-orn
California, the remaining part from the Atlantic States, except a few deposits from the
territory of New Mexico. There was deposited during the year at the principal mint
and the branch at New Orleans, gold from Australia to the value of $432,000.
The silver contained in the gold from California is not included in the statement of
the amount of the gold deposits from that State. It is separated from the gold in pre­
paring the latter for coinage or for manufacturing fine bars. The value of the silver
thus parted from the gold during the year was $328,198 83. This does not include
the amount of silver purchased for coinage pursuant to the act of March 3, 1853.
During the last year the sum purchased was $5,494,839 92, and the silver coins issued
amounted to $8,619,270. The sum issued of silver coins at the reduced standard
weight, authorized by the act before mentioned, is as follows: in 1853, $8,654,161; in
1854, $8,619,270 ; making a total of $17,273,431 of the half-dollar and lower denomi­
nation struck, distributed, and put into circulation, except the sum of $585,808 33 in
the treasury o f the Mint, and ready for distribution and circulation.
The propriety of the reduction in the standard weight of the silver coinage, and the
beneficial results attending it, have continued to be experienced, especially in those
portions of the United States, where the circulation of small notes is prohibited. The
apprehension expressed by the Director of the Mint in liis last Report, that the reduc­
tion in the standard weight of the silver coins might prove insufficient, has been con­
firmed, he says, by the quoted value of silver during the past year at London, the
market of which city regulates its commercial value. W e purchased silver at the
close of 1853 at 121 cents per standard ounce, and issued it at 125 cents; but, as it
continued to appreciate, we were obliged to offer 122^ cents per ounce, in order to ob­
tain silver for coinage. Continuing to appreciate, it obtained its maximum in Novem­
ber, 1854, when it was 123f cents per ounce. It has since fallen to about 12 2£.
The continued influx of gold from California and Australia, compared with the
slight changes in the relative value of the two metals during the past year, abundant­
ly proves that no great or sudden changes need be apprehended in the relative value
of gold and silver.
The increased price paid for silver bullion for coinage after the first of July, 1854,
has diminished the profit to the government on the silver coinage, the cost of distribu­
tion being also a charge upon the same. There will, however, be a balance at the
principal mint of about $108,000, to be transferred to the Treasury of the United
States.
VOL. XXXII.---- NO. Y I.




47

J o u rn a l o f B a n k in g , C u rren cy, and F inance.

738

The propriety o f the establishment at the Mint of a medal department is suggested,
the importance of having some legislation on the subject having been further exhibited
by the increased applications from cities, institutes, and societies, to strike medals at
the Mint.
A change in the copper coinage is recommended, with a few to the substitution of a
lighter and more convenient coin for the cent now used. The present weight of the
cent is 168 grains. It is proposed that the standard weight should be ninety-six grains,
or two-tenths o f one ounce troy, with no greater deviation than four grains in a single
piece; and that the coinage of the lialf-cent shall cease.
C O IN A G E O F T H E U N IT E D STA TE S.

The following table exhibits the coinage of the several Mints from the time of their
establishment to the close of the year 1864, omitting the fractions of dollars:—
Mints.

Philadelphia.
New Orleans
Charlotte___
Dahlonega . .
San Francisco
New York . .
Total.

Commencement.

Gold
coinage.

Silver
coinage.

1793
1838
1838
1838
1854
1854

$284,760,830
37,380,365
4,004,691
5,673,487
9,731,574
2,888,039

$79,020,849
17,637,800

*$365,337,845
55,018,165
4,004,691
5,573,487
9,731,674
2,888,039

$344,388,987

$96,658,649

$442,553,802

Entire
coinage.

The entire deposits of domestic gold at the Miut and its branches, and the Assay
Office, from the time of their establishment to the close of 1854, have been as fol­
lows :—
$5,570,212
$231,063,382 Dahlonega...........................
Philadelphia.
20,936,192 San Francisco......................
10,842,281
New Orleans
4,021,248 Assay Office, New Y ork ...
9,228,177
Charlotte___
And of the above amount there was received from—
V irginia...............................
$1,426,925 New Mexico . . .
North Carolina.
8,055,737 California..........
1,122,095 Oregon................
South Carolina.
6,417,413 Various sources
Georgia.............
80,193
Tennessee.........
191,268
Total
Alabama.
From the total must be deducted the sum of.

$45,037
264,250,108
13,536
48,161
$281,650,492
8,041,137

Being amount in unparted bullion re-deposited at the Mint in 1854 from
the Branch Mint, San Francisco, and Assay Office, New York, reduc­
ing said deposits t o ......................................................................................$273,609,355
The amount of silver of domestic production, including silver parted from Califor­
nia gold, deposited at the Mint of the United States and its branches, from January 1,
1851, to December 31, 1854, has been $1,918,483.
V A L U E O F F O R E IG N

C O IN S.

The gold coins of Great Britain, if not less than 916^- thousandths fine, are receiv­
able at 94.6 cents per pennyweight; gold coins of France, not less than 899 thou­
sandths, at 92.9 cents; gold coins of Spain, Mexico, and Colombia, “ of the fineness
of 20 carats 3-J-carat grains,” which is equivalent to 869.14 thousandths, at 89.9
cents; and gold coins of Portugal and Brazil, not less than 22 carats, (916f thou­
sandths,) at 94.8 cents. Of the above, only the coins of Great Britain and France
fullfil the terms of the act, and there is an upward tendency in the fineness of the
British coins; but neither class has been received here for recoinage for more than two
years past, except in trifling parcels, owing to the course of trade, which has cut off
the importation o f foreign gold coins. The standards of gold coinage in New Grenada,
(formerly a State of Colombia,) are so entirely altered as to render the act of Con­
gress obsolete in respect to that item. The fineness of the doubloon lias raised to*
* This sum includes the entire copper coinage, all done at Philadelphia, to the amount of
*1,556,165.




J o u rn a l o f B a n k in g , C u rrency, and F in an ce.

739

Fineness,
saudths

about 894 thousandths, but by decrease of weight it has fallen in value from about
§15 60 to §15 30.
The silver dollars of Spanish American coinage, and those restarnped into reis of
Brazil, as also the five-franc pieces of France, are purchased at the Mint for recoinage
at a premium. We subjoin a tabular statement of their average weights and fineness,
and their value per piece and per ounce, according to the rate at which our whole
dollars are coined, and also their value per ounce, as paid for by purchase at the Mint.
There is much uncertainty, however, about the dollar of Central America, whose coin­
age is quite irregular as to fineness. In general, the halves, quarters, <fcc., of these
dollars are very near in fineness to the whole piece; but the public should be aware
that half and quarter-dollars of Bolivia, commencing with the date of 1830, and those
o f South Peru of 1835 to 1838, were greatly debased in quality, and are worth only
about three-fourths of their nominal value. The fractions of a dollar coined within a
few years in Central America, or rather in Costa Rica, are still more depreciated and
very irregular, but their misshapen appearance will be enough to exclude them from
currency here:—
Value in cents
CD
swith premium.
5.
o'
2.
CO CD
39
ns
ns
cd
a>
nCDs p
-I
-*
^
t
q*
ns
o
39
Denominations.
P
2.
o
. cr
gg.
8
©
O
•©
CO
CD -3
: c
Spanish pillar dollars, and Brazilian restarnped.
Dollars of Mexico, Mixed.....................................
Dollars of Peru, m ix e d ........................................
Dollars of Bolivia and Chili, m ixed...................
Dollars of Central America.................................
Five-francs of France, mixed...............................

412}
416£
415
416*
416
384

900
901
906
902
870
901

100
101
101.2
101.2
97.5
93.1

116.36
116.50
117.14
116.63
112.48
116.50

122.50
122.64
123.32
122.77
118.42
122.64

The laws which legalize the circulation of coins of other countries are no longer
necessary or expedient. In no other nation is this mixture of legal currency admitted
or allowed. Whatever the necessity or expediency there was at the time they were
passed, in view of the inconsiderable coinage then executed, has now ceased to operate,
when our annual coinage is scarcely inferior to that of any other nation. If the laws
in question should be repealed, it will be proper to provide that the director’s annual
report on the coinage operations of the Mint should embrace a statement of the weight,
fineness, and value or purchasing price at the Mint, of such coins as are brought here
in the course o f trade or by immigration. This would include not only the coins above
mentioned, but those also of Germany, Sweden, Norway, Sardinia, Switzerland, <fcc.
Such a report, the director says, would be a judicious substitute for the one now pre­
sented.
HISTORICAL RE3IINISCENCES OF BANKS AND BANKING.
The charters of several banks in the State of New York expired on the 1st of Jan­
uary, 1855, and among the number were the Bank of Albany and the Mechanics’
Bank of New York. The Albany Evening Journal has collected some interesting
reminiscences of the first-named institution, and the New York Commercial Advertiser
the latter, which are sufficiently interesting, and deserve a more permanent place than
that of the daily journal. W e therefore transfer, with slight abridgment, these rem­
iniscences to the pages of the Merchants' Magazine:—
THE

BANK

OF ALB A N V .

The Bank of Albany was the second bank chartered by the Legislature of this
State, and the fourth in the Union. The Bank of North America, located at Phila­
delphia, received its charter from Congress in 1781, and its powers were extended or
confirmed by this State in 1782. The Bank of New York, in the city of New York,
was chartered in 1791, and the third bank was the Massachusetts Bank, located in
Boston.
The following brief record of the organization, tfcc., of the Bank of Albany, from
the year 1792 up to the present time, has been compiled from the best materials we
could procure:—




740

J o u rn a l o f B a n k in g , C urrency, erne? F in a n ce.

In the year 1791 it was deemed necessary by our citizens that a bank should be
established in the city, and the necessary incipient measures were adopted for that
purpose.
On the 17th of February, 1792, articles of association had been prepared, and sub­
scriptions were then solicited for the purpose of completing the arrangements. The
following is the preamble to the articles of association:—
Whereas, It is conceived that it will be of public utility to establish a bank in the
city of Albany, we, the subscribers, have therefore associated ourselves as a company
for the purpose of establishing said bank by the name of “ The Bank of Albany,”
subject to the rules, articles, restrictions, limitations, and provisions following:—
The capital of the bank was limited to seventy-five thousand dollars, consisting of
five hundred shares, of one hundred and fifty dollars each, payable in specie, and the
sum of fifteen dollars on each share was required to be paid at the time the subscrip­
tion was made.
The concerns of the bank were to be managed by a board of directors, consisting of
thirteen persons, nine of whom, at least, were to be residents of the city, and at each
election after the first, three of the then board were ineligible, and were to continue
so for the term of one year thereafter. The same restrictions were contained in the
charter granted by the Legislature, and they were not removed until the year 1824.
At elections for directors the stockholders might vote in person or by proxy, as fol­
lows :— For each share, and not exceeding four, one vote; for five shares, and not ex­
ceeding seven, five votes; for eight shares, and not exceeding ten, six votes; and for
every seven shares exceeding ten, one vote; but no person or company were entitled
to more than fifteen votes for any number of shares they might hold.
The debts of the bank were at no time to exceed three times the amount of its
capital actually paid in, and should an excess occur and loss ensue, the directors were
liable in their private capacity.
The rate of interest for its discounts or loans was the legal interest established by
the State, and no discounts were to be made upon notes having more than sixty days
to run.
These articles of association were signed by ninety-one person or firms, and the
number of shares of stock subscribed for was five hundred and thirty-seven, ranging
from one to fifty shares.
In the list of names thus recorded we find the following prominent citizens of that
day:— P. S. Yan Rensselaer, John Tayler, Dirck Ten JBroeck, John Woodworth, (the
only signer now living,) Stephen Lush, Abm. G. Lansing, Samuel Stringer, G. Banyar,
John Maley, John R. Bleecker, John Stevenson, Abm Ten Eyck, Barent Bleecker,
William Cooper, James Caldwell, John Robison, with many others of the like stand­
ing in society.
The first election for the choice of directors was held on the 27th day of February,
1792, and the following persons chosen, viz.: Stephen Yan Rensselaer, Goldsbrow
Banyar, Daniel Hale, Abraham Ten Broeck, Cornelius Glen, Albert Pawling, Stephen
Lush, John Maley, John Stevenson, John Sanders, James Caldwell, Philip Schuyler,
and Jeremiah Yan Rensselaer.
Stephen Yan Rensselaer was subsequently elected President of the Board, and
discharged the duties of that office until the first election held under the charter in
June, 1792.
On the 10th of April, 1792, an act of incorporation was granted by the Legislature,
and it contained all the essential features comprised in the articles of association be­
fore recited.
By the provisions of this act, the capital of the bank was increased to the sum of
$240,000, divided into six hundred shares, of four hundred Spanish milled dollars
each, or the equivalent thereof in specie ; and the directors chosen under their articles
of association, were designated or selected to the same office.
By subsequent enactments o f the Legislature, and by subscriptions on the part o f
the State, the capital of the bank was increased to $320,000, and it continued at that
amount until the year 1820, when the sum of $100 on each share was returned to the
stockholders, thus reducing the capital of the bank one-fourth, and the value of each
share to $300.
In the year 1832, when the charter of the bank was extended to January, 1855, for
the purpose of more widely diffusing the stock of the bank, the par value of the
shares was reduced to the sum of thirty dollars, and the number thereof proportionably increased.




J ou rn a l o f B a n k in g , C u rren cy, cmc? F in a n ce.

741

Jacob H. Ten Eyck, the present worthy President, received his appointment in
1840, and from that period till the present has continued to discharge the duties of
his office in a manner not only highly creditable to himself, but with great benefit to
the baiik.
The Bank of Albany has ever been conservative in its management. It has been
fortunate, also, in its officers, all of whom were men of integrity and prudence.
We have been permitted to look through the early archives of the bank, from which
a few extracts are subjoined, peculiarly interesting as a reflex of the olden time:—
July 26, 1792.— Resolved, That the cashier cause to be engraved bills of the follow­
ing denominations:—
One bill of.....................................
$25 I One bill of.....................................
$40
One bill of.....................................
30 | One bill of.....................................
50
The said bills to correspond with the paper intended for half-dollar bills.
September 29, 1792.— Resolved, That from and after 27th inst.no discount will be
made on notes or bills having more than forty-five days to run.
On the same day they resolved to discount notes for gentlemen residing in Troy,
Schenectady, and Waterford, and in the Colonie.
September, 1795.— The President presented a letter signed by Philip Schuyler,
David Brooks, and John Cantine, requesting the loan of $1,500 for the purpose o f
treating with the Oneida Indians. It was done.
October, 1796.— Resolved, That the cashier be requested to send $30,000 in specie
to New York, by Captain Mathew Trotter, to take up our notes in the New York
bank to that amount.
November 27, 1800.—Resolved, That John Willard be appointed an additional
clerk to this bank, at the salary of three hundred dollars per annum; that his duties
be pointed out to him by the cashier, and that two sureties be taken in the sum of
four thousand dollars, for the true performance of his duties.
January 24, 1801.— Resolved, That the great calls on the bank for money to sustain
the wheat and potash speculations, will render it inconvenient to receive the paper of
any other bank for the space of one month after this day.
Resolved, That Stephen Lush, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, and Simeon Dewitt, be a
committee to call on Messrs. Aaron Burr, Brockholt Livingston, and Richard Harrison,
directors of the Manhattan Bank, for the purpose of inquiring of them whether it is
the intention o f the directors of the said bank to establish a branch in this place or
its neighborhood. If so, the directors of the Bank of Albany think it necessary to
apply to the Legislature of this State for a declaratory act against it. If, however,
the directors of the Manhattan Bank think proper to enter into an agreement with the
Bank of Albauy not to establish a branch at Albany or its neighborhood, that in such
case they are not disposed to make the application with intention to injure them ; and
that the committee make report as soon as convenient.
Dated, Bank of Albany, at their Chamber, February 3, 1800, at 10 o'clock, A. M.
Mr. Kendrick, the present efficient cashier, was appointed in the year 1849, and
from that time till the present has been diligent, earnest, and successful in enlarging
the sphere, and extending the usefulness of the institution ; and he is about to close
old and open new books, with his balances largely in favor of stockholders, while the
public stand ready to receive and welcome with confidence and approbation the new
impressions of a very old friend.
THE

M E C H A N IC S ’

BANK OF

NEW

YORK.

The Mechanics’ Bank of New York was chartered in March, 1810; if has therefore
been forty-five years in existence. It was originated by the General Society of Me­
chanics and Tradesmen, which at that time was one of the most powerful societies,
for its political and moral influence, that existed in the city. The shares of the bank
were made at $25 each, that the members of that society might become holders, and
each member was entitled to subscribe for a certain number of shares. The society
itself was allowed to take 6,000 shares, with the privilege to pay for it within a cer­
tain tim e; afterward a compromise was made between the bank and the society, and
the bank gave the society 1,000 shares without requiring any payment, in considera­
tion of relinquishing its right to take the 6,000 shares. The majority of this stock the
society holds to this day. By the terms of the charter seven of the bank’s directors
were required to be members of the society, apd of that number four must actually
follow a mechanical profession, and this has always been strictly observed to the pres­
ent time.




742

J o u rn a l o f B a n k in g , C u rrency,

F in a n ce.

The first president of the bank was John Slidell; the first cashier, Whitehead Fish.
The first directors were Jacob Sherred, Stephen Allen, Anthony Steinback, J. D. Mil­
ler, Francis Cooper, John Slidell, Gabriel Furman, Mathew L. Davis, Samuel St.John
Naphtali Judah, George Warner, John R. Murray, and Jonathan Lawrence, Jr.
During the year of 1SI2, the banks of this city, as well as all others in the United
States, suspended specie payments, and during that memorable period, when the credit
of the Government was so low that a gloom was cast on the whole country, and the
Hartford Convention was spreading distrust on every side, the New York banks (one
o f which was the Mechanic’s) stepped forward and freely advanced means, and gave
new life to the army and country; and, as a singular consequence, when within the
last few weeks a careful account was taken of its outstanding circulation, it was found
that between $30,000 and $40,000 o f the notes issued at that time, (forty years ago,)
have never been returned to the bank, while the circulating notes issued between that
period and the year 1843, (when the present law requiring all the bills to be regis­
tered in the State Department went into effect,) have all returned but three or four
thousand dollars.
In 1819, Jacob Lorillard was elected president, and J. Fleming cashier, and up to
1834 it did a most prosperous and healthy business. It was remarkable for receiving
more deposits and paying more checks than any other bank in the city, in consequence
of having so large a class of small as well as large dealers.
In 1834, John Fleming being president, it was selected by the Treasury Depart­
ment at Washington, on the removal of the deposits from the Bank of the United
States, as one o f the three banks to be the depository of the United States revenues
in this city, and from that period may be dated the disasters which followed in the
spring of 1837. The Bank of America, Manhattan Bank, and the Mechanics’ were
the three banks selected, and two of the three suffered severely for their ambition ;
the truth being realized that it was harder to bear prosperity than adversity. An
immense deposit was thrown into each of these bank at one time, we believe— amount­
ing to twelve millions in the three. To resist the temptation of loaning this immense
sum, was impossible to any man of ordinary firmness and virtue. The consequence
was that an inflation was given to every operation of a speculative character, and the
end was ruin and disaster to thousands, and very nearly destruction to the bank itself.
The losses sustained by the Mechanics’ Bank in 1837 were estimated at $1,200,000.
In the midst of its troubles in May, 1837, its president, J. Fleming, died suddenly,
and banks of this city had to loan it $1,000,000 to sustain a run made upon it. Jacob,
Lorillard was called once more to its presidency, and John Leonard made cashier.
Shortly afterward Mr. Lorillard died, and Mr. Shephard Knapp was appointed presi­
dent. Mr. Leonard, who was not familiar with the business, was persuaded to lesign,
and Mr. F. W. Edmonds, then cashier of the Leather Manufacturers’ Bank, was ap­
pointed cashier. These gentlemen are still its officers to the present moment. In
1843, the Legislature reduced its capital in consequence of the losses under Mr. Flem­
ing’s administration, and from that date forward the institution has stood high in the
estimation of the business community.
Its dividends for the past five years have been 10 per cent per annum, and on
winding up it pays a final dividend of 38 8-9 per cent; having thus repaid to it3
stockholders the amount they lost by the reduction in 1843, beside regular dividends
from that time to the present.
It has been the depository for the corporation of this city, we believe, from the
first year of its existence until 1837. The deposits were then taken to another bank
at the request of its directors, while the bank was in trouble. In 1848, they were
again brought back, and have remained there ever since. The accounts of the city
having been kept there thirty-three years in all.
One thing we may be permitted to add, from personal knowledge, the punctual at
tendance ot the directors. This morning every member (thirteen) was in his seat.
STATISTICS OF COINAGE AND CURRENCY.
E X P O R T OF G O L D F R O M
C O IN A G E

SA N F R A N C IS C O — F R E N C H

EXPORT

OK F R A N C K , E N G L A N D , A N D T H E

AND

U N IT E D

IM P O R T
STATES

OF

GOLD AND S IL V E R —

COM PARED.

The following is the value of the precious metals exported from the port of San
Francisco for the years 1851-54 :—




J o u rn a l o f B a n k in g , C u rren cy, an d F in an ce.

'74.3

G O L D S H IP P E D F R O M S A N F R A N C IS C O .

1851.

1854.

Decrease.

Increase.

