FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. THE money market has continued increasingly abundant, and all those elements which tend to promote a prolonged ease of the market are in activity. The importations of the port of New-York have been large, but have, in common with domestic fabrics, sold well at prices which ruled at the close of fall business much higher than at its commencement. While goods have sold so actively, payment has been made promptly, and specie has accumulated in the bank vaults. The following statement shows the condition of the banks on the 24th of February, 1849, the 30th of June, 1849, and the 22d September, 1849: BANKS OF NEW-YORK. Sep. 30, '48. Dec. 9, '48. