of that altered and more liberal policy; and that instrument has continued the model of the subsequent conventions of a similar character with other countries. We trust that no serious danger is portended to the stability of this policy, by the recent demonstrations we have seen, of a desire to cloak the obnoxious principle of tariff protection under the disguise of retaliatory discriminations, withdrawn from the action of the more popular branch of our government by being put in the form of treaty stipulations. 66 Nor has the retirement of Mr. Gallatin been devoted exclusively to subjects connected with his public reminiscences. With a memory tenacious in the extreme, and to which all historical knowledge seems to be tributary, and with most accurate scientific attainments, no one can be admitted to his intercourse, without being convinced that his learning is deep and various. In 1836, Mr. Gallatin published, in the Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society, a Synopsis of the Indian Tribes in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, in the British and Russian possessions," the materials of which he had been for many years collecting-a work of vast labor, which will long remain as a valuable contribution to the literature of the country to whose political affairs its author's life had been devoted, as well as a very remarkable monument of the zeal and industry in scientific research, which no weight of years seems able to weaken. He is now understood to be engaged in a similar work with respect to those of Mexico. In the course of the present year, he' has allowed himself to be elected Pre- We are conscious of the meagreness MONTHLY FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ARTICLE. NEARLY three-fourths of a year have elapsed since we intimated that the first movement had commenced toward a reconstruction of the commercial prosperity of the United States. At that time the strength of the storm which had overtaken the banking system of the United States had nearly spent itself, and most of the doubtful banks had stopped or were in the way of liquidation. Long and desperate had been the struggles of the advocates of the paper system to restore business on the basis of blind confidence in corporate promises. Scheme after scheme to retrieve affairs had failed almost as soon as projected, and the public mind had at last returned and settled down to the abiding principles of republican industry and frugality. The new crops of cotton, tobacco and rice, were coming into market on a cash system of business. The exchanges at all points showed a settlement of commercial balances, and an influx of specie, the proceeds of the crops, was looked forward to. The crops came forward, and the current of specie flowed steadily into the sea-ports until the following results have been produced: Specie in New York Banks, Specie in New York Banks, Increase, Specie arrived at New Orleans from August, 1842, to May, 1843, $5,405,862 natural tendency of the plenteousness of money to stimulate trade was in some degree checked. So great a soperabundance of money could not. however, long remain idle without promoting speculation in some branches of business. Speculation uniformly is engendered when money suddealy becomes plentiful, because capitalists, more especially banks, are anxious to improve their funds, and the growth of enterprise among regular business 13,500,000 men is much too slow to absorb the idle capital. In our April Number, we $8,094,138 remarked that the results of the late session of Congress, defeating all the "relief" measures of the dominant party in the national government, had cleared the way for more extensive The rapid transactions in stocks. growth of stock speculations, under the state of affairs then described, is seen in the following table of prices which we have brought up to the present time: $9,000,000 The value of money has gradually fallen from 6 per cent. to 4 per cent. on good paper in New York during this accumulation of specie, which has been in the winter months, when the channels of internal trade are for the most part closed, and of course the ing the Banks. Of the remainder, $5,000,000 composes the internal improvement debt, and was issued for the construction of rail-roads, &c. For this debt there was no other security than that afforded by the faith of the State. There remains $4,300,000 of canal bonds, which are secured upon the canal and the lands connected with and belonging to it. This canal is one of the most important works of the country. It is 100 miles long, and navigable for boats of 100 to 150 tons. It cuts the strip of land which separates the navigation of the great chain of lakes from the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, thereby completing a water communication between Buffalo and New Orleans. This important work, on which so much money was expend In 1826, a 5 per cent. stock, 20 years to run, was sold at nearly as high a premium as the 6 per cent. now, being a difference of near 20 per cent. in favor of the then rates. Since that period, however, the stock capital in the country has increased upwards of $250,000,000. In 1833, 34, when the paper inflation was gathering force, the 5 per cent. stock sold, it seems, at over 15 per cent. premium, but steadily fell to par under the increasing difficulties that ended in the explosion of 1836, 37. The large and constantly increasing issues which commenced in 1838, accompanied by inevitable consequences, sank the 6 per cents. to 80 in 1842. Under the plenteousness of money and increasing wealth of the country, a level of prices may be maintained for the present amount of stocks in existed, was lying idle and becoming rapidly ence, very nearly as high as those of 1830-31, more especially as the great reduction of banking capital has removed one of the principal drains upon the accumulations of industry. These rates speak highly for the credit of the State of New York, more particularly when we contrast the rate now given, 106.52 for a 6 per cent. stock with that as seen in the above table, for the same description of stock in February, 1842, when the party in power at Albany promptly imposed the mill tax and stopped further loans of state credit. The difference is 28 per cent. in favor of the stock now. Ohio pursued a contrary course, and it was with the utmost difficulty she could maintain the rates of last year down to the middle of April. The officers of that State have issued proposals for $1,500,000 7 per cent. stock mentioned in our last as authorized at the late session. The time expired on the 13th, with only partial success. The