New Y o r k ...........
New Orleans........
London...................
Valparaiso...........
Sandwich Islands .
Hong K o n g ...........
ShaDghae .............
Calcutta...............
M anilla.................
New South Wales

$48,916,447 $46,289,649
390,718
243,517
3,781,080
4,975,662
33,524
445,778
212,108
194,000
606,122
831,996
91,138
27,718
1,240
10,787
20,000
17,450
38,670

$1,626,798
147,201
1,194,581
412,254

$....
....
....

T o ta l.................
Total in 18S2,
Total in 1851.

$54,905,000 $51,429,101

$3,375,900
....
145,759,000
34,492

....

18,108
225,873
66,419

....
....

9,547
2,550
38,670

—

To illustrate to what an extent gold has supplanted silver in some countries of Eu­
rope, we may take from the official report of the Count d’Argout, Governor o f the
Bank of France, some figures in relation to the import and export of the precious me­
tals in France for a series of years:—
I M P O R T A N D E X P O R T IN T O A N D F R O M F R A N C E .
,--------------------IM P O R T .------ -------------- ,

Gold.

1846 ......................frs.
1847 ............................
1848 ............................
1849 ............................
1850 ..........................
1851 ............................
1854...............................

Silver.

8,060,205
21,257,217
41,997,762
12,160,800
61,097,100
116,024,600
480,000,000

107,511,241
139,003,164
233,004,108
202,883,860
144,250,660
179,498,440
100,000,000

,------------------- E X P O R T .------------------- ,

Gold.

16,657,836
33,718,329
5,960,136
5,648,400
44,176,200
31,434,900
32,000,000

Silver.

60,097,981
84,746,378
19,668,280
46,847,960
87,910,300
161,023,540
252,400,000

The years of revolution, 1S48 and 1849, were marked by an immense import of sil­
ver into France, and a small export. That metal was then the chief currency, and
the desire to turn everything into money drew silver from all quarters into the hoards
o f French citizens. The return of confidence politically, and the abundance of gold,
exhibit a rapid displacement of silver by gold. The quantity of silver exported in
the past year was more than equal to the average import of the years 1848-49, while
the amount of gold received has been prodigious. The coinage of the French mint
has been as follows :—
C O IN A G E

OF FR A N C E .

Silver.

1 8 5 1 ...........................................................
1853 ...........................................................
1854 ...........................................................

$11,449,980
3,966,833
375,000

Gold.

$48,276,650
61,961,899
94,125,000

Total.

$50,726,530
65,928,732
94,500,000

Nothing more clearly shows the rapid substitution of gold for silver, the latter leav­
ing France as well for Asia, where its value is 11 for 1, as for Austria, where, it being
the national standard, it is hoarded through political difficulties. It follows, that if
those causes for the withdrawal of silver not only cease, but that metal returning
finds the channels of circulation filled with gold, its own value will fall until it again
displaces gold. It will be some time before this oscillation o f value will cease. The
coinage of France, Great Britain, and the United States, compared for 1854, is as
iollow s:—

,---------- 1851.-----------N -----------1854.---------- ,
F ran ce....................................
Great Britain........................
United S ta te s.......................




Silver.

Gold.

$3,986,833
6,133,592
9,077,571

$61,961,899
57,849,372
55,213.907

Silver.

$375,000
682,713
8,619,270

Gold.

$94,125,000
19,936,577
52,137,283

Journal o f Banking , Currency, and Finance.

744

The United States has sustained its large silver coinage under the new la w ; but
both France and England have coined but small sums in that metal, and that of the
smallest denominations. The Australian demand has ceased, for English gold coins
have lessened the coinage there in an important degree; while the large French coinage
has sustained the demand for the metal.

TAXES ON PROPERTY IN CITIES AND TOWNS IN OHIO.
A

TABLE

C O M P IL E D

S T A T E , S H O W IN G
TO W N S, AND

FROM
THE

THE

RETURNS

D IF F E R E N C E

O U T S K IR T S O F T H E I R

Cuyahoga ........... .........
Franklin............. .........
H am ilton........... ........
Montgomery . . . .........
Muskingum . . . . .........
Washington . . . . ........
Ross................... ........
Seneca ............... .......
E rie.....................
Jefferson........... .........
Law rence........ ........
S cio to .................
W a y n e ............... .........
M iam i............... ........
Richland............. .........
P ortage............. .........
Pickaw ay......... ........
L ick in g.............
S ta rk .................
Fairfield.............. ........
Columbiana . . . ........
........
B u tler...............
S h e lb y ...............
Brown.................
Trum bull...........
Marion............... .........
Ashland........... .........
Ashtabula........ .........
P e r r y ............... .........
Auglaize...........
Guernsey........... ........
H ancock........... ..........
Union.................
Harrison...........
L u ca s...............
W o o d .............
C a rroll.............
Sum m it...........

.........

........
.........
.........
.........
..........
Sandusky......... .........
H uron............... ........
K nox................. ...........
W arren............. ..........
H ocking........... ...........




OF

O F A U D IT O R S
T A X A T IO N

OF

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

BETW EEN

PROPERTY

IN

C IT IE S

AND

L IM IT S :-----

Average tax for the
year 1854 on each
$1,000 of property
not in towns.
D.
C.
M.
6
02
9
5
76
1
9
46
1
5
99
4
6
43
6
21
3
7
03
2
7
16
4
7
82
3
1
20
7
2
41
7
92
3
41
5
6
5
6
92
32
6
9
51
1
6
o
6
47
3
30
02
5
6
54
3
9
5
67
5
9
67
43
i
9
63
0
99
0
01
6
0
68
6
99
7
4
6
73
6
5
59
6
64
1
6
26
2
6
73
7
9
46
73
7
7
6
56
8
74
13
20
48
8
7
6
29
1
6
27
1
7
40
8
05
4
81
9
6
2
38
6
2
6
11
2
72
7

C levelan d........... ........
Columbus............. .........
Cincinnati............. .........
D ayton .................
Zanesville........... .......
Marietta...............
Chillicotbe........... .......
Tiffin.....................
Sandusky C ity .. .
Steubenville........ ........
Ironton................. .......
Portsmouth.......... .........
Wooster................ .........
T roy.....................
Mansfield............. ........
Ravenna...............
Circleville...........
N ew ark...............
Canton.................
Lancaster............. .........
New Lisbon........ ........
.........
H am ilton.............
Sidney................. ........
Georgetown........ ........
Warren................. ........
M arion................. ........
Ashland............... .........
Jefferson...............
Som erset............. .........
Wapakonetta.. .
Cambridge........... .........
Findlay.................
.........
Marysville........... ........
Cadiz...................
T oledo.................
Perry sburg........... ........
Carrolton........... .........
Akron...................
Millersburg ___ .........
Fremont............... .........
N orw alk............. ..........
Mt. Vernon......... ........
Lebanon ............. ..........
Logan ................. ..........

Average tax for the
year 1854 on each
$1,000 of property
in towns.
D.
C.
M.
16
90
0
75
0
10
75
0
16
0
25
0
15
00
0
65
20
0
14
0
80
60
0
0
00
13
0
05
15
0
14
50
0
05
49
0
60
50
0
13
0
80
0
80
0
00
25
0
0
65
11
0
00
12
0
20
20
0
95
0
00
20
0
00
16
0
25
10
0
15
11
0
95
14
0
35
0
35
12
0
40
0
70
11
0
75
0
11
60
0
10
16
0
80
0
fO
0
00
41
0
15
11
0
25
0
65
10
0
60
14
5
50
13
0
19
11
0
89
28
80
13
3

Journal o f Banking, Currency, and Finance.

745

BANK CAPITAL OF CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES.
The following table is compiled from Homan’s Bankers’ Almanac for 1855. It
contains the banking capital of every city or town in the United States having one
million or more of such capital:—
Capital.
Cities and Towns.
States.
Banks.
$48,482,900
New York........................................New York...........
32,460,000
Boston..............................................
.....................
37
10,618,600
Philadelphia................................. ..Pennsylvania . . . .....................
15
8,471,796
Baltimore....................................... M aryland........... .....................
13
14,702,600
New Orleans.................................. .Louisiana............. .....................
8
1,350,000
Bangor............................................ .Maine.................. .......................
13
1,775,000
Portland........................................ .Maine.................. .......................
6
1,150,000
Fall River...................................... .Massachusetts... .....................
3
1,450.000
L ow ell........................................... . Massachusetts. . . .......................
6
2,100,000
New Bedford................................. .Massachusetts..........................
4
Salem............................................. .Massachusetts... .....................
1,710,000
7
1,350.000
SpriDgfield.................................... .Massachusetts... .....................
6
1,600,000
6
Worcester...................................... .Massachusetts... ..................... »
12,896,460
Providence..................................... .Rhode Island . . . .....................
37
1,049,500
Bridgeport.................................... .Connecticut........ .......................
5
5.826,900
Hartford......................................... .Connecticut........ .....................
10
2,845,075
New H av en ................................. .Connecticut........ .....................
6
1,314,109
N orw ich........................................ .Connecticut........ .......................
6
2,921,100
Albany .......................................... .New Y ork.......... .......................
9
1,750.000'
Brooklyn........................................
....................
6
2,241,800
Buffalo........................................... .New Y ork ..........
1,630,000
Rochester...................................... .New Y ork ......... .......................
6
1,647,500
Syracuse ........................................ .New Y ork ........ ........................
10
2,991,470
T r o y .............................................. .New York.................................
11
1,735,200
U tica............................................... .New Y ork ......... .......................
6
1,708,650
Newark.......................................... .New Jersey . . . .......................
4
2,743,200
Pittsburg. ....................................
.......................
5
l'l69,300
Lynchburg ................................. .Virginia............ .......................
4
1,170,000
Petersburg...................................
.......................
3
2,114,000
Richmond...................................... .Virginia............ .......................
3
1,293,500
W h eelin g......................................
.......................
4
1,050,000
W ilm ington................................. .North Carolina . .......................
3
Charleston..................................... .South Carolina. .......................
9 10,756,735
1,300,000
Columbia....................................... .South Carolina. .......................
3
3,175,000
A ugusta........................................ .Georgia.............. .......................
7
3.041,190
Savannah ...................................... .G eorgia............ .......................
5
2,000,000
Mobile............................................ .A labam a.......... .......................
2
1,264,000
Chicago........................................... .Illinois............... .......................
6
1,000,000
Covington....................................... .K entucky......... .......................
2
o
1,380,000
Lexington....................................... .K en tu cky.........
3,260,000
Louisville...................................... .K entucky......... .......................
4
5,341,500
Nashville....................................... .Tennessee.......... .......................
4
In New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, Ohio, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Iowa, there is no one town or city
having bank capital to the extent of one million of dollars. This remark seems sin­
gular when applied to such places as Cincinnati, St. Louis, Detroit, Galveston, tfec.,
where there is a very large export trade; but the Legislatures of the States iu which
these places are located, have adopted stringent laws upon banking, and discouraged
the introduction o f capital to be employed in banking. St. Louis, with a population
of 100,000, and a larger export trade than that of Philadelphia or Baltimore, is al­
lowed only one bank, aud that with a capital limited to §600,000.
Arkansas, Iowa, and Florida have no chartered banks, and the legality of the only
two in Texas and Mississippi has been questioned. Providence has the largest bank
capital, for its size, of any city in the Union. New Orleans is the next. Charleston,
Hartford, and Nashville are also largely favored, as appears by the above summary.




*746

Commercial Regulations .

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.
THE NEW DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SYSTEMS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The following act, remodeling the diplomatic and consular systems o f the United
States, was passed at the second session of the Thirty-Third Congress o f the United
States of America, and approved by the President, (fee., March 1, 1855. This act
takes effect from the 30th of June, 1855, any law or laws of the United States to the
contrary notwithstanding:—
A N A C T TO R E M O D E L T H E

D IP L O M A T IC

AND

CONSULAR

SYSTEM S

OF

T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S .

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That from and after the 30th day of June next the
President of the United States shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen­
ate, appoint representatives of the grade of envoys extraordinary and ministers pleni­
potentiary to the following countries, who shall receive an annual compensation for
their services not exceeding the amount specified herein for each:—
ENVOYS

Great Britain . . .
F rance................
Sp ain ..................
Russia.................
Austria................
Prussia...............
Switzerland . . . .
R om e..................
N a p les................
Sardinia..............

E X T R A O R D IN A R Y

$17,500
15,000
12,000
12,000
12,000
12,000
7,500
7,500
7,500
7,500

AND

M IN IS T E R S

Belgium
Holland.
Portugal
Denmark
Sweden .
Turkey .
China . .,
Brazil . .
i Peru . . .
I Chili . . .

P L E N IP O T E N T IA R Y .

$7,500
7.500
7.500
7.500
7.500
9.000
15.000
12.000

Argentine Repub.
New Grenada. . .
Bolivia................
Ecuador..............
Venezuela.........
Guatemala........
Nicaragua..........
M exico................

$7,500
7,500
7,500
7,500
7,500
7,500
7,500
12,000

10,000

9.000

S E C R E T A R IE S

OF

LE G A T IO N .

S ec. 2. And be it further enacted, That from and after the 30th day of June next,
the President of the United States shall, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, appoint secretaries of legation to the following countries, who shall receive an
annual compensation for their services not exceeding the amount herein specified.
$2,500 |Sardinia
$1,500 i Argentine Repub.
$1,500
Great Britain .
2,250\ Belgium.
1,50C
France............
1.500 New Grenada.
Spain..............
2,250 Holland
1.500
1.500 Bolivia . . . .
Russia............
2,000 Portugal .
1.500
1.500 Ecuador. . .
2,000 Denmark .
Austria .........
1.500
1.500 Venezuela .
Prussia..........
2,000 Sw eden ..
1.500
1.500 Guatemala .
1.500 Brazil. . .
Switzerland ..
1.500
2,000 Nicaragua..
Rom e..............
1.500 |Peru . . .
2,000
2,000 Mexico . . . .
1.500 I Chili.........
1.500
N aples......... .
C O M M IS S IO N E R TO

S A N D W IC H

ISLA N D S, IN T E R P R E T E R
TURKEY

IN

C H IN A , A N D

D R A G O M A N TO

M IS S IO N .

S ec. 3. And be it further enacted, That from and after the 30th day of June next,
the President of the United States shall, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, appoint a commissioner to the Sandwich Islands, who shall receive an annual
compensation for his services o f $6,000 ; an interpreter to the mission in China, who
shall receive for his services $2,500 per annum; and a dragoman to the mission to
Turkey, who shall receive for his services $2,500 per annum.
CONSULS F O R

TH E

U N IT E D

STA TE S.

S ec. 4. And be it further enacted, That from and after the 30th day of June next,
the President of the United States shall, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, appoint consuls for the United States, to reside at the following places, who
shall receive during their continuance in office an annual compensation for their ser­
vices not exceeding the amount specified herein for each, and who shall not be permit­
ted to transact, under the penalty of being recalled and fined in a sum not less than
$2,000, business either in their own name or through the agency of others:—




Commercial Regulations .

74Y

London...............
$7,500 Ponce, P. R.........
$1,000
$1,500 Jerusalem..........
7,500 Havana..............
L iverpool...........
3,500
6,000 Alexandria.........
G lasgow .............
4,000 Lisbon.................
1,500 Tangiers.............
2,500
D undee..............
2,000 Funchal...............
1,500 Tripoli.................
2,500
Newcastle...........
1,500 Antw erp............
2,500 Tunis...................
2,500
Leeds...................
1,500 St. Petersburg . .
2,500 Canton................
3,000
B elfast................
2,000 St. Thomas.........
4,000 Shanghai.............
3,000
Hong-Kong........
3 000 Elsineur.............
2,500
1,500 A m o y .................
Calcutta.............
3,500 Trieste........., . . . .
2,000 Fouchow.............
2,500
Halifax................
2,000 V ien na...............
2,500
1,000 N ingpo...............
Melbourne..........
4,000 Leipsic................
....
1,500 Sim oda...............
Nassau................
2,000 Munich...............
1,000 Hakodadi...........
....
Kingston, J a m ...
2,000 Bremen...............
2,000 Bruni...................
....
Rotterdam .........
2,000 H am burg...........
2,000 H onolulu...........
4,000
Amsterdam.........
1,000 Frankfort-ou the
Port-au-Prince
2,000
Aix-la-Chapelle .
2,500
M aine.............
2,000 City St. Domingo
1,500
Paris...................
5,000 Stuttgardt..........
l,r>00 Vera C ru z.........
3,500
Havre..................
5,000 Carlsrue.............
1,000 A capulco...........
2,000
Marseilles..........
2,500 Basle..................
1,500 S. Juan del Norte
2,000
Bordeaux .........
2,000 Zurich.................
1,500 San Juan del Sur
2,000
L y o n s.................
1,000 G eneva...............
1,500 Panama...............
3,500
La Rochelle . . . .
1,000 Genoa.................
1.500 Aspinwall...........
2,500
Nantes.................
1,000 Leghorn.............
1,500 Laguayra...........
1,500
Cadiz...................
1,500 N aples................
6,000
1,500 Rio de Janeiro...
M alaga...............
1,500 Palerm o.............
2,000
1,500 Pernambuco......
St. Jago de Cuba
2,000 Messina...............
2,000
1,000 Buenos A yres...
Matanzas............
8,000 Constantinople ...
3,500
2,500 C allao.................
St. John’s, P. R . .
2,000 Smyrna...............
2,000 Valparaiso.........
3,000
2,000
Trinidad de Cuba
3,000 Beirut .................
S ec. 5. And be it further enacted, That from and after the 30th day of June next
the President of the United States shall, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, appoint consuls and commercial agents for the United States to reside at the
following places, who shall receive during their continuance in office an annual com­
pensation for their services not exceeding the amount specified herein for each, and
who shall be at liberty to transact business:—
Southam pton-..
$1,000 Miquelon.........
$750 Tehuantepec.. . .
$1,000
Bristol.................
1,000 Barcelona...........
1,000
750 Manatitlan........
L eith ...................
1,000 Manilla...............
1,000
750 Omoa Truxillo.
D u blin ................
1.000 Macao..................
500
1,000 San Jose...........
1,000 Mozambique.......
C o r k ...................
500
750 Cartagena..........
1,000 F a ya l..................
Galway...............
500
750 Sabanillo . . . . . . .
750
B o m b a y .............
1,000 St. Jago C. Verd.
750 Ciudad Bolivar..
Singapore ........
1,000 H anover.............
750
500 Puerto Cabello..
Schwerin.............
G ibraltar...........
750
750
500 Maracaibo..........
Island of Malta..
1,000 Oldenburg .........
500 G uayaquil.........
750
Cape Town........
1,000 Santa Cruz..........
Maranham
Isl’nd.
750
750
Port L ou is.........
1,000 Gothenburg........
750 Rio Grande........
1,000
St. John’s, N. B..
1,000 V en ice................
750 Bahia..................
1,000
1,000 Spezzia . . . . . . . . .
1,000
Pictou..................
750 P a r a ...................
Demerara...........
1,000 Athens................
1000
1,000 Montevideo........
Sidney.................
1,000 Candia................
1,000 Talcahuano..........
1,000
Falkland Islands.
1,000 C vp rus...............
1,000 Paita..................
500
1,000 Turabez...............
500
Hobart T o w n ...
1,000 Zanl e ...................
1,000 Lahaina..............
1,000
Bermuda. . . . . . .
1,000 Monrovia...........
Turk’s Island . . .
1,000 Zanzibar.............
1,000 H ilo.....................
1,000
Barbadoes...........
1,000 Bay Islands........
1,000 A p ia ...................
1,000
1,000 Tahiti...................
1,000
Island of Trinidad
1,000 Cape Haytien ...
St. H elena.........
1,000 Aux Cayes.........
500 Lanthala............
1,000
1,000
St. Christopher..
1,000 M exico................
1,000 Batavia.............
500 Paramaribo........
500
A ntigua..............
1,000 Paso del N orte..
C eylon ................
1,000 Tampico.............
1,000 Padang...............
500
1,000 St. Martin..........
Odessa................
1,500 Matauioros........
500
G alatza..............
1,000 Tabasco..............
500 Curacoa...............
500
Martinique.........
750 Mazatlan.............
500




748

Commercial Regulations.

S ec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no envoy extraordinary and minister pleni­
potentiary, commissioner, secretary of legation, dragoman, interpreter, consul, or com­
mercial agent, who shall, after the 30th day of June next, be appointed to any of the
countries or places herein named, shall be entitled to compensation until he shall have
reached his post and entered upon his official duties.
S ec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the compensation of every envoy extraor­
dinary and minister plenipotentiary, commissioner, secretary of legation, dragoman,
interpreter, consul, and commercial agent, who shall, after the 30th day of June next,
be appointed to any of the countries or places herein named, shall cease on the day
that his successor shall enter upon the duties of his office.
S ec. 8. And be it further enacted, That no envoy extraordinary and minister pleni­
potentiary, commissioner, secretary of legation, dragoman, interpreter, consul, or com­
mercial agent, shall absent himself from the country to which he is accredited, or from
his consular district, for a longer period than ten days, without having previously ob­
tained leave from the President of the United States, and that during his absence for
any period longer than that time, either with or without leave, his salary shall not be
allowed him.
S ec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the President shall appoint no other than
citizens o f the United States, who are residents thereof, or who shall be abroad in the
employment of the government at the time of their appointment, as envoys extraor­
dinary and ministers plenipotentiary, commissioners, secretaries o f legation, drago­
mans, interpreters, consuls, or commercial agents, nor shall other than citizens of the
United States be employed either as vice-consul or consular agents, or as clerks in the
offices of either, and have access to the archives therein deposited.
S ec. 10. And be it further enacted, That envoys extraordinary and ministers pleni­
potentiary and consuls shall be required to locate their legations and consulates, in
the places in which they are established, in as central a position as can be conveni­
ently procured, and keep them open daily from ten o’clock in the morning until four
o’clock in the afternoon ; Sundays, other holy days, and anniversaries excepted.
S ec. 11. And be it further enacted, That as soon as a consul or commercial agent
shall be officially notified of his appointment, he shall execute a bond with two sure­
ties, in a sum of not less than §1,000 nor more than §10,000, for the faithful discharge
of every duty relating to his office ; which bond shall be satisfactory to the United
States district attorney for the district in which the appointed consul resides, and be
transmitted to the secretary of State for his approval. If the consul is not in the
United States at the time he is commissioned, as soon as he is apprised of the fact he
shall sign, and transmit by the most expeditious conveyance, a bond like the aforesaid,
which shall afterwards be undersigned by two sureties who are permanent residents
of the United States, and approved by the State department. Where there is a
United States legation in a country to which a consul shall be appointed, application
shall be made through it to the government for an exequator; but where there is
none, application shall be made direct to the proper department.
S ec. 12. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of consuls and com­
mercial agents to charge the following fees for perfoming the services specified, for
which, under the penalty of being removed from office, they shall account to the gov­
ernment at the expiration of every three months, and hold the proceeds subject to its
drafts:—
For receiving and delivering ships’ papers, one half cent on every ton, registered
measurement, of the vessel for which the service is performed.
For every seaman who may be discharged or shipped at the consulate or commer­
cial agency, or in the port in which they are located, one dollar; which shall be paid
by the master of the vessel.
For every other certificate, except passports, the signing and verification of which
shall be free, two dollars.
S ec. 13. And be it further enacted, That in capitals where a legation of the United
States is established, consuls and commercial agents shall only be permitted to grant
and verify passports in the absence of the United States diplomatic representative.
S ec. 14. And be it further enacted, That no commission shall in future be charged
by consuls or commercial agents for receiving or disbursing the wages or extra wages
to which seamen may be entitled who are discharged by the masters of vessels in for­
eign countries, or for moneys advanced to such as may be found in distress, seeking




Commercial Regulations.

UO

relief from the consulate or commercial agency; nor shall any consul or commercial
agent be directly or indirectly interested in any profits derived from clothing, board­
ing, or sending home such seamen.
S ec. 15. And be it further enacted, That no consul or commercial agent of the
United States shall discharge any mariner, being a citizen of the United States, in a
foreign port, without requiring the payment of the two months’ wages to which said
mariner is entitled under the provisions of the act of February 28, 1803, unless upon
due investigation into the circumstances under which the master and mariner have
jointly applied for such discharge, and on a private examination of such mariner by
the consul or commercial agent, separate and apart from all officers of the vessel, the
consul or commercial agent shall be satisfied that it is for the interest and welfare of
such mariner to be so discharged ; nor shall any consul or commercial agent discharge
any mariner as aforesaid without requiring the full amount of three months’ wages as
provided by the above-named act, unless under such circumstances as will in his judg­
ment secure the United States from all liability to expense on account of such mariner :
provided, that in the cases of stranded vessels, or vessels condemned as unfit for ser­
vice, no payment o f extra wages shall be required ; and where any mariner, after his
discharge, shall have incurred expense at the port of discharge before shipping again,
such expense shall be paid out of the two months’ wages aforesaid, and the balance
only delivered to him.
S ec. 16. And be it f urther enacted, That every consul and commercial agent of the
United States shall keep a detailed list of all mariners discharged by them respec­
tively, specifying their names and the names of the vessels from which they were dis­
charged, and the payments, if any, afterwards made on account of each, and shall
make official returns of said lists half yearly to the treasury department.
S ec. 17. And be it f urther enacted, That every consul and commercial agent of the
United States shall make an official entry of every discharge which they may grant,
respectively, on the list of the crew and shipping articles o f the vessel from which
such discharge shall be made, specifying the payment, if any, which has been required
n each case; and if the}Tshall have remitted the payment of the two months’ wages
to which the mariner is entitled, they shall also certify on said shipping list and arti­
cles that they have allowed the remission, upon the joint application of the master
and mariner therefor, after a separate examination of the mariner, after a due investi­
gation of all the circumstances, and after being satisfied that the charge so allowed,
without said payment, is for the interest and welfare of the mariner; and if they shall
have remitted the payment of the one month’s wages to which the United States is
entitled, they shall certify that they have allowed the remission after a due investiga­
tion of all the circumstances, and after being satisfied that they are such as will, in
their judgment, secure the United States from all liability to expense on account o f
such mariner ; and a copy of all such entries and certificates shall be annually trans­
mitted to the treasury department by the proper officers of the customs in the several
ports of the United States.
Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That if any consul or commercial agent of the
United States, upon discharging a mariner without requiring the payment of the one
month’s wages to which the United States is entitled, shall neglect to certify in the
manner required in such case by the preceding section of this act, he shall be account­
able to the treasury department for the sum so remitted. And in any action brought
by a mariner to recover the extra wages to which he is entitled under the act of F eb­
ruary 28, 1803, the defense that the payment of such wages was duly remitted shall
not be sustained without the production of the certificate in such case required by this
act, or when its non production is accounted for, by the production of a certified copy
thereof, and the truth of the facts certified to and the propriety of the remission shall
be still open to investigation.
S ec. 19. And be it further enacted, That if, upon the application of any mariner, it
shall appear to the consul or commercial agent that he is entitled to his discharge
under any act of Congress, or according to the general principles of the maritime law
as recognized in the United States, he shall discharge such mariner, and shall require
of the master the payment of three mouths’ wages, as provided in the act of Febru­
ary 28, 1803, and shall not remit the same, or any part thereof, except in the cases
mentioned in the ninth clause of the first section of the act of July 20th, 1840, to the
following effect: “ I f the consul or other commercial agent shall be satisfied the con­
tract has expired, or the voyage been protracted by circumstances beyond the control
of the master, and without any design on his part to violate the articles of shipment,




750

'

Commercial Regulations .

then he may, if he deems it just, discharge the mariner without exacting the three
months’ additional pay.”
Sec. 20. And be it further enacted, That every consul and commercial agent for
any neglect to perform the duties enjoined upon him by this act, shall be liable to any
injured person for all damages occasioned thereby; and for any violation of the pro­
visions of the fifteenth and nineteenth sections of this act shall also be liable to in­
dictment and to a penalty, in the manner provided by the eighteenth clause of the
first section of the act of July 20th, 18-M).
S ec. 21. And be it further enacted, That the act of April 14th, 1792, concerning
consuls, tfcc., is hereby so amended that if any American citizeu dying abroad shall, by
will or any other writing, leave special directions for the management and settlement
by the consul of the personal or other property which he may die possessed of in the
country where he may die, it shall be the duty of the consul, where the laws of the
country permit, strictly to observe the directions so given by the deceased ; or if such
citizen so dying shall, by will or any other writing, have appointed any other person
than the consul to take charge of and settle his affairs, in that case it shall be the duty
o f the consul, when and so often as required by the so appointed agent or trustee of
the deceased, to give his official aid in whatever way may be necessary to facilitate
the operations of such trustee or agent, and where the laws of the country permit, to
protect the property of the deceased from any interference of the local authorities o f
the country in which he may have died; and to this end it shall also be the duty o f
the consul to place his official seal on all or any portions of the property of the de­
ceased as may be required by the said agent or trustee, and to break and remove the
same seal when required by the agent or trustee, and not otherwise; he, the said
consul or commercial agent, receiving therefor two dollars for each seal, which, like all
other fees for consular service, including all charges for extension of protest, as also
such commissions as are allowed by existing laws on settlement of estates of Ameri­
can citizens by consuls and commercial agents, shall be reported to the treasury de­
partment, and held subject to its order.
S ec. 22. And be it further enacted, That the following record books shall be pro­
vided for and kept in each consulate and commercial agency: A letter book, into
which shall be copied, in the English language, all official letters and notes, in the
order of their dates, which are written by the consul or commercial agent; a book for
the entry of protests, and in which all other official consular acts likewise shall be re­
corded; and at seaports, a book wherein shall be recorded the list of crew, and the
age, tonnage, owner or owners, name and place to whith she belongs, of every Ameri­
can vessel which arrives. Consuls and commercial agents shall make quarterly re­
turns to their government, specifying the amount of fees received, the number of ves­
sels, and the amount of their tonnage, which have arrived and departed; the number
of seamen, and what portion of them are protected; and, as nearly as possible, the
nature and value o f their cargoes, and where produced.
S ec. 23. And be it further enacted, That as soon as a consul or commercial agent
shall have received his exequator, or been provisionally recognized, he shall apply to
his predecessor for the archives of the consulate or commercial agency, and make an
inventory of the papers, and such other articles as they may contain, for which he
shall pass a receipt and transmit a copy thereof to the state department.
Sec. 24. And be it further enacted, That the secretary of state be and he is hereby
authorized to prescribe such additional regulations for the keeping of consular books
and records, and insuring proper returns, as the public interest may require.
S ec. 25. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be and
he is hereby authorized to bestow the title of consul-general upon any United States
consul in Asia or Africa, when, in his opinion, such title will promote the public in­
terest.
S ec. 26. Andbe it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts authorizing at­
taches to any of our legations, or the payments to ministers and consuls of the United
States of outfits or infits, or salaries for clerk hire and office rent, be and the same are
hereby repealed.
S ec. 27. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act take effect from
and after the 30th of June next, any law or laws of the United States to the contrary
notwithstanding.
Approved March 1, 1855.




Journal o f Insurance.

JOURNAL

OF

751

INSURANCE.

MASSACHUSETTS LAW OF INSURANCE COMPANIES.
, The following act, passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts during the session of
1854, and approved April 9th, 1854, embodies nearly all the law relating to insurance
companies in that State:—
A N A C T C O N C E R N IN G IN S U R A N C E
S e c t io n

C O M P A N IE S .

1. All insurance companies that have been, or may hereafter be incor­

porated in this Commonwealth, may exercise the powers, and shall be subject to the
duties and liabilities provided in this act, and in the forty-fourth chapter of the Re­
vised Statutes, so far as may be consistent with the provisions of their respective
charters.
Sec. 2. The first meeting of any insurance company shall be called by a notice
signed by one or more of the persons named in the act of incorporation, setting forth
the time, place, and purposes of the meeting; and such notice shall, seven days at
least before the meeting, be delivered to each member, or published in some newspa­
per of the county in which the company may be established, or if there be no news­
paper in the county, then in some newspaper of an adjoining county. Special meet­
ings may be called by the directors whenever they think proper, and shall be called
by them upon the written application of the owners of one-fifth of the capital stock,
or of twenty stockholders or members of the company, setting forth the purposes of
the meeting.
S ec. 3. Every company shall annually choose, by ballot, from the stockholders or
members of the company resident in this Commonwealth, not less than five directors,
to hold their office one year, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead.
Proxies may be authorized in writing, each share being entitled to one vote; but no
stockholder or member of the company shall have more than thirty votes.
S ec. 4. The directors shall annually, by ballot, choose a president and secretary, and
other officers provided by the by laws, and the president shall be chosen from the
board of directors. These officers shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their du­
ties. The secretary shall keep a true record of the votes of the company and of the
directors ; a true list of stockholders, and the number of shares owned by each one ; a
record of the transfer of shares; a record of all policies issued by the company ; and
all assignments of policies assented to. The secretary and treasurer shall also give
bond, with sureties, in such sum as the directors shall order, with condition faithfully
to perform the duties of their office, and to account for all moneys received by them.
Not less than four directors shall constitute a quorum, and all questions shall be de­
cided by a majority of those present. Vacancies in any office may be filled by a new
election, at a meeting called for that purpose.
S ec. 5. The capital stock shall be paid in within twelve months from the date of
the charter, unless otherwise specially provided for in the act of incorporation, and
shall be invested in the stocks of the United States, of this Commonwealth, or of any
city or town thereof, or in the stocks of any bank or railroad in this Commonwealth,
or other corporation whose property consists entirely of real estate, or in bonds of rail­
road companies in this Commonwealth; or may be loaned on mortgages of real es­
tate, pledges of any of the stocks or bonds named in this section, on bottomry or
respondentia: provided, that not more than one-third of the capital stock of any in­
surance compauy shall be invested in the stocks or bonds of any one railroad company
or bank, and not more than one-half of the capital stock shall be invested iu the stocks
of railroad companies, nor more than three fourths in bank stocks, nor more than twothirds shall be loaned on mortgages of real estate, bottomry, or respondentia; and the
sum loaned on any one bottom shall not exceed one-tenth of the capital stock of said
insurance company; and if any investment or loan be made in any manner not author­
ized by the provisions o f this law, the directors making or authorizing such investment
or loan shall be personally liable to the stockholders for any loss occasioned thereby.
Nothing contained in this act shall compel any insurance company, already chartered
and doing business, to change any investment which has been made in conformity to
the provisions of law existing at the time said investment was made.




752

Journal o f Insurance.

S ec. 6. No company shall deal or trade in buying or selling goods, wares, merchan­
dise, stocks, or other property, excepting such articles as may have been insured, and
are claimed to be damaged by fire or water.
S ec. 7. Companies thus organized may insure vessels, freight, money, goods, effects ;
money lent upon bottomry and respondentia; against the perils of the sea and other
perils insured against by marine insurance; dwelling-houses and other buildings; mer­
chandise and other personal property, against fire ; and the lives of persons; accord­
ing to their respective charters. But no stock company shall take on any one risk a
sum exceeding a tenth of the capital paid in. Policies shall be signed by the secre­
tary and president; and in case of the absence, inability, or death of either of these
officers, by two directors. Companies may reinsure any risks taken by them.
S ec. 8. It shall not be lawful for any insurance company incorporated by a law of
this Commonwealth, to issue policies or do any business under any other name, style,
designation, or title, nor for any other purpose, nor upon any other principle, than is
expressed in its charter.
S ec. 9. Every person acting for an insurance company not incorporated in this
Commonwealth shall exhibit, in conspicuous letters, on the sign designating his place
of business, the name of the State under whose authority the company he repre­
sents has been incorporated. And said company and agent shall also have printed,
in large type, the name of such State upon all policies issued, to citizens of this Com­
monwealth, on all cards, placards, and pamphlets, and in all advertisements published,
issued, or circulated in this State by them or him, relating to the business of such
company.
S ec. 10. No person shall be allowed to act as agent of any insurance company not
incorporated in this Commonwealth, until such company and such agent shall have
complied with all the requirements of the laws of this Commonwealth reh ting to such
companies and their agents, and every person so acting without such compliance, shall
forfeit for every such offense a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars.
S ec. 11. All mortgages on real estate held by any insurance company shall be liable
to be attached, taken, and sold on execution in the manner provided in the fifty-second,
fifty-thiro, and fifty-fourth sections o f the thirty sixth chapter of the Revised Statutes,
in respect to mortgages held by banks. And the secretary shall perform the duties
therein required of cashiers or clerks.
S ec. 12. At the annual meeting of the company the directors shall furnish a state­
ment of the condition of the company, and in making dividends, shall not consider as
any part of the profits the money received and notes taken for premiums on risks
which are at the time outstandii g and undetermined. When the capital stock is re­
duced in any way, the amount thereafter to be taken on any one risk shall forthwith
correspondingly be reduced to the limitation in the seventh section of this act, until
the capital shall be restored to its original amount. If the directors do not comply
with these provisions, they shall be liable for any loss on insurance effected while the
diminution continues. If any company shall be under liability for losses actually sus­
tained equal to the capital, and the president and directors knowing it, shall make in­
surance, whoever makes the insurance or assents thereto, shall be liable for the loss,
if any takes place, under such insurance. And if the capital stock be lessened by
losses, before all installments are paid in, each stockholder shall be liable for the in­
stallments unpaid on his shares at the time of such loss, and no dividend shall be made
until the capital shall be restored to its original amount.
S ec. 13. Every company shall be liable to be taxed by any general law for taxing
similar companies, and the directors shall, whenever required, furnish to the legisla­
ture or a committee thereof, a statement of their affairs, and submit to examination on
oath concerning the same.
S ec. 14. Every company, except mutual companies, shall annually, between the
first and tenth days of May, make return by mail or otherwise to the assessors o f
every city or tow n in this Commonwealth in which any stockholder resides, of the
names of such stockholders, the number of shares belonging to each on the first day of
May, with the par value, and the cash market value of the shares, so far as they can
ascertain the same; and every company shall make return of the number of shares of
corporate stock of all kinds held as collateral security for the debt or liability of any
person residing in such city or town on the first day of May, with the name of the per­
son, number of shares, and par value. And every mutual fire insurance company hav­
ing a guaranty stock, shall make a like return of the stockholders of the guaranty
atock. Any company neglecting to make the returns provided in this section, or that
shall make false returns, shall forfeit for each offense not less than fifty, nor more than




Journal o f Insurance .

15 3

one thousand dollars to the use of the town or city in which such stockholders may
reside, to be recovered in the name of such town or city.
S eo. 15. Every mutual insurance company shall annually elect, by ballot, not less
than seven directors, citizens of this Commonwealth, and after the first election, mem­
bers o f the company; and they shall manage and conduct the business thereof. Every
person insured by the company shall be a member, and no one member shall be al­
lowed more than five votes. Proxies may be authorized in writing: provided that all
such proxies shall be dated within six months previous to the meeting of said com­
pany, at which the same may be used ; and provided also, that no individual or officer
of a mutual insurance company shall be allowed, by virtue of any such proxy or prox­
ies held by him, to cast more than twenty votes.
Sec. 16. The directors of every corporation which shall become a member of any
mutual company, may authorize one or more of the stockholders of such corporation
to represent the same in all meetings of the mutual company, and in the transaction
of all business; and such representatives shall vote and be eligible to the office of di­
rector in the company.
S ec. 17. Any member of a mutual insurance company may be a competent witness
in all cases, civil or criminal, in which the company is a party or interested.
S ec. 18. Whenever the just claims against a mutual fire insurance company exceed
the funds, exclusive of deposit notes, the directors shall assess such sums as may be
necessary upon the members in proportion to their premiums and deposit, no member
being liable to pay more than double the amouut of his premium and deposit, and
said assessment shall be made upon such notes as were given upon hazards, associated
with the property upon which losses have occurred, according to the by-laws of said
company. And whenever sufficient property of the company cannot be found to
satisfy an execution issued against them, and the company have property, the pro­
ceeds of which can be applied to satisfy such execution, and the directors neglect to
pay the same, or neglect for thirty days after the rendition of judgment to make an
assessment, and deliver the same to the secretary or treasurer for collection, or to
apply such assessment, when collected, to the payment of the execution, in either
o f these cases the directors shall be personally liable for the amount of the exe­
cution.
S ec. 19. I f the secretary or treasurer of any mutual company unreasonably neglect
to collect an assessment made by order of the directors, and to apply the same to the
payment of the claims for which they were made, he shall, in his private capacity, be
liable for the amount of the assessments to the person having claims against the com­
pany, and he may repay himself for such payments out of any moneys afterwards re­
ceived for the company.
Sec. 20. Whenever the directors of a mutual company shall be liable to pay any
execution against the company, the creditor may recover by a bill in equity in the
Supreme Judicial Court, or by an action at law against the directors. And any director
who shall pay any execution against the company for which he is personally liable,
may have a suit at law with equitable remedies for contribution against any of the
directors for their proportion, and also a suit at law with equitable remedies against
the company or the individual members thereof, who may be liable therefor for money
so paid for them; provided that no member shall be liable to pay more than double
the amount of his premium and deposit note.
S ec. 21. Every member of a mutual company shall, at the expiration of his policy,
have a share in the funds after all expenses and losses then incurred have been de­
ducted, in proportion to the sums by him paid on account of said policy, according to
the contract, policy, or by-laws.
S ec. 22. No policy shall be issued by any mutual fire insurance company until one
hundred thousand dollars shall have been subscribed to be insured by the company,
nor for a term exceeding seven years; and every policy made by such company shall
create a lien on the personal property and on any building insured, and the land under
the same, for securing the payment of the deposit note and any sums assessed upon
the insured: provided the extent of the liability, and the intention of the company to
rely upon the lien, shall be set forth in the policy, and that upon the alienation o f the
property to a bona fide purchaser, the lien shall cease as to all losses which shall here­
after happen, unless the policy shall be contiuued by consent of the purchaser and
company. And if it shall become necessary to resort to such lien for the payment of
VOL, XXXII.---- NO. VI.