State of Illinois has taken a stand in regard to its debts which is likely to lead to the best results. The movement is an important one, because Illinois was one of the first states to hold out the iniquitous doctrine of repudiation. Under her present government, however, she has solemnly acknowledged her outstanding obligations, and taken efficient steps to settle them. The debt of the State of Illinois was about $12,500,000, whereof $2,500,000 was issued to the banks of the State, and has been withdrawn and cancelled by the law of the late session liquidat dilapidated for want of funds to complete it. The pressure of the times disabled the State from obtaining the money-the Banks failed-trade be came stagnant, and prices fell very low. At such a moment it became necessary to lay a grievous and entirely unexpected tax upon the people to sustain the credit of the State. The borrowed money was apparently lost, and much mismanagement had prevailed in obtaining it. It was not therefore to be wondered at if the people resisted taxation, more especially as they were assailed with unmeasured abuse for becoming the victims of a vicious paper system. The first burst of the difficul ty being over, the new legislature, at its last session, began to gather up the remnants and devise some means of settling in an equitable manner. Taxation, in the extremity to which the people were reduced, was out of the question. The property of the State was the only resource. That was unavailable and rapidly becoming valueless for the want of $1,600,000 to com plete the canal. A compromise then was absolutely necessary for the interest of the creditors as well as that of the State. The lands belonging to the canal, at a very low estimate, are valued at $4,000,000, and would immensely increase in value on the completion of the canal which runs through them. Taking advantage of this circumstance, the State has passed a law to borrow $1,600,000 to finish the work, giving the holders of the canal bonds the first privilege of subscribing. The subscrib ers to the loan are to appoint two trustees, and the Governor of the State one. The canal with its lands is to be made over to these three trustees, who, upon the completion of the canal, are to sell the lands and repay the new loan, principal and interest, with the proceeds. The first receipts of the canal will then be applied to the interest on the canal bonds, then to that on the internal improvement bonds, after which to the principal of the canal bonds, when that of the internal improvement bonds will be discharged. The moral influence of constructing the great canal as at first intended, without taxing the people, will be productive of immense results. It will encourage the people to exertion, at the same moment that it will give them a market for produce, and raise its prices, develope their resources, enhance the value of their lands, and increase their numbers, by encouraging immigration. Under these circumstances, with an improved currency, a renovated trade, and debt diminished two-thirds, both the will and the ability to pay taxes for a discharge of the balance, will be exerted. Illinois will then be cleared of the foul blot of repudiation and the burden of a debt. The same general operations are likely to extinguish eventually all the debts that are now due by the American people. The latest advices from abroad give a much better aspect to the commercial affairs of England than they have presented for many years. The great and long continued abundance of money had at last begun to exert its legitimate effects in promoting an increase of business. The consumption of cotton from January to May 1st, averaged an increase of 4,500 bales per week over the same period of last year, and in all the manufacturing districts there was a greatly improved business from the demands of the home trade. The crops of England promise thus far to be a full average, and therefore to assist the recovery in commercial affairs which the abundance of money is slowly stimulating. The effect of the new tariff of England has been thus far not so much to promote imports of agricultural products as to reduce prices to a point probably about 20 per cent. below that under the old law, beyond which prices cannot reach, because increased imports will then check the tendency to rise. The present disposi VOL. XII.NO. LX. 83 tion in both the United States and the government of Great Britain, to arrange by mutual concessions a greatly extended intercourse between the two countries is likely to result in the greatest advantages to the masses of the people in both countries. The cheap bread of the United States, by reducing the monarchical absurdity of protective tariffs, may be placed within the reach of the artisans of England. The great element of the home trade in Great Britain is the low prices of provisions. The apparent anomaly invariably presents itself, that when provisions are high trade is dull, and therefore employment for the operatives difficult to be procured. On the other hand, when the necessaries of life are cheap, trade improves and labor becomes in demand. The effect of the reduced tariff of last year has been to lower the prices of all provisions about 20 per cent., a fact which is proved in all the large government and company contracts lately made as compared with those of last year. This reduction of prices of food 20 per cent. in England is equivalent in its effects on trade to a rise of prices to as great an extent in this country, and under a system of free trade between the two countries, both results are brought about at the same time, because the margin of prices is so great that the withdrawal of the surplus here and the throwing it upon the market there, equalize the prices and animate trade in both countries. Hence the more provisions that are sold by the western farmers to England, the greater will be the consumption of cotton goods there, and by a necessary consequence the higher will be the prices of that cotton netted to the southern planter, while at the same time the increased sales of the farmers at the west will enable them to enhance their purchases from the domestic manufacturers. This process is now going on. The reduced tariff of England has produced the desired result, and trade is reviving to an extent which promises to sustain the rates of the very large crop of cotton gone and going forward, while other descriptions of produce are rapidly gaining favor. A rise in the prices of these articles produces an immense effect upon the exchanges by increasing the balance due this country. The rates of bills have been as follows: |