48

754

Journal o f Insurance.

the sum secured thereby, the secretary shall demand payment from the insured, and
also from the tenant in possession or the person having possession of the personal
property, setting forth in writing the sum du e; and in case of non-payment, the com­
pany may sue and levy the execution upon the property or estate. The officer making
the levy may sell the whole or any part thereof by auction, and apply the proceeds in
the same manner as in the sale of an equity of redemption of real estate; and the
owner shall have the same right to redeem any real estate thus sold as in case of the
sale of an equity of redemption upon execution.
S kc. 23. Mutual fire insurance companies are empowered to insure property in­
cluded in the terms of their charters, situated in the States of Massachusetts, New
York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania.
S ec. 24. The directors of mutual fire insurance companies may divide the property
insured into four classes. The policy shall designate the class, and the assessments
shall be made upon premiums and deposit notes belonging to the class in which the
loss occurs: provided that no policy shall be issued in a separate class until one hun­
dred thousand dollars shall be subscribed to be insured in that class. The expenses
of the company not strictly applicable to either class shall be apportioned to each
class according to the amount of premiums; and in a division of the funds and re­
turns of premiums and deposits, each member is ent'tled to receive his proportion of
the funds belonging to the class in which he was insured.
S ec. 25. No policy shall be issued by a mutual marine insurance company until the
members thereof have signed an agreement substantially as follows, viz.:—
“ The subscribers, members of t h e ---------- M. M. Company, severally agree to pay
said company, on demand, the sums set against their names, or such part thereof as
may be called in for the use of the company, in money or promissory notes.”
And when two hundred thousand dollars, if the company is in Boston, or fifty thou­
sand, if elsewhere, has been subscribed, and the president and directors have certified
that the subscribers are known to them, and they believe them solvent and able to
pay their subscriptions, policies may be issued ; and subsequent subscriptions shall be
certified in the same manner.
And any person making a false certificate shall be liable for the sum which the sub­
scriber fails to pay. Any company may, instead of the subscriptions, commence busi­
ness with guaranty stock of not less than fifty thousand dollars, paid in and invested,
and may pay as a dividend upon said stock the same per cent of profits as shall be
declared an earned premium, and may pay the principal of the stock when the net
profits shall be sufficient to replace the stock, and shall have been invested. Every
person subscribing the agreement before the organization of the company and every
person insured, shall be members thereof. But such subscribers shall be members for
one year only after the organization, and those insured shall not be members after the
termination o f the risk and the payment of any sum due by reason thereof. When
the profits exceed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the surplus above that
sum may be divided among those entitled thereto, according to the bye-laws of the
company.
S ec. 26. The subscription provided for in the preceding section, whether paid in
money or notes, shall be taken for premiums for insurance thereafter to be effected
for the subscribers by the company, and shall be held for losses of the company as
they accrue. The notes shall be payable within one year from date, shall be deemed
part of the capital, and may be collected or negotiated for the benefit of the company.
And if the company shall be liable for losses beyond the amount of the fund, cash un­
paid, premiums for risks terminated, and subscriptions, the president and directors,
knowing the condition of the company, shall be liable personally to the insured for all
losses occurring on insurance effected while such state of things continues. And the
company shall not have at risk on the same bottom by bottomry or respondentia, and
by policies on vessels, freight, or property, more than ten per cent of the subscriptions
and invested fund. And whenever, by means o f open policies or indorsements thereon,
more than ten per cent is so at risk, the directors shall, as soon as may be, obtain re­
insurance for the amount of such excess ; and in case of wilful neglect, shall be liable
to pay the company all losses sustained by reason of such excess.
S ec. 27. Before any mutual life insurance company shall go into operation, a guar­
anty capital of one hundred thousand dollars shall be subscribed iu shares of one
hundred dollars each, and one-half paid in cash, the other half to be paid as the di­
rectors may determine. The subscribers or holders of guaranty stock in any mutual




Journal o f Insurance.

*755

life insurance company shall choose the first board of directors; at all subsequent
elections they shall choose a majority of the directors until the redemption of the
guaranty stock, when the insured shall choose all the directors. The stockholders
shall be entitled to such annual dividends, not exceeding seven per cent, as may be
agreed upon at the time of subscribing, if the profits of the company are sufficient
for that purpose; and, if less than the sum agreed, it shall be made equal to it when
the profits of the company are sufficient. One quarter of the estimated surplus fund
above the risks, losses, expenses, and dividends, shall be reserved, to be applied to the
redemption of the guaranty stock; and after the expiration of ten years from the or­
ganization, when the amount reserved shall be sufficient, and the insured shall so
vote, the guaranty stock may be redeemed. At the expiration of every five years,
the residue of the estimated surplus funds shall be divided among the insured in pro­
portion to the whole amount of premiums paid during the preceding five years.
S ec. 28. A policy of insurance on the life of any person, expressed to be for the
benefit of a married woman, whether made by herself, her husband, or any other per­
son, shall enure to her separate use and benefit, and that of her children, independ­
ently of her husband or his creditors, or the person effecting the same, or his creditors.
A trustee may be appointed by the party obtaining the policy, or in case of no ap­
pointment by such party, then by the judge of probate for the county in which the
party for whose benefit said policy is made resides, to hold the interest of the mar­
ried woman in such policy, or the proceeds thereof. A policy effected by any person
on his own life, or on the life of another, expressed to be for the benefit of such other
or his representatives, or a third person, the person for whose benefit it was made
shall be entitled thereto against the creditors and the representatives of the person
effecting the same. If the premium is paid by any person with intent to defraud his
creditors, an amount equal to the premium so paid, with interest thereon, shall enure
to the benefit of his creditors.
S ec. 29. Every company empowered to make insurance on lives upon land shall be
subject to the same obligations for the payment of a certain share of the profits to the
Massachusetts General Hospital as are imposed on the Massachusetts Hospital Life
Insurance Company. And the net profits of the business of mutual life insurance
companies, one-third of which they are required to pay to the trustees of said hospital,
shall be taken to be the excess of the dividends over six per cent annually, payable
by the said companies to the holders of the guaranty stock actually paid in. And
after the guaranty stock shall be redeemed, the companies shall pay to the said trus­
tees the same sum annually as before the redemption.
S ec. 30. The word foreign used in this act applies to all companies not incorporated
by the Legislature of this Commonwealth.
S ec. 31. No foreign insurance company, by their agent in this Commonwealth, shall
insure property in this Commonwealth, or contract for insurance with any residents in
this Commonwealth, unless the capital stock of the company amounts to one hundred
thousand dollars, all of which sums shall have been paid in and invested, exclusive o f
stockholders’ obligations of any description, and the debts of the company ; nor unless
the company is restricted, by its charter or otherwise, from incurring any greater haz­
ard in one risk than one-tenth of its capital, nor unless the company shall have com­
plied with the provisions of this act.
S eo. 32. Every foreign insurance company shall, in writing, appoint a citizen of this
Commonwealth, resident therein, a general agent, with instructions to accept service
o f all lawful processes against the company, in like manner as if the company had
existed and been duly served with process in this Commonwealth. And a copy of
the writing, duly certified and authenticated, shall be filed in the office of the Secre­
tary of this Commonwealth, and copies certified by the Secretary shall be evidence in
the courts o f this Commonwealth. This agency shall be continued while any liability
remains outstanding against the company in this Commonwealth; and the power
shall not be revoked until the same power is given to another, and a copy thereof
filed as aforesaid. And service upon such agent shall be deemed sufficient service
upon the principal.
Sec. 33. The general agent shall, before any insurance is made by the foreign insu­
rance company, give a bond to the Treasurer of this Commonwealth, with one or
more sureties, to be approved by him, in the sum of five thousand dollars, with con­
ditions that he will accept service of all lawful processes against the company in the
manner provided in the thirty-second section of this a ct; and every agent of any for­
eign insurance company doing business in this Commonwealth, shall, before making




756

Journal o f Insurance.

any insurance, give a bond to the Treasurer of this Commonwealth, with one or more
sureties, to be approved by him, in the sum of one thousand dollars, with conditions
that he will, on or before the fifteenth day of December, in each year, make return
on oath to the Treasurer of this Commonwealth of the amount insured by him, the
premiums received, and assessments collected during the year ending on the thirtieth
day of the November preceding, and at the same time pay to the Treasurer the tax
provided in the thirty-fourth section of this act.
S ec. 34. Whenever, by the laws of any other State, any taxes, fines, penalties, de­
posits of money, or of securities or other obligations, are or shall be imposed upon in­
surance companies incorporated or organized under the laws of this Commonwealth,
and transacting business in such other State, or upon the agents of such insurance
companies, then, so long as such law or laws shall continue in force, the same taxes,
fines, penalties, deposits, and obligations shall be imposed upon all insurance compa­
nies doing business in this Commonwealth, which are incorporated or organized under
the laws of such other State, and upon their agents.
S ec. 35. The general agent of every foreign insurance company shall, before any
insurance is made, deposit with the Secretary of the Commonwealth a copy of the
charter of the company, and a statement, in the form appended to this act, signed and
sworn to by the President and Secretary, and shall, before the fifteenth day of De­
cember, annually, transmit a statement in the form appended to this act, signed and
sworn to by the President and Secretary, made up to the time of the last annual
statement of such company to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and shall publish
a copy thereof twice, in two different newspapers in each county in which the com­
pany has established an agency, and in counties in which but one newspaper is pub­
lished three successive weeks.
S ec. 36. If insurance is made by a foreign insurance company without complying
with the requisitions of this act, the contiact shall be valid; but the agent making
the insurance shall be liable to the penalty provided in the thirty ninth section of this
act. And if any such company shall neglect, after notice by the JYeasurer of this
Commonwealth, to appoint a general agent, agreeably to the provisions of this act,
they shall not recover any premium or assessment made by them on any contract of
insurance with a citizen of this Commonwealth, until the provisions of this act are
complied with.
S ec. 37. Every insurance company in this Commonwealth shall, before the fif­
teenth day of December, annually, transmit to the Secretary of the Commonwealth
a statement, made up to the first day of the month, in the form appended to this act,
signed and sworn to by the President and Secretary. And the Secretary of the
Commonwealth shall, annually, in the month of October, furnish to the insurance
companies two or more printed copies of the form of return to be made by them.
S ec. 38. The companies now incorporated shall, within one year, conform to the
provisions of this act, and the returns made in December next shall conform thereto.
The charters of all companies that do not give notice to the Secretary of the Com­
monwealth of the acceptance of the charter, and organize within one year from its
date, shall be void.
S ec. 39. Any person who shall procure payment or any obligation for the payment
o f any premium for insurance, by false or fraudulent representations, shall be punished
by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding six months,
for each offense.
S ec. 40. Any agent making insurance in violation of this act, or any law o f this
Commonwealth, shall forfeit, for each offense, a sum not exceeding five hundred dol­
lars ; and every person who shall make contract for, receive, or transmit proposals for
insurance, or receive for delivery, policies founded on proposals forwarded by him from
this Commonwealth, shall be deemed the agent of the company, within the meaning
o f this act.
S ec. 41. Every insurance company, and every agent of a foreign insurance compa­
ny, neglecting to make the returns required by this act, shall forfeit one hundred dol­
lars for each and every day’s neglect, to be recovered by the Treasurer of the Com­
monwealth.
S ec . 42. The Secretary7, Treasurer, and Auditor of the Commonwealth are made in­
surance commissioners, and may appoint an actuary to examine the statements and
bonds of all insurance companies and agents, and to render other services necessary to
secure a compliance with this act, and prosecute all infractions thereof; and the Gov­
ernor and Council may allow a reasonable compensation for services rendered and ex­




N autical Intelligence.

151

penses incurred, in enforcing the provisions of this act.
The Secretary of State shall
prepare an abstract of all the statements by the companies, and by the agents of for­
eign companies, and cause the same to be printed and furnished to the Legislature in
the month of January, annually.
S ec. 43. All insurance companies incorporated by, and doing business under, the
law of this Commonwealth, may, at any annual or special meeting thereof, adopt any
by-laws for the administration or regulation of their business, which shall not be re­
pugnant to the provisions of their respective charters, or to the laws of this Common­
wealth.
S ec. 44. The following acts, viz.: the thirty-seventh chapter of the Revised Stat­
utes ; the two hundred and eighth chapter of the statutes, passed in the year eighteen
hundred and thirty-six; the one hundred and ninety-second chapter of the statutes,
passed in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-seven; the thirty-fifth and the one
hundred and seventy-eighth chapters of the statutes, passed in the year eighteen hun­
dred and thirty-eight; the ninth and twenty-first chapters of the statutes, passed in
the year eighteen hundred and forty-two; the eighty-second chapter of the statutes,
passed in the year eighteen hundred and forty-four; the seventeenth and fifty fifth
chapters of the statutes, passed in the year eighteen hundred and forty fiv e; the two
hundred and forty-eighth and two hundred and seventy-third chapters of the statutes,
passed in the year eighteen hundred and forty-seven ; the eighty-first chapter o f the
statutes, passed in the year eighteen hundred and forty-eight; the one hundred and
fourth chapter, so far as relates to insurance companies, of the statutes, passed in the
year eighteen hundred and forty-nine ; the two hundred and seventy-ninth chapter and
the three hundred and eighth chapter, so far as relates to insurance companies, of the
statutes, passed in the year eighteen hundred and fifty ; the ninetieth, the one hundred
and fifty-seventh, the one hundred and sixty-fifth, the one hundred and seventieth, the
two hundred and eighty-first, and the three hundred and thirty-first chapters of the
statutes, passed in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-one; the two hundred and
twenty-seventh, the two hundred and thirty-first, and the three hundred and eleventh
chapters of the statutes, passed in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-two ; the three
hundred and thirty-third and three hundred and seventy sixth chapters of the statutes,
passed in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-three; and all other general laws incon­
sistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed ; saving to the Common­
wealth, and individuals, and corporations, any forfeiture and penalties which have ac­
crued for violations of the provisions of the acts repealed.
S ec. 45. This act shall have no effect in any action now pending.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.
A VALUABLE NAUTICAL INSTRUMENT.
A t a recent session of the Academy o f Sciences at Paris, a letter from a gentleman
o f Genoa was read, in which he announces his having invented a mechanism by means
o f which the latitude and longitude of a ship can be readily ascertained without an
observation of the sun or moon, and without a comparison of the time on the ship with
the time of the chronometer.
Not quite equal to this extraordinary instrument, says the New York Times, the
alleged capabilities of which we venture to doubt until it has been practically tested,
we would mention a new and exceedingly valuable nautical instrument, which has
already been practically tested and proved by Captain Comstock of the Baltic, in his
trips across the Atlantic. It is the work of an exceedingly shrewd and acnte Yankee,
now residing in New Brunswick, N. J. Its peculiar value consists in the fact that it
makes no use of an artificial horizon, and determines the latitude and longitude of a
ship equally well in foggy as in clear weather, provided some known heavenly body
can be seen. This is a desideratum in nautical instruments which has long been
sought after, but hitherto without success.




N autical Intelligence ,

V5 8

NOTICES TO MARINERS.
NORTH
F IX E D

L IG H T

ON

COAST
CAPE

OF

SPAIN.

L A H I G U E R A , F U E N T E R R A B IA .

The Spanish government has given notice, that on the 1st of April, 1855, a perma­
nent fixed light will be established on Cape La Higuera, on the Western side of the
Bay of Fuenterrabia, at the mouth of the Jliver Bidassoa, instead of the present tem­
porary light for the use of fishing vessels.
The new light tower stands in latitude 48° 23£' north, longitude 1° 4'7/ west of
Greenwich. The illuminating apparatus is catadioptric or refracting, of the 5th order.
The light is fixed, of the natural color, and is exhibited at an elevation of 290 feet
above the level of the sea; but being of small power will not be visible beyond a dis­
tance of seven or eight miles.
This light is the first or easternment on the north coast of Spain, nearest the French
frontier; the fixed light of Socoa and the revolving light of Biarritz may be in sight at
the same time with it; the mariner is therefore cautioned not to mistake them one for
another.
JOHN WASHINGTON, Hydrograplier.
H y d r o g r a p h ic O f f ic e , A d m ir a l t y , L o n d o n , >

March 16th, 1855.

$

NORE LIGHT.
The attention of this corporation having been given to the difficulty which is now
experienced of distinguishing the light exhibited on board the floating light vessel at
the Nore, by reason of the lights which are shown on board of vessels at anchor in the
vicinity thereof, in compliance with the authorized admiralty regulation which requires
that all vessels shall exhibit a bright light when at anchor, it has been deemed advisa­
ble that the character of the floating light at the Nore should be changed; and notice
is hereby given, that on or about the 21st of June next, the light at the Nore will
cease to be exhibited as a fixed light, and that a revolving light, showing a flash of
bright light, at intervals of thirty seconds, will be exhibited instead thereof. By order,
J. HERBERT, Secretary.
T r in it y H o u s e , L o n d o n ,

March 28,1855.

OF SHIPWRECKED VESSELS ON THE COASTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The following act passed at the second session of the Thirty-Third Congress, was
approved December 14, 1854:—
A C T F O R T H E B E T T E R P R E S E R V A T IO N O F L I F E A N D P R O P E R T Y

F R O M V E S S E L S S H IP W R E C K E D

ON T H E CO ASTS O F T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S .

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is here­
by, authorized to establish such additional stations, on the coasts o f Long Island and
New Jersey, for affording aid to shipwrecked vessels thereon, to change the location
of the existing stations, and to make such repairs and to furnish such apparatus and
supplies as may, in his judgment, be best adapted to give effect to the objects of this
act.
S ection 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he
is hereby, authorized to appoiut a keeper, at a compensation not exceeding two hun­
dred dollars, at each of the stations to be established under the provisions of the first
section of this act, and a superintendent, who shall also have the powers and perform
the duty of an inspector of the customs for each of the coasts therein mentioned, and
to give said keepers and superintendents proper instructions relative to the duties to
be required o f them.
S ect. 3. And be it further enacted, That no boat shall be purchased and located
at any point other than on the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey, unless the same
be placed in the immediate care of an officer of the government, or unless bond shall
be given by proper individuals, living in the neighborhood, conditioned for the care
and preservation of the same, and its application to the uses intended.
S ec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is,
hereby, authorized to establish stations at such lighthouses as in his judgment he shall
deem best, and the keepers of such lights shall take charge of such boats and appara­
tus as may be put in their charge respectively, as a part of their official duties.




Statistics o f Agriculture, etc.

159

STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. &c.
THE HOP : ITS CULTURE, HISTORV, ASD STATISTICS.
Charles L. F lint, Esq., the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture,
in the second annual report of that Board made to the Legislature of the Common­
wealth in January, 1855, devotes some twenty-five or thirty pages to the culture of
the hop. From the report of Mr. Flint we condense or excerpt some of the most in­
teresting statements, and particularly such as are in keeping with the design and scope
o f the Merchants' Magazine. Mr. Flint, the Secretary of the Board, spent the early
part of his life in the immediate vicinity of a hop-growing district, and subsequently
in the course of his investigations, connected with his official duties, obtained many
statistics and facts from successful growers in Massachusetts.
I ts N atural H istory. The hop (humulus) is a hardy, herbaceous plant, of the
nettle order, constituting a genus by itself, under the name of Lupulus. The common
American name for it is from the old Saxon hoppan, “ to climb,” and the generic bo­
tanical term, humulus, is from the Latin humus, fresh earth, and applied to it on ac­
count o f the natural habits of the plant, when left to itself, of creeping along the
ground. Its specific botanical name, Lupulus, was given it by the Romans, because
when growing among the willows it twined around and choked them, proving as de­
structive as the wolf. The old English name signified the “ bane of the wolf.”
I ts H istory as a Cultivated Plant. The hop grows wild in Sweden, Germany,
Switzerland, England, and in Massachusetts, where it is indigenous. It is probably
indigenous also to Europe, though supposed by some naturalists to have been brought
there by the Goths at a very early period. It was known, probably, to the Greeks
# and Romans. It became more known as a cultivated plant in modern Europe after
the 8th and 9th centuries. It was cultivated in Germany in the 14th century, and in­
troduced into England, but not much cultivated, previous to 1524. The prejudices
against this plant were at first very great, and Henry V III. ordered the brewer not
to put hops into the ale. Its cultivation was afterwards encouraged by acts of Par­
liament One of the first works published on this subject was, “ A Perfite Platfurme
of a Hoppe Garden,” in 1578. The cultivation of hop3 in Sweden was regarded o f
so great importance that every farmer was required by law to have at least forty poles
of them; and in failure o f this he was punished, unless he could show that his land
was not capable o f producing them ; and the picking of them before they were ripe
was followed by a penalty. The cultivation was brought to considerable perfection
there as early as the close of the 17th century. This plant was introduced into Mas­
sachusetts at a very early date. “ Hop rootes” were ordered by the Governor and
Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England in 1628. The cultivation of this
crop in Massachusetts has grown up for the most part within the last seventy years,
and its history is so interesting as to merit a more extended notice.
Colonel Samuel Jaques, of Wilmington, who may justly be called the founder of
this business, was the first in the country to dry hops with charcoal, in September,
1791. A t the suggestion of Robert Laird, a Scotch brewer, who afterwards lived
many years in Newburyport, young Jaques, then a lad o f fifteen, but already suffi­
ciently advanced to be intrusted, in the absence of his father, with the responsibility
of overseeing the harvesting of the crop, gave directions to have the hops picked en­
tirely free from stems and leaves, sent at once to a neighbor’s for a load of charcoal,
and produced the most beautiful kiln of hops that had ever been dried in America.
He was not only astonished himself, but astonished all the neighbors. When his father




Statistics o f A griculture, etc.

760

returned on Saturday night, and beheld what had been done, he could hardly restrain
his joy and delight, for a new era had begun in his favorite pursuit.
The superiority of this mode o f picking and drying was so apparent, that in 1792'
it was pretty generally adopted, and has been practiced to this da y; for, as this arti­
cle became valuable from these improved processes, the demand increased, doubled
and tripled, the culture extended, and the slips or cuttings to form new plantations
soon rose to exorbitant prices.
It wa9 the universal custom at that time to pack the hops in round bags, without
any uniformity in length or size, by treading them down with the feet in the rude
manner still practiced in England. The consequence was, that the tops were bruised
and broken, causing great loss in strength and value by evaporation of the essential
juices of the plant, its most valuable properties, to say nothing of the impossibility of
packing closely for exportation. Young Jaques, leaving his father after the harvest
o f the crop o f 1197, came to Charlestown, and soon commenced packing hops in
square bales, by means o f screws. The superiority of this mode was so apparant
that it soon became general.
The crop in Massachusetts in 1840 was returned as 237,941 pounds, estimated to be
worth to the growers no less than $71,382 30. From that time the prices fell, till
only 150,655 pounds were reported in the official returns of 1850, valued at $37,663 75.
The average price per pound, in 1847, was but 6 f cents; and in 1848 but 7 cents.
Among the reasons for these low prices was the fact that the quality of Massachusetts
hops had somewhat depreciated, and consequently their reputation was greatly in­
jured. The cause o f the depreciation in quality will be alluded to hereafter.
Passing over the mode of culture, more suitable for a purely agricultural journal
than a commercial magazine, we give a table exhibiting the quantity of hops in Mas­
sachusetts, in each year from 1806 to the present time. For the last four years the
price to the grower has averaged 25 cents per pound. The average price of hops for .
the the last fifty years has been 14.8 cents per pound.
Q U A N T IT Y IN B A L E S A N D P O U N D S , A V E R A G E P R I C E , A N D V A L U E OP H O P S IN S P E C T E D IN
M A S SA C H U SE T T S I N E A C H T E A R P R O M

Years.

1806___
1807___
1808___
1809___
1810___
1811___
1812___
1813___
1814___
1815___
1816___
1 8 1 7 ...'.
1818___
1819___
1820___
1821___
1822___
1823___
1824___
1825___
1826___
1827___
1828___
1S29___
1830___

Bales.

Pounds.

910
1,167
1,071
993
1,124
1,519
1,267
967
767
1,434
1,336
3,087
2,709
2,834
3,655
2,659
2,810
2.936
2,720
3,054
2,134
3,766
3,312
2,710
2,832

278,221
369,496
322,976
280,063
299,500
416,050
322,913
243,242
179,640
331,673
286,374
729,863
616,366
656,902
782,663
561,063
548,709
618,444
575,030
621,241
409,007
752,140
662,334
541,632
566,489




Average
price.

Value.

15 $41,733
11
40,644
10
32,297
10
28,006
27
80,865
71 31,203
40,364
22
53,513
25
44,910
30
99,501
32
91,957
34 248,153
14
86,291
5
32,845
6| 50,873
42,079
101 57,614
20 123,688
104 60,378
15
93,186
15
61,851
52,649
7
6
39,740
«1 46,038
11
62,313

m

n

Years.
1831___
1832___
1833___
1834____
1835___
1836___
1837___
1838___
1839___
1840___
1841___
1842___
1843___
1 8 4 4 ...
1845___
1846___
1847___
1848___
1849___
1850___
1851___
1852___
1853___
1854___

1806

TO

Bales.
2,513
2,063
3,535
3,782
3,479
4,461
3,354
1,885
1,654
1,480
1,607
2,395
1,636
2,456
1,852
2,381
1,760
2,582
2,170
2,115
1,768
2,111
3,318
4,626

1854.
Average
Pounds. price. Value.
505.251 101- $53,051
400,543 231 94,127
698,724 16 111,795
722,596 14 101,163
695,800
91 66,101
847,590
63,569
n
623,648
6
37,418
359,992 15
53,998
283,691 15
42,553
279,833 30
83,949
306.099 124 88,262
81 39,884
469,231
309,294
7
21,650
460,612 13.5 49,932
345,106 18
62,119
486,899
91 46,255
6J 22,143
329,185
37,286
531,850
7
478,910 11
52,680
398,058 154 61,376
361,025 20
72,205
406,56S 20
81,780
589,038 30 176,711
812,930 26 211,361

Statistics o f A griculture , etc.

761

A part of the preceding table was published in the Transactions o f the State So­
ciety o f New Hampshire for 1853, and from that transferred to the Agricultural Re­
port of the Patent Office for 1853, without giving Massachusetts the credit for it. The
whole of that part, down to 1828, is due exclusively to Colonel Jaques, with whom
the table and the whole system originated. Colonel Jaques inspected, while in office,
83,095 bags, weighing 17,646,567 pounds, and worth $2,380,660 06.
The hops inspected in Massachusetts are not all raised in that State. Most of those
grown in Maine and Vermont are brought there for inspection and a market.
The largest use o f hops is for the preservation of various malt liquors from fermen­
tation, and to impart to them a bitter taste. Many other plants are, or may be, used
for the same purpose, but they are all thought to be inferior to the hop. From forty,
to fifty thousand acres o f hops are cultivated in England every year, although the
product is subject to a tax which, in 1844, amounted in the aggregate to £256,240 15 2§,
or about $1,281,200, on 44,513| acres. The malt charged with duty in the same
year amounted to no less than 37,187,186 bushels, returning a duty of £5,027,061.
CHERRIES.
The common cherry tree is regarded by ancient authors as a tree of Asiatic origin ;
but whether it is truly indigenous to any part of Europe, several modern writers differ
in opinion. Pliny states that it did not exist in Italy till after the victory which Lucullus won over Mithridates, king of Pontus, sixty-eight years before the Christian era.
He tells us that, “ in twenty six years after Lucullus planted the cherry tree in Italy,
other lands had cherries, even as far as Britain, beyond the ocean.” He mentions
eight kinds of cherries as being cultivated in Italy at the time he wrote his Natural
History, which was A. D. 70. “ The reddest cherries,” says he, “ are called apronia
the blackest, actia; the Csecilian are round. The Julian cherries have a pleasant
taste, but are so tender that they must be eaten when gathered, as they will not endure
carriage.” The Duracine cherries were esteemed the best, but the Picardy and Portu­
guese cherries were most admired. The Macedonian cherries grew on dwarf trees;
and one kind is mentioned by the above-named author which never appeared ripe,
having a hue between green, red, and black. He mentions a cherry that was grafted,
in his time, on a bay-stock, which circumstance gave it the name of lauiea; this
cherry is described as having an agreeable bitter flavor. “ The cherry tree,” continues
he, “ could never be made to grow in Egypt, with all the care and attention of man.”
According to Abbe Roiser, Lucullus brought into Italy only two superior varieties of
cherry ; the species which were the origin of all those now in cultivation being, before
his time, indigenous to Italy, and to the forests o f France, though their fruit was neg­
lected by the Romans. It is affirmed by Faulkner, in his “ Kensington,” that the
cherry was introduced into Britain about A. D. 53. Gerard, in his Herbal, published
in 1597, figures a double and a semi-double variety of cherry; and of the fruit-bearing
kinds says there are numerous varieties, among which he mentions the “ Morello, or
Morel,” and the “ Flanders or Kentish cherries.”
A t present the common cherry is extensively cultivated as a fruit tree throughout
the temperate regions of the civilized glob e; but it does not thrive in very high lati­
tudes, nor within the tropics, unless grown at considerable elevations. It is found in
Russia as far north as latitude 55° or 5 6 °; and ripens its fruit in Norway and East
Bothnia, as far as latitude 63°. It is also found in the north o f Africa, and on several
islands in the Mediterranean, but it does not attain so large a size in the last-named
places as in higher latitudes.
The introduction of the cherry into the British North American colonies dates prob­
ably back to the early periods of their settlement. The stones, among other seed




Statistics o f Population, etc.

762

were ordered to be imported from England by the “ Governor and Company of the
Massachusetts Bay in New England,” in 1629. Some of the oldest trees known to ex­
ist in this‘ country are at Yonkers, near New York, and are said to have been planted
in about the year 1650,by Frederick Philipse, the founder of Phillipsburgh, the former
name of that place. A t Point Pleasant, in Bristol, Rhode Island, on the estate of
Robert Rodgers, there also exist several old cherry trees, which are believed to have
been planted over two hundred years.
AMERICAN PORK AND HAMS IN FRANCE.
Recent decrees in France have reduced the duties on salted meats to an amount
nearly nominal, and the change seems to be producing its effects. A French paper says:
A t Rheims, this morning, the sale o f American hams began with great success, their
price being sensibly different from that of Loraine. Whilst the French dealers began
at the rate of 2 f. 80 c. the kilo., those of American opened at 1 f. 45 c. The effect of
this opposition was an immediate reduction of price; but the advantage remained with
the salt hams of America, and crowds flocked to that side of the market. The stalls
were so thronged, and the buyers so numerous that it became necessary to suspend
operations for some hours, in order to arrange the mode of entrance and exit of the
crowd. The quality of the American pork salted and slightly smoked, has been ac­
knowledged as excellent, and all who have commenced the use of this article of food,
have borne witness that it left nothing to be desired. It is with great satisfaction,
therefore, that we learn that this sale will continue, and that new arrivals will increase
the supply for the town of Rheims, whose population stands in so great need of ob­
taining the necessaries of life at as cheap a rate as possible.

STATISTICS OF POPULATION, & c.
MORTALITY OF POPULATION OF MASSACHUSETTS IN DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONS.
W e have received a copy of the “ Twelfth Report to the Legislature of Massachu­
setts, relating to the Registry and Returns of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, in the
Commonwealth, for the year ending December 81, 1853, by E phraim M. W right,
Secretary of the Commonwealth.” It was laid before the Legislature in January,
1855. It is a document of more than ordinary interest. Mr. Wright seems to have
taken care that as few medical terms o f a purely technical character should be used,
as would comport with its perspicuity. Introductory to the report, Mr. Wright, the
Secretary, says:—
“ The present report contains the accumulated results of more than twelve years,
and should, therefore, serve as a fair criterion in America, wherefrom to deduce facts
relative to vital and mortuary statistics as existing in this country. The remarks are
somewhat more extended than usual, partly in consequence of paying more than cus­
tomary attention to certain topics at present exciting great interest in the community,
and partly because of an unusually minute consideration of some of the most promin­
ent causes of death throughout the Commonwealth, based upon more extensive obser­
vations and upon returns apparently more nearly perfect than those of previous ab­
stracts.
“ The five years’ tables are generally o f a very interesting character, and afford
more than common opportunities for the investigations of many important inquiries in
the statistics of diseases.”
The facts produced under the head o f population, and which are compiled chiefly
from the last general census report, exhibit to the legislator a more perfect idea of the
material of which the population of the Commonwealth consists than has appeared
before in any similar documeut; and it is hoped that the report will be acceptable to
those who feel an interest in this species of inquiry.




Statistics o f Population, etc.

763

The following table, which we compile from the report, exhibits the aggregate and
average ages o f persons having pursued different vocations, who have died in nine
years and eight months, that is, from May 1, 1843, to December 81, 1862 :—
[These abstracts include only persons over twenty years o f age.]
Occupation.
Agriculturists......................................
Laborers............................................. .
Mechanics— Bakers...........................
Barbers............................................
Basket-makers...............................
Blacksmiths.....................................
Bookbinders.....................................
Brick-makers.................................
Brush makers..................................
Butchers...........................................
Cabinet-makers.............................
Calico-printers...............................
Card-makers...................................
Carpenters.....................................
Carriage-makers...........................
Caulkers and gravers...................
Cigar- makers...................................
Clock-makers..................................
Clothiers..........................................
Comb-makers.................................
Confectioners...................................
Coopers...........................................
Coppersmiths................................. ................
Cutlers............................................
Dentists..........................................
Distillers.........................................
Druggists and apothecaries......... ...............
D y e rs ..............................................
Engravers........................................ ...............
Bounders.........................................
Furnace-men....................................
Glass-blowers.................................
Glass-cutters.,.................................
Gunsmiths......................................
Harness-makers..............................
Hatters............................................. ...............
Jew ellers........................................
Leather-dressers........................... ...............
Machinists........................................ ...............
Manufacturers...............................
Masons.............................................
Mechanics........................................
M illers............................................ ...............
Millwrights.....................................
Nail-makers..................................... ...............
Operatives....................................... ...............
Painters............................................
Paper-makers................................. ...............
Pianoforte-makers...........................
Potters............................................. ...............
Powder makers.............................
Pump and block makers............... ...............
Printers............................................ ...............
Reed-makers.................................. ...............
Riggers............................................ ...............
Rope-makers.................................. ...............
Sail-makers.................................... ...............




Whole No.

14

30
17

88
45
268

56
30
173
53
6
20
91
2
26
58
31

■AGE-

Aggregate.
495,297
201,307
3,445
2,954
784
27,924
1,005
670
449
4,680
6,987
342
792
55,686
2,334
1,936
881
230
1,219
1,004
258
12,923
624
322
645
551
1,152
1,104
671
1,601
1,117
595
363
1,358
3,247
4,741
2,802
1,610
9,957
10,418
13,191
11,261
3,455
1,265
1,117
5,738
11,550
2,241
555
324
251
1,283
3,318
66
1,265
3,174
1,617

Average.
64.03
44.80
43.06
50.93
56.00
51.62
41.83
47.85
44.90
49.79
46.58
48.86
44.00
49.41
50.74
64.53
38.30
46.00
53.00
45.63
36.86
59.01
44.59
32.20
37.94
61.22
38.40
39.43
. 39.47
41.05
42.96
42.50
45.37
48.50
45.10
53.87
43.78
35.78
37.15
43.77
48.32
42.18
61.69
52.70
37.23
33.17
42.00
42.28
37.00
54.00
35.86
64.15
36.46
33.00
48.65
54.73
52.16

764

Statistics o f Population , etc.

Occupation.
Shipwrights.............................................
Shoe-cutters.............................................
Shoe-makers............................................
Silversmiths.............................................
Stevedores.............. ................................
Stonecutters.............................................
Stove dealers...........................................
Tailers......................................................
Tallow-chandlers.....................................
Tanners and curriers..............................
Tinsmiths..................................................
Tobacconists............................................
Trunk-makers........................................
Upholsterers..........................................
Weavers...................................................
W ell-diggers..........................................
W heelwrights........................................
Whip-makers...........................................
W ool sorters...........................................
W o o d tu r n e r s ...-............... ...............

Whole No.

—------ AGE.
Avreage.
Aggregate.
9,657
56.47
36.48
1,277
43.10
79,266
37.08
445
57.00
570
43.68
6,465
116
29.00
8,424
43.87
54.18
596
49.09
6,088
2,155
41.44
54.54
600
378
42.00
332
33.20
44.69
3,039
102
34.00
5,839
49.07
576
44.30
46.73
701
524
52.40

Total............................................
Merchants— Booksellers............................
Clerks.......................................................
Grocers.....................................................
Merchants................................................
Pedlars.....................................................
Traders.................................................. ..

357,989
680
9,501
2,609
32,804
2,018
21,567

46.00
48.57
33.81
46.59
52.07
38.81
46.78

Total............................................
Paupers......................................................
Professional men— Artists.........................
Civil engineers........................................
Clergymen..............................................
Editors......................................................
Lawyers...................................................
Musicians................................................
Physicians.................. -............................
Professors................................................
Students......................................... .
Teachers...................................................

69,179
17,647
905
951
10,592
406
6,541
1,125
13,975
631
1,537
4,570

46.30
67.35
41.14
39.62
56.34
40.60
55.43
40.18
55.24
52.58
23.29
38.08

Total............................................
Public men— Baggage-masters...............
Bank-officers............................................
Brakemen................................................
Brokers............................. ....................
Chimney-sweeps....................................
Comedians..............................................
Cooks ......................................................
Drivers......................................................
Drovers....................................................
Engineers and firem en.........................
Expressmen............................................
Fencing-masters...................................... ___
Ferrymen.................................................
Gentlemen................................................
Innkeepers...............................................
Judges and justices................................. ___
Light-house keepers.............................. ___
News-carriers.......................................... ___
P ilo ts .......................................................

41,233
152
510
527
806
90
221
367
1,915
200
916
185
28
130
12,907
5,454
272
171
28
745

49.03
30.40
63.76
27.74
47.41
45.00
44.20
45.87
40.74
40.00
33.93
46.25
28.00
65.00
68.29
46.22
68.00
57.00
28.00
74.50




i

4
3
1

Statistics o f Population, etc.

765
,------------------- A G E .

Occupation.
Public-officers.............................................
Railroad agents and conductors................
Sextons........................................................
Sheriffs and constables.............................
Soldiers......................................................
Stablers ......................................................
Teamsters..................................................
Ticket-masters.........................................
Yictualers............. ......................................
W atchm en................................................
Weighers and gaugers.............................

Aggregate.
3,877
807
709
376
536
1,663
5,906
143
1,342
778
401

Whole No.

23

3

19

6
838

Total..............................................
Seamen ......................................................................................................
Females—
Domestics..................................................
Dress-makers.............................................................................
Housekeepers .........................................................................
Milliners...........................................................................................
Nurses..................................................................................................
Operatives ....................................................................................
Seamstresses..............................................
Shoe-binders.................................................................................
Straw-braiders .........................................................................
Tailoresses......................................................................................
Teachers ..........................................................................................

65
1,411
15
215
53
19
76
51

Total ................................................................................

Average.
56 19
35.09
54.54
62.67
53.60
39.60
41.30
47.67
46.27
41.47
66.83

42,172
80,382

50.32
43.29

4,904
2,134
73,026
848
799
5,956
2,271
1.1S3
695
3,141
1,481

43.40
32.83
51.75
33 . 92
53.26
27.70
42.84
47.32
36.57
41.33
29.05

96,388

46.61

We also subjoin a summary view of the number of persons, with their aggregate
and average ages, in different pursuits, who have died during the year 1853, in the
nine eastern and five western counties of Massachusetts— the year ending 30th of De­
cember :—
N IN E E A S T E R N C O U N TIE S .

F I V E W E S T E R N COU N TIES.

/-----------------A G E .----------------- \

Occupation.
Agriculturists...........
Laborers.....................
Mechanics..................
Merchants..................
P au pers.....................
Professional men___
Public men.................
Seamen.......................

Whole No. Aggregate.

Total...............
Females............ .........

/----------------- A G E .------------------»

Average. Whole No., Aggregate. Average.

31,998
28,045
44,953
11,493
885
6,212
5,959
10,123

65.30
43.75
46.05
47.68
73.85
51.60
46.56
49.38

525
154
321
37
12
34
21
1

32,824
7,204
14,302
1,547
842
1,538
984
79

62.52
46.78
44.55
41.81
70.16
45.24
46.86
79.00

138,688
670

49.63
39.40

1,105
58

69,320
2,631

53.68
45.36

R E C A P IT U L A T IO N .

Occupation.

Aggregate.

Average.

Agriculturists....................................
Laborers............................................
Mechanics..........................................
Merchants..........................................
Paupers..............................................
Professional men...............................
Public men........................................
Seamen..............................................

495,297
201,307
357,989
69,179
17,647
41,233
42,172
80,382

64.03
44.80
40.00
46.80
67.85
49.03
50.'82
43.29

Total......................................
F em ales............................................

1,305,206
96,388

51.58
46.61




Whole No.

Journal o f M ining and Manufactures.

766

JOURNAL OF M IN IN G AND MANUFACTURES.
SHUMARD’S GUM MEZQUITE.
Dr. G eorge G. S humard, physician and geologist to the Lake expedition, command­
ed by Captain Marcy, of the United States army, to the regions of the source of the
Big Waclrita and Brazos rivers, in the north of Texas, discovered a new gum, which he
proposes to name “ gum mezquite.” This gum, he believes occurs in inexhaustible
quantities. It will, in his opinion, prove a valuable source of revenue to the State of
Texas, New Mexico, and the adjacent Indian Territory, besides affording employment
to the different tribes of Indians now roving upon the plains, many of whom would no
doubt be glad to gather and deliver it at the frontier posts for a small compensation.
In a letter to the Hon. Thomas S. Drew, Superintendent of Indian affairs, at Fort
Smith, Arkansas, Dr. Shumard gives the leading facts connected with this interesting
discovery, as follows:—
“ The mezquite tree, from which this gum is obtained, is b y far the most abundant
tree of the plains, covering thousands of miles of the surface, and always flourishes
most luxuriantly in elevated and dry regions. The gum exudes spontaneously in a
semi fluid state from the bark of the trunk and branches, and soon hardens by expo­
sure to the atmosphere, forming more or less rounded and variously colored masses,
weighing each from a few grains to several ounces. These soon bleach, and whiten
upon exposure to the light of the sun, finally becoming nearly colorless, semi-transpa­
rent, and often filled with minute fissures. Specimens collected from the trunks of the
trees, were generally found to be less pure and more highly colored than when obtain­
ed from the branches.
“ The gum may be collected during the months of July, August, and September;
but the most favorable period for that purpose is in the latter part of August, when it
may be obtained in the greatest abundance, and with but little trouble. The quantity
yielded by each tree I found to vary from an ounce to three pounds ; but incisions in
the bark not only greatly facilitated its exudation, but causes the tree to yield a much
greater amount. As it is, a good hand will be able to collect from ten to twenty pounds
in a day. Were incisions resorted to, probably double the amount might be obtained.”
Mr. D rew , who received from Dr. Shumard some samples, says it is very similar in
taste, appearance, and mucilaginous qualities to that of gum Arabic. Upon diluting
one ounce of this gum in two ounces of cold water, Mr. Drew had a fine glutinous
paste, which he used in sealing envelopes and other packages. He also caused it to
be mixed with starch in the application to linen, and in both instances found it equal
to the article for which it must soon become a popular substitute. Should this gum
prove as valuable in the form o f mucilaginous preparations for the sick, as in the two
cases to which Mr. Drew subjected it, and should it command one half the present
price paid for gum arabic, the gathering of it would afford employment for and sup­
port of, thousands of the wild Indians on the plains, and, with encouragement, it will
become a valuable article of Commerce on the Western frontier.
THE IRON TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES.
The growth o f the iron trade and manufacture of the United States, during the last
forty years, has been enormous. In 1816 there were 153 furnaces, producing 54,000
tons of pig iron ; in 1855 there were 540 blast furnaces, averaging 900 tons each annu­
ally, yielding 486,000 tons; and 950 bloomeries, forges, rolling and splitting mills,
yielding, of bar hoops, <£c., 291,600 tons, and of blooms, castings, machinery, and stove
plates, 151,500 tons, making, that year, an aggregate of 929,100 tons, at the value of
$33,940,500. In 1853 the rapid increase in this class of manufacture was such as to
yield more than a million tons of pig iron.




Journal o f M ining and Manufactures.

767

THE BRICK MANUFACTURE OF ALBANY,
Back as far as the memory of the “ oldest inhabitant” extends, says the Atlas,
brick making in Albany ha3 been an extensive business. The hills which formerly
overlooked the city have been converted into countless bricks, and many are the
houses in New York and other large cities which are built of Albany clay. The sites
of these hills have been reduced to levels, and graded and laid out in streets, which
will compare favorably with those in the handsomest cities in the Union. But the
material for brick making has not yet been exhausted. Many mines, as profitable
perhaps as a majority of the gold mines of California, still afford the opportunity for
industry and remuneration.
Indeed this would appear to be the case, from the fact that Robert Harper, Esq.,
o f Albany, has purchased the right to use one of those celebrated brick machines— a
patent for which was granted to a citizen of Pennsylvania during the past year. This
machine is without any question the most perfect thing of the kind, and in the hands
of Mr. Harper it will make Albany the greatest brick depot in the United States.
The machine of which we have spoken makes ninety bricks a minute, or fifty thousand
per day. It does all this with the assistance of two men and a steam-engine. The
bricks are made from the dry clay, and are infinitely superior to those made by hand.
"When they come from the mold, they are so firm that you can stand upon them with­
out making an indentation.
The machine not only does its own molding, but by means of an endless belt, car­
ries the bricks to the kiln. According to the Atlas, it is very simple in its construc­
tion, and when working smoothly, will make as many bricks in a day as forty-five
men would. The iron work connected with the machine is being manufactured at
Franklin Foundry by the Messrs. Low. The cost of the whole establishment, steamengine inclusive, will be about §12,000.
MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE.
W e learn from the Nashville Banner that Professor Safford, the State Geologist,
who recently spent several months in East Tennessee, engaged in examining the min­
eral ores, and tracing out the rocky formations of that division of the State, will make
a report to the next Legislature of great interest. The Banner says:—
“ Professor Safford is thoroughly satisfied that the amount o f copper in the mines of
Polk County is enormous, and its value incalculable. Heretofore the black oxyde of
copper only has been taken out, which is found comparatively near the surface— say
from ten to forty feet. Professor S., however, showed us a letter very recently re­
ceived by him from Dr. C. A. Proctor, the State Chemist, stating that a test shaft had
been sunk to the depth of one hundred and forty feet, in the neighborhood of the Ten­
nessee Mine, and that it had cut ‘ the richest yellow and native copper to be found
anywhere.’ The copper area is about three miles long and two wide. Within that
space eight or nine mines have been opened, from which alone might be raised three
millions of dollars’ worth o f ore annually, if only there could be provided the means
of transporting it to market. A t present, the ore has to be hauled in wagons twenty
miles to the Hiwassee River, down which it is taken to the East Tennessee and Geor­
gia Railroad. A railroad from the mines direct to Cleveland, a distance of from thirty
to thirty-five miles, would tend prodigiously to the development of their vast re­
sources. Professor Safford has now gone to the Western Division of the State, which,
having its own peculiar and characteristic geological features, poasesses much scien­
tific interest, and is not without its resources, as its rich and extensive beds of marl
abundantly testify. It has also iron ore, and perhaps other mineral products. Of
Tennessee it may be safely said, that no State in the Union is marked by so great a
variety of geological features. Nearly all the formations found in the United States
have their representatives in this State, and nowhere do they possess a greater econo­
mic value than they do in Tennessee.”




768

Journal o f M ining and Manufactures.
MANUFACTURES IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

The following table, compiled from the census returns o f 1850, shows the extent o f
the manufacturing interest in South Caroliua; including the number of hands employed,
the amount of capital invested, the annual product, &c. South Carolina possesses all
the elements of a manufacturing as well as plauting State, and should diversify her
pursuits:—
Hands
Annual
Produced
Counties.
Capital.
employed, product. in families.
A b b e v ille .............................
403
$257,183
$71,774
Anderson................................
233
289,105
86,795
Barnwell.................................
14,643
348
226,250
Beaufort.................................
50,030
10,090
75
Charleston.............................
2,749,961
17,799
1,413
Chester..................................
101,360
22,405
162
Chesterfield...........................
83,434
45,080
213
Colleton...................................
17,150
19,240
58
Darlington.............................
71,670
12,070
126
Edgefield...............................
635,096
94,468
1,064
Fairfield.................................
44,200
16,360
70
Georgetown...........................
68,519
74
Greenville...............................
213,510
28,625
290
H orry.....................................
109
130,129
24,555
K ershaw ................................
127,825
185
7,686
Lancaster...............................
46,100
35
19,590
Laurens.................................
250
419,715
54,670
Lexington.............................
321
176,343
17,458
Marion.....................................
40,624
Marlborough...........................
6S.600
321674
79
N ew b erry .............................
116
151,145
35,343
Orangeburg............................
67,130
96
27,597
P ick ens..................................
41,192
59
68,599
R ichland................................
349,954
325
4,442
Spartanburg..........................
173,820
39,078
363
S u m ter..................................
227,394
24,248
180
Union.....................................
227
194,793
41,897
Williamsburg.........................
12,825
Y o r k ......................................
136
81,905
18/290
Total.........................

7,009 $7,072,513

$919,525

PRINTING ON GLASS,
Mr. Whipple, of Boston, has patented a method of engraving or printing on glass,
which opens up a wide field for mechanical industry and ornamental taste, by repro­
ducing rapidly and cleaply on the surface of glass vessels, of any usual form, or even
upon ordinary window glass, any device desired. Measures are now in progress to
establish a manufactory for the production o f glassware thus ornamented, in competi­
tion with the imperfect and feeble engraving heretofore only prepared by a tedious
process of grinding dexterously upon a revolving stone. Like the old process, this
method of engraving is purely mechanical, no acid or other corroding agent being em­
ployed, except in the preparation of the batteries.
THE PRODUCTION OF ONONDAGA SALT.
The Onondaga Salt Springs are situated in the county of that name, in the State of
New York. The springs belong to the State, and are leased to companies or individ­
uals. The following table shows the quantity manufactured in each year from 1791
to 1854, inclusive:—




Railroad, Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.
Years.

1797............
1798............
1799............
1800............
1801............
1802............
1803............
1804............
1805............
1806..........
1807............
1808............
1808............
1809............
1810............
1811............
1812............
1813............
1814............
1815............

Bushels.

Years.

25,474

1816
1817
1819

...
...
...

1 8 2 0

.....

1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835

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

42,574
50,000
50,000
90,335
122,557
165,448
131,808
128,282
450,000
221,011
226.000
295,215
322,058

Bushels.

348,234
448,665
526,049
5 4 8 ,3 7 4

458,329
481,562
726,988
816,634
757,203
811,023
983,410
1,160,888
1,291,280
1,435,446
1,514,037
1,652,985
1,838,646
1,943,252
2,209,867

Years.
1836 .........
1837...........
1838...........
1839...........
1840...........
1841...........
1842...........
1843...........
1844...........
1845...........
1846...........
1847...........
1848..........
1849..........
1850..........
1851...........
1852..........
1853..........
1854..........

769

Bushels.
1,912,858
2,161,287
2,575,033
2,864,718
2.622,305
3,340,769
2,291,903
3,127,500
4,203,553
3,762,358
3,833,581
3,951,351
4,737,126
5,083,369
4,362,919
4,614,117
4,922,533
5,404,524
5,803,347

RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS.
UiVIOJV RAILROAD DEPOT AT TROY.
D E S C R IP T IO N

OF

TH E

UNION R A I L R O A D

DEPO T— TH E

B R ID G E OF T H E R E N S S E L A E R A N D S A R A T O G A

R A IL R O A D C O M P A N Y — G I L B E R T A N D E A T O N ’ S E X T E N S I V E C A R A N D P O S T -C O A C H M A N U F A C T O R Y .

On a recent visit to Troy, we had the pleasure of viewing one of the finest railroad
depots in the United States, and if we except one in Russia, we believe the largest
in the world. The construction of this spacious and commodious edifice was com­
menced in 1853, and completed in 1854. The length of the building is 400 feet, and
the width of the part devoted to the “ entrance and exit ” of the engines and cars is
150 feet— the width of the passenger rooms on the west front is 40 feet, and the
width of the portion on the east side (the location of the water-tank and turn-table)
is 50 feet, showing a total width of 240 feet, the whole covering about 100,000 square
feet, or more than two acres of ground. The main building is covered by an arched
truss roof, (Howe’s plan,) in one single span, covering 60,000 square feet, resting on the
main wall, which is 27 feet in hight. The roof is supported by arched ribs or trusses
of wood, 3 feet 4 inches in depth, with horizontal or tie rods of iron, extending from
one end of the truss to the other. The trusses are placed 18 feet 10 inches apart.
The roof at the center has a rise of 28 feet above the top of the walls, making the
hight at the center 55 feet above the tracks. On the top of the roof is a ventilator,
30 feet wide and 15 feet high, extending the entire length of the building, with win­
dows and slate placed alternately on each side.
The ends of the main building are
constructed upon six large free-stone columns, (from the quarries of Connecticut) with
eliptical arches sprung from one stone to another, and subdivided by cast-iron columns,
forming two gothic arches o f each eliptical arch, making ten openings for tracks, eight
o f which are now laid through the building; each opening at the ends of the depot
is provided with substantial doors, and the whole lighted with thirty gas-burners.
The passenger rooms on the west front or side are divided into four suites of rooms,
each suite comprising a baggage room, gentleman’s sitting room, ladies’ sitting room,
aud private parlor. A ticket-office, wash-room, and gentleman’s and ladies’ waterclosets, (with the most approved self-acting water fixtures,) are also attached to each
v o l . x x x i i .— x o . v i .
49




770

R ailroad, Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.

o f the four suites of rooms. Between each suite o f rooms we have passages for car­
riages from the cars of the four different railroad companies at whose expense and
for whose use the building was erected. The building has three towers. On the front
and over the center of the passenger rooms, is situated the main tower, 115 feet in
hight, so constructed as to admit of a clock and bell. A t each end of the passenger
rooms are towers four stories in hight, which are occupied by the several railroad com­
panies for general offices. These rooms are spacious and well adapted to the purpose
for which they are designed.
In the center o f the passenger rooms, for a distance of ninety feet, the building 19
three stories in hight— the second and third stories being used for refreshment rooms,
with entrances by two flights of stairs in the main hall, and by two flights o f stairs
and balcony (187 feet in length) on the inside of the depot. The whole building is
lighted by gas and heated by steam, there being some 14,000 feet of gas and steam
pipe used for that purpose.
On the front o f the passengers department is a platform, over which is a projecting
roof ten feet wide, supported by cast iron brackets, so that carriages can drive under
and receive and deliver passengers in storm or sunshine without exposure to either.
The building was erected at a C09t of $125,000, the ground cost $105,000, being a
total of $230,000. The Union Railroad Company are also the proprietors of two
miles o f railroad through the city, which connects the four roads. That company is
appropriately designated from the fact that the road and depot were built by four
companies, viz.: the Hudson River, the Boston and Troy, the New York Central, and
the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad corporations. The building (with the exception
of the roof) is of brick, in a style resembling or nearly approaching the gothic. It
wa9 designed and drawn by Mr. E. B onnet , a distinguished French architect, under
the direction of E. F r e n c h , Esq., Chief, and G. S. A v e r t , Esq., Superintending En­
gineer. In this connection it is but just and proper to state that to the last named
gentleman we are indebted for the “ facts and figures” in the preceding account. We
should also acknowledge our obligations to Mr. A. McCoy, the Superintendent of the
Union Railroad Company, to whose politeness we are indebted for a thorough personal
inspection of this model building. It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding the
road crosses a great number of streets, (the entire width of that part of the city,) not
an accident has happened to a single individual since the rails were laid, owing, in a
great measure, to the watchful energy of the Superintendent, (Mr. McCoy,) who is
ever on the alert to detect any delinquencies on the part of the police stationed at the
crossings. Indeed, the entire police arrangements at this depot are admirable. Run­
ners, cab-drivers, and hackmen, are not allowed to annoy passengers, or distract them
by their oflficiousness, as is too frequently the case at railroad stations in our large
cities. Several uniformed policemen are employed by the company, whose duty it is
to prevent such annoyance, and to impart information to the ignorant but inquiring
traveler. W e passed most of two days at the station, and it affords us pleasure to
remark that the policemen were courteous and patient in answering the hundred and
one questions of the passengers constantly arriving in the several trains.
One o f the companies, the Rensselaer and Saratoga, has within the last two years
erected a substantial bridge over the Hudson, which is 1,691 feet in length, 20 feet
wide, 17 feet in the clear, with lattice-work 27 feet in length. The draw (through
which the shipping pass and repass) is on the “ turn-table” principle, and is 154 feet
long and 43 feet wide. Over this bridge the cars of the Rensselaer and Saratoga, the
New York Central, and the Boston and Troy pas9 daily. It is one of the strongest
and best-constructed bridges of its class we have ever seen. W e passed over it to
Green Island on the other side, in company with L . H. T upper , Esq., the energetic




Railroad, Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.

771

Superintendent o f the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad, (under whose supervision it
was built,) on foot, and had an excellent opportunity of examining every part of it,
and may, therefore, be allowed to speak with confidence of its character. The ma­
chine-shop and car houses of the last-named road are located at Green Island, furnish­
ing every convenience for repairing cars, engines, and rails. The engines and cars of
this road are, to the “ best of our knowledge and belief,” unsurpassed. The cars are
made by Gilbert
Eaton, on Green Island, who have one of the most extensive es­
tablishments of the kind in the United States. The manufactory is in close proximity
to the Rensselaer and Saratoga Road and its connections, so that cars built at G. <SsE.’s
can be put upon the track in a few minutes, and sent East and West, North and
South, with the utmost ease and safety.
OCEAN AND INLAND STEAMERS OUT OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK,
NUM BER I.

“ THE COMMONWEALTH.”
The importance of steam, and the direct bearing which it exercises in its different
developments as a motive power, upon the various interests of our Commerce, have
led us to devote much space, from time to time to its history and progress. Contri­
butions on steam navigation, railroads and railroad projects, and kindred topics, have
appeared in the pages of the Merchants’ Magazine, besides, a large amount of statis­
tical matter and descriptions of steamers, illustrating the progress of steam navigation
and the progress of art, as applied to the furnishing and decorating of our “ floating
palaces.”
W e commence in the present number a new series of descriptions o f the newer and
finer steamers out o f New York. In the waters that play around the piers o f the
Commercial Emporium the first successful steamboat floated. On the waters of the
Empire State, and on the lakes that wash its furthermost borders, the most elegant
models of steamers have been constructed, and nowhere has the building of steamvessels achieved more glorious triumphs than in the State and City of New York. The
State Legislature fostered the expanding genius o f Fulton, until he achieved a full
practical triumph, and justly and judiciously did they do so.
W e propose to devote at this time a brief space to an accurate description of the
new steamer “ Commonwealth,” belonging to the Norwich and New London Steam­
boat Company, and forming one of the line of steamers on the route from New York
to Boston via Norwich and Worcester, and by connections at the latter place, to
Nashua, Lowell, Portland, Concord, and other places in Northern and Eastern New
England. The company, in the construction of this beautiful and unique craft, have
not spared expenditure in their effort to have a staunch and safe, as well as luxu"
riously comfortable steamboat of extraordinary size and extent of accommodation.
The hull of the Commonwealth was built by Messrs, Lawrence dr Foulks, of Williamsburgh; the boat was built in 1854-55, and made her first trip on the 5th of April,
1855. She has an extra quantity of timber of unusual size, secured by extra copper
and iron fastening, with diagonal iron braces after the manner o f fastening the firstclass sea-going steamships, and is constructed throughout with reference to great
strength and safety. She is 330 feet in length, 4 2 } feet breadth of beam, and 77 feet
extreme width. The engine is from the Morgan Iron Works— a beam engine of about
1,200 horse power, with a cylinder 72 inches in diameter, 12 feet stroke of piston, and
performs to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. The joiner work, which was exe­
cuted by Reed, Tice and Hamilton, is o f the most beautiful finish and workmanship.
The state-rooms, of which this boat has the unusual number of 125, are many of them




*7^2

R ailroad , Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.

very large, and arranged for the comfort and convenience o f families. She has a
number of bridal rooms, beautifully decorated and appointed. The beds and berths
are o f the widest description, and she has the most comfortable sleeping arrange­
ments for the repose of six hundred passengers.
The furniture is substantial and rich, and includes many pieces of an original de­
sign. The convenience of two staircases of a peculiar construction are worthy of note;
one connects the state room hall with the dining cabin— and the other, the state room
hall, ladies’ saloon, and dining cabin, by neither of which is it necessary to go out on
deck. The beautiful coup d'ceil of the state room hall and its comfort, the spacious­
ness, the good taste, and adaptation of style of furniture to the boat, and the fitness
of things in general, are quite remarkable.
Great credit is due to H. B. N orton , E sq, the intelligent and enterprising President
o f the company, who gave his personal attention to the boat, from the laying of her
keel to the first movement of her paddle-wheels. As an instance of Mr. Norton’s
supervision of her “ furniture and fixtures,” we may mention the fact that five differ­
ent mechanics were employed to furnish a specimen chair for the saloons, and it is
only necessary to add, that the one selected by Mr. Norton unites elegance and ease
in harmonious combination.
The superintendence of the construction of this splendid boat was intrusted to Mr.
Alexander Hawkins, an architect of high reputation. The cabinet furniture is from
Messrs. McGraw & Allendorph, and M. H. C. Glensman ; the upholstery is from A. T.
Stuart & Co’s .; the plated ware from Messrs. Storrs Brothers; and the chandeliers
from Messrs. Haughwout & Co. In addition to the strength of her frame, and as aux­
iliary to the security of the lives of her passengers, she is furnished with a large num­
ber o f pumps, which can be worked by the engine or by hand. She has eight life
boats, six hundred life preservers, a great length of hose always connected with the
pumps for immediate u se; steam fire anuihilators, an immense quantity of cables and
anchors; in short, every precaution against accident which human foresight could
devise has been taken.
She is commanded by Captain J erom e W. W il l ia m s , a gentleman of nearly a
quarter century’s experience in the navigation of the Long Island Sound, of cool, clear
head and good judgment, cautious, active, and ever at his post of duty. With Cap­
tain Williams and his gentlemanly clerk, George W. Geer, his noble boat with skillful
and experienced pilots to guide her, and the wants of the inner man so “ excellently
w e ll” provided for by Thomas Byrne, the steward, a passage is made extremely safe
and agreeable.
The “ Connecticut,” an excellent and favorite steamer, runs on alternate days with
the “ Commonwealth.” The cars (with efficient conductors) connecting with the boats
at Allyn’s Point, are easy riding and built on a new plan, having sixteen wheels, which
render them safer than those of ordinary construction. The courteous agent of this line,
E. S. Martin, Esq., has an office at the pier foot of Courtlandt-street, and will impart
information with regard to the transportation of freight, or to the traveler with regard
to the route. May the proprietors of this line reap the reward which their liberality
deserves. “ God save the Commonwealth!”
TOLLS, TRADE, AND TONNAGE OF THE CANALS OF NEW YORK.
W e are indebted to M. S choonmaker , Esq., late Auditor of the Canal Department
of the State of New York, (now Superintendent of the Banking Department,) for an
early copy o f his report to the Legislature on the “ Tolls, Trade, and Tonnage of the
Canals of the State of New York.” This report embodies all the matters and etatia-




Railroad , Canal, awe? Steamboat Statistics.

773

tics required to be reported. From the report we derive the subjoined summary, and
in future numbers o f the Merchants? Magazine we shall lay before our readers several
interesting tabular statements. It appears that the whole amount of tolls collected
upon the several canals of this State during the last season of navigation, was
$2,773,566 35, which amount is composed as follows :—
Boats and passengers.............
Products of the forest............
Products of animals...............
Vegetable food.........................

$226,128
519,466
' 76,121
997,183

I Other agricultural products.
| Manufactures..........................
I Merchandise...........................
| Other articles........................

$7,105
123,425
638,039
186,099

Total..........................................................................................................

$2,773,566

The whole amount of tonnage transported on the canals during the last season of
navigation, ascending and descending, was in tons 4,165,862, composed as follows :—
Products of the forest.........
1,768,745 I Manufactures........................
Products o f animals.............
78,684 |Merchandise.........................
Vegetable f o o d ...................
903,735 I Other a itid e s .....................
Other agricultural products.
10,420 |
Total.......................................................................................................
The value of such tonnage is estimated as follows:—
Products of the forest.. . .
$14,384,785 I Manufactures.
Products of animals.........
11,666,296 | Merchandise .
Vegetable food...................
38,331,500 I Other articles
Other agricultural products
1,983,068 I
Total....................... .

258,021
406,022
740,235
------------4,165,862
$9,796,420
123,167,863
10,954,380
$210,284,312

The total movement of freight, or number of tons carried one mile, during the last
season of navigation, was 668,659,044. The total movement of the several classes
composing such total tonnage, are as follows:—
Products of the forest.. .
221,457,717 I Manufactures...................
20,450,209 I Merchandise...................
Products o f animals........
Vegetable food................
214,220,251 Other articles.................
Oth. agricultural products
1,450,250
Total.................................................. .

32,680,909
104,500,083
73,899,625
668,659,044

The whole amount of tonnage arriving at tide-water by way of the Erie Canal from
the Western States or Canada, during the last season of navigation, was 1,094,391
tons. The whole amount of tonnage arriving at tide-water, the produce of this State,
during the same period, was 602,167 tons.
The whole number of barrels of flour arriving at tide-water through the
canals during the last season of navigation was.....................................
The whole number of bushels of wheat arriving during the same period •
was 3,523,800, which, turned into flour, calculating five bushels to the
barrel, would make.................... .................................................................
Total barrels..........................................................................................

1,249,453
704,760
1,954,213

The whole number of bushels of corn arriving at tide-water during the same peri­
od was 12,813,929. The total number o f new boats registered during the last year
is 760, with a total tonnage of 80,365 tons, making an average tonnage of 105.7
tons.
The number of lockages at Alexander’s Lock for the season was 35,981, and the
greatest number of lockages at any one lock was 40,821, at lock No. 45, Frankfort.
Such is a brief summary of the trade and revenue of the canals as exhibited in the
report of the Auditor of the Canal Department, during the last season of navigation.
It exhibits, as compared with the season o f 1853, a decrease in revenue of
A decrease in tonnage of............................................................................... tons




$431,152
81,991

1U

M ercantile Miscellanies.

Divided among the different classes o f articles as follows:—
Products of the forest, decrease ...............................................................tons
Vegetable food.....................................................................................................
Merchandise.........................................................................................................

52,780
167,565
52,305

Total..........................................................................................................
Products of animals, increase................................................ tons
8,072
Other agricultural products..........................................................
1,408
Manufactures.................................................
27,985
Other articles...................................................................................
153,194

272,650

190,659
Total decrease..........................................................................................

81,991

Decrease in lockages at Alexander’s Lock, 6,986. In flour and wheat, comprised
in the returns of vegetable food, there has been a decrease in tonnage the past year,
as compared with 1853, of 419,774 tons, and a decrease in tolls of §635,199. In
corn and oats, there has been an increase during the same period of 270,231 tons, and
an increase in tolls of $354,967. Under the head of products of the forest, there was
a decrease in tonnage upon shingles, boards and scantling, as compared with 1853, of
152,956 tons, and an increased tonnage upon timber, staves, and wood, of 102,533
tons, and a decrease in pot and pearl ashes of 2,215 tons. Under the head of “ other
articles,” there was an increase of the tonnage of mineral coal for same period of
50,155 tons, and of sundries 66,293 tons, which last increase is principally composed
of iron ore transported through the Champlain and Chenango Canals.

M ERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.
NEW YORK CORN EXCHANGE.
The N e w Y o e k C oen E x ch an g e was incorporated by an act of the Legislature
passed April 2d, 1853, and was duly organized on the 15th of May, 1854. Its object
is to provide a place of meeting for the purchase and sale of produce, and other busi­
ness connected therewith, which should be near the points where the produce is
landed and not too far from the offices of a majority of those engaged in this branch
of trade ; and also to regulate, as far as possible, the customs of trade, in order to pre­
vent disputes and to insure justice between man and man in the settlement of business
transactions.
The act of incorporation was one of rare liberality. The Legislature seemed to ap­
preciate the unselfishness of the applicants, and to have granted them a charter in the
like spirit. The Journal of Commerce, in an editorial published at the time of its
organization, remarked that “ no association has been incorporated in the city of
New York for many years with a greater promise of usefulness,” and this prediction
has been fully verified. The charter provided for the establishment of an Arbitration
Committee, or “ Court of Conciliation,” to which the members may submit “ any con­
troversy which might be the subject of an action.” This committee have the same
powers and are subject to the same restriction as other arbitrators appointed under
the laws of the State of New York with one very important exception— the judgment
or award of this committee “ shall not be subject to be removed, reversed, modified,
or appealed from by the parties interested in such submission.” The submission to
the committee at the first is optional, but where made, the decision is final, there being no appeal.




Mercantile Miscellanies.

115

Under this important provision, cases which would otherwise involve years of irri­
tating litigation, and much useless expense, are there settled in a few minutes as
quietly as if no important interest were at stake. These decisions have been made,
says the Journal of Commerce, for the most part with an enlightened judgment that
would have done honor to the bench of one of our highest courts. The number of
subscribers is now over eight hundred, and yet suits at law are of so rare an occur­
rence, that we cannot recall one that has been commenced within the year growing
out of transactions on the Exchange.
The meetings for the transaction o f business are held every secular day at the Corn
Exchange Rooms, corner o f Broad and South streets. The association is authorized
by its charter to erect a suitable building for its accommodation, and such a one is now
much needed. The provision dealers have recently, by vote, abandoned their after­
noon session at the Merchants’ Exchange, and become members of the Corn Exchange.
The Journal says that a further application will be made to the Common Council of
New York for leave to erect a handsome structure upon the vacant ground in Coenties
Slip. Such a building would be an ornament to the city, and a great public accom­
modation. W e give a list of the officers elected in March, for the year 1855-56, as
follows:—
Nathaniel H. Wolfe, President; Henry Suydam, Jr., Vice-President; Isaac T. Frost
Treasurer; Alfred Barratt, Secretary. Trustees: N. H. Wolfe, W. H. Newman, Joseph
Ketchum, P. H. Holt, F. W. Guiteau, John L. Buckley, Alfred Barratt, Edmund Fish,
N. T. Hubbard, Walter S. Griffith, Henry Suydam, Jr., John J. Herrick, Isaac T. Frost
Finance Committee: John L. Buckley, N. T. Hubbard, Joseph Ketchum. Building
Committee: Walter S. Griffith, Henry Suydam, Jr., Alfred Barratt. Arbitration Com­
mittee: Theodore Banks, John B. Wright, Francis P. Sage.
The hours of meeting are from ten to twelve o’clock, and nearly all the sales of pro­
duce by brokers and commission houses are made at this Exchange.

LIBERIAN COMMERCE AND CIVILIZATION.
In the Merchants’ Magazine for August, 1854, volume xxxi. page 200, we gave
some extracts from an interesting communication from that indefatigable friend of
Africa and lover of his own country, G e r a r d R alston , Esq., to the Hon. E d w a r d
E v e r e tt , late Secretary of State, to whom we were indebted for the extracts alluded
to. W e are now indebted to Mr. Ralston, under date London, January 10th, 1855,
for extracts from a letter of that gentleman to a London cotemporary, which we cheer­
fully lay before the readers of the Merchants' Magazine. The Colonization Society,
under the fostering care of whose friends Liberia has risen into importance, so that
Liberia herself has already accomplished much for African freedom, and proved a
potent instrument in the suppression of the slave-trade wherever she could make her
nascent powers and local influence felt. She has concluded treaties with a goodly
number o f the native chiefs of the interior of Africa, by which they have bound them­
selves not only to discountenance dealing in slaves, but to refer to arbitration their in­
tertribal differences, so frequent a source of war, and furnishing the principal source
from which the slave-trade was fed. Let the civilizing influences of Commerce but
have a fair field, and the slave-trade will disappear from the African coast. The sub­
joined extracts from Mr. Ralston’s letter will be read with interest by the friends of
African colonization and commercial enterprise, North and South:—
“ Any quantity o f coffee can be grown in Liberia, provided suitable capital and la­
bor be bestowed upon it. But palm oil is the great staple of Liberia now. This arti­
cle is exceedingly high in price, and the consumption in Great Britain and the United




776

Mercantile Miscellanies.

States is increasing ■with the greatest rapidity. Ground nuts for the manufacture o f
oil is an exceedingly important article of export for the French, and the English are
getting more into the use of it. The French employ it as a salad oil, also for burning
and lubricating machinery.
“ Camwood, (a dye wood,) ivory, arrowroot, and some gold dust, are the principal
other articles of export from Liberia. But sugar can be made in any quantity, and
the best cotton growing indigenously— both these valuable products can be supplied
in unlimited quantities by the due application of capital and labor.
“ The principal defect of Liberia is the absence of a good port or harbor. Along
the whole coast for 700 miles, this great comfort and convenience is not found. If the
British nation would kindly give Sierra Leone to the Republic of Liberia, it would be
of extraordinary value to the recipient, and would not be of any loss to the liberal
donor. Sierra Leone has au admirable harbor and bay ; but its climate is deadly for
whites, and fifty or sixty British white subjects die there annually, whilst, if the col­
ony were given up to the black Liberians, they would organize a self-government
there among the black inhabitants, who in a few years would become a self-dependent,
intelligent, and energetic people, and promote the Commerce of Britain with the in­
terior in a most successful manner. As long as Sierra Leone is governed by whites,
the poor blacks have no chance in competition with them, and they remain an indolent,
unenterprising, listless, and unimproving people. Give them self-government, as they
would have by association with the Liberians, and you would soon find as industrious,
as spirited, as intelligent, and as progressive a people as their neighbors of Liberia.
There is nothing like self government and self-dependence to promote the moral and
material improvement of a people.
“ The blacks of Sierra Leone will prove that they are as competent to govern them­
selves as the Liberians have done, if you will give them an opportunity. But as long
as they are kept under, or overshadowed by the whites, they will no more flourish in
Sierra Leone than have done the free people of color in the United States. Whites
and blacks must be separated— must be kept asunder. The superior race will domi­
nate the inferior race, and never will live harmoniously and happily together. Let
them be separated. Let Sierra Leone be married to Liberia, and there will be a
happy union and a highly progressive and flourishing people. The blacks themselves,
who are the great mass of the population, are in favor of union with Liberia, but the
few whites are opposed to it, as it would diminish their consequence and interfere
with their exclusive privileges.
“ Sierra Leone is intended for the blacks, not for the whites— the interests of the
former, not those of the latter, ought to be regarded. The British government would
profit by giving up Sierra Leone, as an annual large expenditure for maintenance
would be saved. Although there is territorial jurisdiction, the British government
have none but leasehold property theie— they have no freehold property in the whole
colony. An arrangement might be made, if desirable, for the maintenance of a naval
depot, a military station and hospital, <tc, under the English flag, as one of the condi­
tions of cession to the Republic of Liberia
I hope, Mr. Editor, you will bring this
important matter before your numerous and influential readers.”
AN OMNIBUS STORE,
The Philadelphia Merchant is a weekly sheet, chiefly devoted to advertising, and
from its wide circulation one of the best journals of its class for merchants and manu­
facturers in the United States. A portion of the paper is, however, devoted to arti­
cles, original or select, of interest to merchants. In our “ Mercantile Miscellanies ” we
have frequently been indebted to the Merchant for choice extracts. The following
description of an “ Omnibus Store,” such as we have seen in country towns, is from a
late number of our Philadelphia cotemporary :—
Division of trade into distinct branches appears to be in the natural order o f things.
Even where two or more branches are yet united in the same establishment, there is
an avoidance of incongruity— as when fur robes are kept for sale in a hat store— or
where extremes meet, as in straw bonnets and boots and shoes. The tendency, in all
great commercial marts, is to simplification, and in many cases only a single class of
articles is kept by the merchant— as in cotton goods, woolen goods, silk goods. Some­
times there is enlargement, as in fabrics for men’s wear, or in fabrics for women’s wear
— and so on throughout the list.




Mercantile Miscellanies .

m

One who is familiar with this subdivision of trade, and who knows little even by
hearsay o f the rough and-tumble of mercantile life in newly or sparsely settled coun­
try districts, would be greatly amused by spending a day in a specimen omnibus store
of some regions in the West— such as we have frequently inspected. You may even
find samples within forty miles of Philadelphia— or less. It would seem as if the
merchant kept everything on hand that could by any possibility be called for by any
customer. His store is indeed an aggregation of stores.
It is a grocers stole, with tea, sugar, rice, coffee, spices, molasses, dried fruits, <fcc.
It is a hardware store, with cutlery in variety, axes, rifles, divers mechanics’ tools,
kitchen utensils, agricultural implements, bar-iron, nails, <&c.
It is a dry goods store, with cloths, silks, cottons, calicoes, hose, yarns, carpets, tfcc.
It is a shoe store, and men, women, and children can alike be accommodated with
foot gear.
It is a confectionary store, and there is a goodly row of glass jars of candies for the
sweet tooth.
It is a drug store, and medicines, dyestuffs, paints, varnish, putty, tar, <fec., are at
your service.
It is a trimming store, and pins, needles, thread, tapes, ribbons, &c., await your call.
It is a jewelry store, with the adjuncts of clocks, watches, violins, and jewsharps.
It is a hat store, and you must not be positive that bonnets are not on hand.
It is a brush store, and bristles and broom-corn are in readiness for a customer.
It is a crockery store, and you may buy queensware, earthenware, glassware, and
stoneware.
It is a book and stationery store, equal to the ordinary requirements of the vicinity. _
It is a tobacco store, and smokers, chewers, and snuffers, can be supplied.
It is also the post office, and the merchant is the post-master.
Sit you down in this omnibus store. You can make a stool of yonder box of glass,
between that barrel of butter and that basket of eggs. Keep your eyes and ears open,
and you will find that the merchant has nineteen out of every twenty articles that his
customers may call for, and he promptly “ makes a note of ” everything that he is
“ just out of,” and will soon supply the deficiency.
It is a cash store, a credit store, and a bai ter store. In exchange for his commodi­
ties, the omnibus trader receives butter, cheese, lard, eggs, feathers, quills, dried ap­
ples, spun-yarn, coon-skins, grain, pork, and divers other articles.
You do not covet his position. The shelving all around the store-room, excepting
the space occupied by the doors, (for even the windows are shelved,) is crowded to
the unceiled joists of the floor above— and slats nailed to those joists furnish deposi­
tory-space for sundry light merchandise. The drawers behind the counter* and the
wide shelves under the counter, are fully occupied. The open garret directly over­
head, the tight cellar underneath, each has its appropriate treasures in reserve. Yet
in the midst of all this seeming confusion, the merchant knows precisely where to lay
his hand on everything called for, and he moves around in that “ curiosity shop,” with
a lightness of heart unknown to the wholesale dealer in a single article, in the city.
He knows all his customers, and is the great man among them because he is indis­
pensable to their comfort. They are the consumers of the commodities in which he
deals. They feel little concern about the far-off producers or manufacturers. The
omnibus merchant stands as their immediate friend and go-between; and if he be a
conscientious man, conducting his business on honorable principles, the happiness he
derives from the confidence of the neighborhood, is more than compound interest on
the profit of his vocation.
THE BOOK TRADE AND PRINTING BUSINESS,
The Philadelphia Reporter has some correct remarks on the book trade. It says:—
Those who are accustomed to regard the business of manufacturing books as second­
ary in point of importance to any other branch of mercantile pursuit, are widely mis­
taken in their views. W e have not at hand the statistics in reference to this subject,
but assure our readers that some of their aggregates would be startling. It must be
recollected that the bookseller is not the only person interested in this department of
trade. The rag merchant, the paper maker, the type founder, the printer, the book
binder, and indirectly the machinist, are all indissolubly connected together in the
production of even a single book. And when we reflect upon the countless multitude
of volumes, large and small, with which our country is deluged, it is easy to perceive
that the different ramifications of business connected with their publication occupy no




778

Mercantile Miscellanies.

mean rank in our financial operations. W e intend, at an early day, to present the
statistics o f the trade in a reliable form, and are sure that our readers will be inter­
ested in the result.
Our present object was simply to call attention to the fact of the substantial char­
acter of those houses engaged in this branch of business. A failure among the book
men is a rarity, even in times when trade is most depressed. It is very easy to look
back through a period of ten or twenty years, and enumerate on one’s fingers all the
houses engaged in the manufacture or sale ot books which have yielded to the pres­
sure o f the times, and either failed or suspended. The same remark applies to a
great extent, to the other classes we have enumerated which are directly or indirectly
connected with the booksellers. There have been, of course, a number of what are
ordinarily called “ small fry,” who, commencing a petty business on a false or insecure
basis, have been swept away by the first rough breath of adversity that has blown
upon them. But we are alluding to houses of standing and rank— such as are recog­
nized among the mercantile establishments of the community.
W e were recently informed, on the best authority, that out of two hundred thou­
sand dollars’ worth o f four or six months’ paper, received as the proceeds of the last
Trade Sale in Philadelphia, the entire amount has already been paid, with the single
exception of one small note, and that this is considered eventually good. W e doubt
if a similar statement can be made in reference to any other particular branch of
business. We are warranted, therefore, in repeating our convictions of the entire
soundness and prosperity o f our book men generally, and in holding them up to the
admiration and respect of the community at home and abroad.
ORDER AND METHOD IN FILING BILLS.
W e were conversing lately with a gentleman of very extensive business relations,
says the Philadelphia Merchant, and found he had filed away all his bills for twenty
years in a very methodical manner. Every one was folded to the same size, and then
indorsed with the name of the person, the amount, what for, and when paid, so that
at a glance the story of each bill was told. It was really amusing to see what a com­
bination o f business affairs was thus brought before us by glancing from bill to bill
through one of the neat bundles thus indorsed. In addition to this, our friend had
entered into a book a copy of those indorsements, to which he could make reference,
and from which he could select the amounts of various bills more easily than other­
wise, and by which he had a security against the loss of a bill in any manner. How
mucjj o f trouble and loss of time might be prevented in many places of business by
the presence o f a like order and method 1 It should be imposed as an essential to
good clerkship, and the habit thus induced will operate in other matters where order
and method are the essentials of good management.
FAST METHOD OF RECEIPTING BILLS.
A correspondent of the Boston Transcript calls attention to what we may justly
style the fast method of receipting bills— “ An impolitic mercantile custom in the style
of receipting bills, documents, and drafts by collectors, clerks, &c., where neither the
name of the firm, nor party making the claim, is signed, or even the agent who receives
the money does not give his initials. The current style of receipting bills is shorter
than the most ultra reformer of the language would desire. Instead of the old estab­
lished mercantile form— as ‘ Baring Brothers & Co., by Henry Slade,’ we now only
get initials, somewhat in this style, ‘ B. & B. by Slade.’ If a case arises in court, and
the receipt is produced as evidence of the payment, it may be somewhat difficult to
find ‘ Slade;’ whereas, if his name Henry, John, or Peter, was prefixed, he could be
found.” To say the least, this is a slovenly way of doing business, and is a haste which
will find itself in other departments of pen use where serious trouble may result. A
fair, fuU, plain signature is always commendable.




The B ook Trade.

119

THE BOOK TRADE.
1. — The Most Eminent Orators and Statesmen of Ancient and Modern Times, con­
taining Sketches o f their Lives, Specimens of their Eloquence, and an Estimate o f
their Genius. By D avid A. H a e sh a . 8 vo , pp. 518. New York: Charles Scribner.
The history and the contemplation of the famous orators of all times is a subject
interesting to every intelligent person, and peculiarly so to the student of oratory.
The author in this volume has presented the leading events in the lives of some of
the most renowned orators of antiquity and modern times. The table of contents
contains the names of Demosthenes, Cicero, Chatham, Burke. Grattan, Fox, Erskine,
Curran, Sheridan, Pitt, Canning, Brougham, Henry, Ames, Clay, Calhoun, Webster,
and Edward Everett; and in the foot-notes will be found notices of others, such as
Mansfield, Mirabeau, Hamilton, Hayne, Wirt, Choate, and Kossuth. Copious extracts,
embracing specimens of the style of each orator are selected, in choosing which the
author has aimed to select the choicest passages in the orations of each. Comments
are made on the leading peculiarities of each orator, and cotemporary writers and
eminent critics are frequently cited for criticisms and spirited descriptions. Amusing
anecdotes are scattered through the book. The work furnishes a desirable text-book
for the student of oratory, as well as a book of reference for all.
2. — A History of England, from the first Invasion by the Romans to the Accession
of William and Mary, in 1688. By J ohn L in g a r d , D. D. A new edition, as en­
larged by Dr. Lingard shortly before his death. In thirteen volumes, 18mo. Boston :
Phillips, Sampson & Co. New York: James C. Derby.
W e have noticed in former numbers of the Merchants’ Magazine the previous vol­
umes of this standard history o f England. We have now before us volumes eight,
nine, ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen, which completes the work, bringing the history
down to the close of the James II., and the commencement of that of William and
Mary. It is beyond all question the most impartial record of England’s history du­
ring the period it embraces, in the language. For patient research and scrupulous
accuracy, Dr. Lingard had no superior, and the whole work forms an enduring monu­
ment to his pains-taking and laborious industry. The volumes are printed in a style
highly creditable to the taste and liberality of the enterprising publishers. No judi­
ciously selected historical library, public or private, can be regarded as complete
without the present edition of Lingard.
3.

— Lives of the Queens of Scotland, and English Princesses connected with the Re­
gal Succession of Great Britain. By A gnes S tr ic kla n d , author of the “ Lives of
the Queens o f England.” Yol. v., 12mo., pp. 334. New Y ork : Harper & Brothers.
W e have noticed, as they appeared, the preceding volumes of Mrs. Strickland’s in­
teresting memoirs o f the Queens of Scotland. The present volume, together with the
two preceding (3d and 4th) is devoted to the life of Mary Stuart, interwoven with
much that is calculated to throw light upon the manners, <Sic, of the time in which she
flourished. The Lives of the Queens of England, in connection with the present se­
ries, must be regarded as a valuable addition to our stock of instructive historical bi­
ography.
4. — A Lamp to the Path ; or the Bible in the Heart, the Home, and the Market
Place. By Rev. W . R. T w e e d ie , D. D., Free Tolbooth Church, Edinburg. Author
of “ Glad Tidings,” “ Seed Time and Harvest,” “ The Morn of Life.” 18mo.,pp. 240.
Boston: Gould & Lincoln.
The leading maxim of this volume is, “ Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him,” and this is
regarded as “ the grand medicating influence for all our moral ills.”
5. — The School for Politics. A Dramatic NoveL By C h ar les G a y a r r e . 12mo.,
pp. 158. New York: D. Appleton <k Co.
The author, in this dramatic piece, attacks political parties, and delineates scenes
of political degradation. He disclaims any intention of striking at any particular
party or individual. I f there is truth in the scenes depicted here, it is certainly hu­
miliating to contemplate.




780

The B ook Trade.

6.— Wolfert’s Roost and other Papers, now first collected. By W a s h isg t o x I r v in s .
12mo., pp. 383. New York : G. P. Putnam.
What a pure delight is afforded in reading the essays and sketches of Irving! The
attractive volume before us contains a variety of pieces, which have been published
in periodicals, and are now first collected in a book; they are written in Geoffrey
Crayon’s happiest vein. Wolfert’s Roost is a delightful and exquisitely humorous and
historical descriptive account of “ that little old-fashioned stone mansion, all made up
o f gable ends, and as full of angles and corners as an old cocked-hat.” Its history
and how it came to be selected as the abode of “ Diedrich,” is recounted most happily.
“ The Birds of Spring ” is a brilliant description of the sweet songster, the “ bobolink,”
“ the happiest bird of our spring.” W e are told how he spiritually degenerates into
the reed bird, and finally to the rice bird of the Carolinas. In the autobiography of
Governor Duval, under the title of “ The Early Experiences of Ralph Ringwood,”
there are some pictures o f Virginian domestic life, shortly after our independence,
and of the old hunters’ and settlers’ ways and notions in Ohio and Kentucky at the
same period. In “ A Time of Unexampled Prosperity” Geoffrey appears as a sound
political economist. The comparison made of the Englishman and Frenchman is ju­
dicious, clever, and good-natured. It is gratifying, indeed, to turn to the pages of
Irving with his tender, playful, and genial humor, his pathos, his elegant diction, and
all the other graces of liis composition.
*7.— An Essay on the Trial by Jury. By L ysan de r S poon er , 8vo., pp. 224. Boston:
John P. Jewett & Co.
The design of this treatise is to give “ satisfactory evidence, though not all the evi­
dence, of what the common law trial by jury is.” The author maintains, with great
force and clearness, the right and duty of juries to judge what are the facts, what is
the law, and what was the moral intent of the accused; and but for their right to
judge of the law, and the justice of the law, he maintains, that juries would be no
protection to an accused person, even as to matters of fact. The work is divided into
twelve chapters, as follows:— 1. The right of juries to judge of the justice of laws.
2. The trial by jury, as defined by Magna Charta. 3. Proofs of the rights and duties
o f juries. 4. The rights and duties of juries in civil suits. 5. Objections answered.
6. Juries of the present day illegal. 7. Illegal juries. 8. The free administration of
justice. 9. The criminal intent. 10. Moral considerations for juries. 11. Authority
of Magna Charta. 12. Limitations imposed upon the majority by the trial by jury.
These heads will give the reader some idea of the scope of Mr. Spooner’s very able
and clever treatise. His common sense arguments, backed by the highest authorities,
will have great weight with every unprejudiced mind.
8. — The Castle Builders. By the Author of “ Heartsease,” “ The Heir of Redcliffe,”
“ Scenes and Characters.” 12mo., pp. 300. New York : D. Appleton & Co.
W e rarely ever read a novel which can be better commended for the salutary in­
fluence it has a tendency to exert upon the mind. It is a domestic tale, and both
sceues and characters are depicted with such truth and pathos that it comes home to
the heart of the reader. Kate and Emma—the two sisters— the principal persons
delineated, and indeed all the characters of the book, are invested with much interest,
and illustrate the design of the author, which is to show that life will only bring to
us pain and disappointment, if we live without a true aim and steadfastness of pur­
pose. The discipline of life must be rightly viewed and used as a means to purify
and elevate character. The trials which “ The Castle Builders ” were called to en­
dure are touchingly and beautifully portrayed. The thrilling account of a visit to a
beach, which resulted in the death o f one of the party, is written with much natural­
ness and pathos.
9. — The Massachusetts Register for the Year 1855. 8 vo,pp. 327.
Boston: George
Adams.
W e are gratified to learn that the liberal patronage extended to this valuable busi­
ness annual, has encouraged the indefatigable publisher to perfect it in every depart­
ment, and to render it, as its name imports, a complete index to the government, and
the civil, political, religious, educational, commercial, and other institutions of the
State. The very complete business directory of the city of Boston and the whole
Commonwealth, must render it a valuable book of reference to merchants, manufac­
turers, and business men of other States. The first Register of Massachusetts, was
published in Boston some eighty-nine years ago.




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10. — Christianity and Statesmanship, with Kindred Topics. By "Wil l ia m H ag u e , D. D.
12mo., pp. 430. New York: Edward H. Fletcher.
The title of this book scarcely conveys a correct idea of the contents of this work.
“ Christianity and Statesmanship” covers but some 50 of the 4 30 pages, which
we presume, was originally delivered as a discourse. The appendix to which, how­
ever, covers as niany more pages, with remarks on the Honesty of Traditionism, the
Christian Citizen’s Duty to Civil Government, Christianity and Slavery, Commerce
and Slavery, God on the Constitution, each having a bearing upon the subject of states­
manship as connected with Christianity. Following the above we have a lecture on
“ Christianity and the Turkish Power, or the Relation of Christendom to the Ottoman
Empire,” which was originally delivered before the Boston Mercantile Library Asso­
ciation. There is, besides, a series of papers on Christian Greatness, as exhibited in
the Apostle, the Missionary, the Statesman, the Citizen, &c. The„ bearing of the sev­
eral topics discussed on the spirit and events of the times, in connection with the char­
acter and standing of the author as. a popular and eloquent preacher in the Baptist
denomination, will undoubtedly secure for the work an extensive sale, and it will
doubtless be read by many who do not sympathize with many of the views so clearly
and forcibly expressed in the work.
11. — Christ in History; or the Central Power among Men. By R obert T urnbull ,
D. D. 12mo., pp. 540. Boston : Phillips, Sampson & Co.
The title “ Christ in History,” Dr. T. informs us, limits its character to an exposition
of the relations of Christ, as the highest expression or manifestation of God to uni­
versal history. He takes the incarnation of Christ as the central or turning point in
the history of mankind, and attempts to show how all the forces of society converge
around it, how all preceding history prepares for it. and how all succeeding history
dates from it. In order to develop this statement, the reader is taken back to central
facts and principles, to the fountains of history in the nature of God and the nature of
man, and the attempt is made to show that the history of the world, ancient and mod­
ern, can be understood only with reference to Christ. He attempts to show that the
theories of the skeptical naturalists to account for Christianity on natural, local, or
superficial grounds, are untenable. “ Though the labor of years,” says Dr. T., “ it is
not offered as anything approaching a complete or scientific view of the subject.” He,
however, ventures to call it an introduction to universal history, or at least an intro­
duction to the history o f Christianity.
12. — Pride and Prejudice. By the Author of “ Sense and Sensibility,” “ Emma,”
“Northange Abbey,” “ Persuasion,” and “ Mansfield Park.” New York : Bunce & Bro.
This is a pleasing fiction of that eminent English novelist Miss Austen—pleasing
from the unaffected style and the truthful representations. W e cannot do better jus­
tice to the merits of Miss Austen than extract what Sir Walter Scott said after read­
ing this work for the third time: “ That young lady had a talent for describing the
involvements, and feelings, and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most
wonderful I ever met with. The big bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now
goin g; but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary, common-place things and
characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied
to me. What a pity such a gifted creature died so early 1” Miss Austen died in
1817, aged forty-two.
13. — The Rich Kinsman. The History of Ruth the Moabitess. By S teph e n H.
T yng , D. D., Rector of St. Paul’s Church, New York. 18mo., pp. 425. New York:
Robert Carter & Brothers.
This volume contains a series of lectures delivered to the youth of the writer’s con­
gregation on Sunday afternoons, with the object of enlightening the minds of the young
in some of the subjects of Biblical instruction. The story of Ruth is one of the most
interesting in the Bible, and Dr. Tyng thinks that it is “ full of precious spiritual in­
struction.”
14. — The Maine Register for the Year 1855; embracing State and County Officers,
and an Abstract of the Laws and Resolves; together with a Complete Business
Directory of the State, and a variety of useful Information. Boston: George
Adams.
This, like the Massachusetts Register, prepared by the same gentleman, is all that
its title imports.
It embodies just that kind of information that every resident of
the State should possess.




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15. — The Coquette; or the History of Eliza Wharton. A Novel, founded on Fact.
By a Lady of Massachusetts. New Edition, with an Historical Preface and a
Memoir of the Author. 12mo., pp. 286. Boston: W. P. Fetridge <fc Co.
This is a reprint of an American novel published some forty or fifty years ago, and
but a few years subsequent to the assumed transactions it so faithfully attempts to
record. No romance of the time was so popular. It has since that time run through
a score of editions; and twenty five years ago was to be found iu almost every cot­
tage in New England. The characters are from real life. In the historical preface
appended to this edition, a Boston lady of eminence in literary circles furnishes a his­
tory o f the principal characters who figure in the drama. We read it more than thirty
years since, and if we were not pressed in the collection of “ facts and figures ” we
should be tempted to read it once more.
16. — A Treatise on English Punctuation. Designed for Letter writers, Authors,
Printers, and Correctors of the Press, and for the use of Schools and Academies.
With an Appendix containing Rules on the use of Capitals, a List of Abbreviations,
Hints on the preparation of Copy and on Proof reading, Specimens of Proof-sheet,
etc. By J ohn W ilson . 12 mo., pp. 334. Boston: John Wilson & Son.
This is the third edition of a useful work on punctuation— a subject commonly
much neglected, even by well-educated people. The work is very carefully prepared
and arranged with much system. The present edition contains some additions and
improvements, which renders the work the most complete of any on the subject that
we have seen. The examples illustrating the subject are selected with taste and judg­
ment, and the rules and directions generally are concise and clear.
17. — The Rag Bag. A Collection of Ephemera. By N. P. W il l is . 12mo., pp. 356.
New York : Charles Scribner.
Every paper and paragraph from the pen of N. P. Willis hath its quota of pith,
point, and polish. This volume consists for the most part of brief editorials, published
from time to time in the Home Journal, of which the author is one of the editors.
Every paragraph bears the impress of the author’s genius, and is written with
equal care and elaboiation. As photographer of the passing events, celebrities,
and topics o f the time, Willis has no compeer. He gives us “ just that look and im­
press of them which were lost in the bubble-creating flow of the tide of periodical
literature.” He calls them “ rags,” but “ they will be useful for a re-glance at the
web and woof of the time in which they were written.”
18. — Stanhope Burleigh ; or the Jesuits in our Homes. A Novel. By H elen D hc.
12mo., pp. 402. New York : Stringer & Townsend.
This volume is dedicated to the Young Men of the Republic. The author believes
that the “ terrible company of Jesus is the deadliest foe to civil and religious liberty,”
and that its aim “ is to establish for ages the empire of Loyola in the land of Wash­
ington.” The story is designed to illustrate what a Protestant conceives to be “ the
operations of Jesuitism in its natural and legitimate forms.” The characters and
events, says the author, have their originals, and nothing is written in a spirit of ex­
aggeration.
19.

— The Footsteps of St. Paul. By the Author of “ Morning and Night Watches,”
“ The Words of Jesus,” “ Woodcutter of Lebanon,” (kc. 12mo., pp. 416. New York :
Robert Carter <fc Co.
It has been said with a good deal of truth that no romance has ever been written
so interesting as the Acts o f the Apostles. Paul was the center portrait of the stirring
scenes and events of the apostolic group. In the present volume the author sustains
throughout the pictorial and descriptive character of the narrative, and has produced
a most interesting and graphic delineation of the life and character of the heroic
Apostle.
2 0 . — Mechanics: their Principles and Practical Applications.
Edited by O l iv e r
B y r n e , Civil, Military, and Mechanical Engineer. 12mo., pp. 182. New York : De .

Witt & Davenport.
Mr. Byrne is the author or compiler of a number of works on this and similar sub­
jects. In the present treatise he has taken pains to preserve the right medium be­
tween generalizing and individualizing. He thinks in an elementary work, like the
present, much generalizing should be avoided. It appears to be a plain, practical ele­
mentary manual for mechanics, treated concisely, but comprehensively.




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21. — Histoire des Etats Unis <TAmerique. Avec Notices des Autres Partes du Noveau Monde. Par S amuel G. G oodrich . 12mo., pp. 352. Philadelphia: E. H.
Butler.
No author has acquired a wider reputation for works designed for the young and of
an educational character, than Peter Parley, the author of the present volume. Re­
siding in Paris for some years past— part of the time as United States consul, and now
as a private citizen— he has turned his attention to the production of works in French,
for the instruction of the children of that country as well as our own. The present
work is introduced to the reader by M. Du Buisson, a French writer of note, in terms
of commendation. It is designed in this country for those who study the French lan­
guage, and will be read with interest by every Frenchman who wishes to acquire som«
knowledge o f the history of the United States in his own familiar dialect.
22. — Tricolored Sketches in Paris during the Years 1851-2-3. 12mo., pp. 368. New
York : Harper <fc Brothers.
This readable book consists of articles written from Paris for publication in a New
York daily journal. The leading events they record, taken from the fact that together
they constitute the birth and consecration of an empire, will be read with interest.
What, as the writer remarks, was begun as a light and laughing journal o f Paris and
the Parisians, gradually became a “ Chronicle of the Third Book of the Napoleons.”
The author has, in our judgment, a correct view of the French character, and appears
to have given us a fine panoramic picture of eventful and exciting scenes. The salient
points of Parisian manners and society are described in a forcible style. The volume
is illustrated with several wood cuts.
23. — History of the Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes of the United States,
1529-1854. By J ohn G il m a r y S hea , author of the “ Discovery and Exploration
o f the Mississippi,” member of the Historical Societies of New York, Illinois, and
Louisiana. New Y ork : E. Dunigan.
This work comprises a general history of the missionary efforts of the Catholic
Church among the aborigines of our country, and was undertaken, we learn from the
preface, at the suggestion of Jared Sparks, formerly president of Harvard Uuiversity.
The work appears to have been produced with much labor. It is illustrated with
several portraits and fac-similes of the autographs o f celebrated missionaries. The
appendix contains a list of missionaries, authorities used in the compilation of the
work, etc. It will be read with interest.
24. — The May Flower, and Miscellaneous Writings. B y H a r r ie t B eecher S t o w e ,
12mo., pp. 471. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co.
The “ May Flower,” the title of a volume of New England sketches by the author of that work of unprecedented popularity, “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” was published many
years since, before Mrs. Stowe was so widely known. The volume before us repub­
lishes those articles, with the addition of miscellaneous writings which have appeared
in different periodicals at various times. “ They have been written,” we quote from
the preface, “ in all moods, from the gayest to the gravest— they are connected in
many cases with the memory of friends and scenes most dear.”
25. — The Story of the Peasant-Boy Philosopher ; or, “ A Child gathering Pebbles on
the Sea-Shore.” By H en ry M a y h e w . 18mo., pp. 500. New York : Harper &
Brothers.
This story, so cleverly conceived and so attractively told by Mr. Mayhew, is found­
ed on the early life of Ferguson, the shepherd boy astronomer. It is designed to
show how a poor lad became acquainted with the principles of natural science ; and
in doing this the author seems desirous of exciting a craving that would stir the young
mind to seek its own food, instead o f accustoming it to be, as it were, “ stall fed.” The
excitement of the taste, the author regards, and wisely, as not only the first and
easiest, but likewise the most natural and enduring guide to knowledge. It is in every
sense a good book for the young.
26. — Household Songs and Other Poems.
By Mrs. H. E. G. A r e t . New Y ork: J.
C. Derby.
The poems in this volume, over one hundred in number, are generally quite well
versified, and furnish agreeable reading. They are on a variety of subjects, some are
grave and some are gay in tone.




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21.— Examination of the Principlesof Biblical Interpretation of Ernesti, Ammon,
Stuart, and other Philologists. A Treatise on the Figures of Speed), a Treatise on
the Right and Duty of all Men to read the Scriptures. By A le x a n d e r O a r son , LL. D.
12mo., pp. 468. New.York : Edward IT Fletcher.
28. — History of Providence as Manifested in the Scriptures ; or Facts from Scripture
Illustrative of the Government of God. By A le x a n d e r C arson , LL. D. 12mo.,
pp. 356. New York: E. H. Fletcher.
The. titles explain in a measure the character, and give the contents of these two
works. The subjects are treated in' a manner to interest the logical student, particu­
larly the first-named volume. The providence o f God in his government (as the
learned author justly remarks) of the world is a subject of the deepest interest to the
Christian, and,' we may add, to every inquiring mind. The topics in both volumes are
treated with equal ability, and evince much study and thought on the part of the au•thor. , The works of Dr. Carson on topics that interest orthodox Christians are numer­
ous, and are, we should judge from the wide circulation they have obtained, very
popular.
29. — Black Diamonds; or Humor, Satire, and Sentiment, treated Scientifically. By
Professor J ulius C,nsa it H an nibal . In a Series of Burlesque Lectures, darkly col­
ored. Originally published in the New York Picayune. 12mo., pp. 364. New
Y o rk : A . Ranney,
Ninety-nine lectures on as many different subjects, all written in the most approved
•Americanized-African dialect, collected and published at the “ earnest solicitation” of
the learned professor’s friends. The professor goes to “ Urope,” and writes six epis­
tles in the same “ peculiar ” dialect. The volume is crammed brimfull of wit, humor,
satire, and sentiment; aud if it is not remarkable for its scientific and philosophic
teachings, the reader will find enough to promote health, if, as philosophers say,
laughing possesses that power.
30. — The Daily L ife; or Precepts and Prescriptions for Christian Living. By the
Rev. J ohn C um mini;, D. D„ F. R. S, E., Minister o f the Scottish National Church,
Crown Court, Covent Garden, London. 12mo., pp. 279. Boston ) J. P. Jewett <&Co.
The reverend doctor who preaches the practical, every day life Christianity in this
little volume, is a bright light in the Scottish Presbyterian Church. He is a cogent,
logical reasoner, and inculcates his views in good language. His teachings are quite
catholic and unsectarian. He thinks we need less theology and more religion in daily
life.
31. — The Flash Times of Alabama and Mississippi. A Series of Sketches. By J o­
se ph G. B a l d w in .
Seventh Edition. 12mo., pp. 330. New Y ork : D. Appleton
& Co. .
Several o f the papers contained in this volume were originally published in the
Southern Literary Messenger, and met with a favorable reception from the readers
of that periodical. The scheme of the articles is somewhat original in design and
execution. They are intended to illustrate the periods, the characters, and the phases
o f society in some of the Southern States. They are very cleverly written, and the
work will be read by many with a good deal o f interest.
32. — The Saints’ Inheritance ; or the World to Come. By H en ry F. H i l l . 12mo.
pp. 244. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co.
This work, says the author, originated in the desire of awakening a lively and more
devout interest in the study of the Bible, and in the fact that the peculiar statements
made prominent in its pages are generally Degleeted, and in a great measure lost sight
of by the Church. The author maintains that this earth, instead of being annihilated,
will eventually be restored to its Eden State. The volume abounds in quotations from
the Bible in support of the author’s dogma.
33. — The Old Inn ; or the Traveler’s Entertainment. By J o seph B arnes. 12mo.,
pp. 360. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co.
According to this book, some travelers met at a country inn, in the State of Ver­
mont, smoked, and told stories. The author says: “ Of course, I did not tell my
story— 1 had one in my head and would have told it, had an opportunity been given.”
It is introduced under the impression that the series would be incomplete without it.
It is seldom that travelers’ stories at a country tavern furnish such a fine entertain­
ment as this volume affords.
fj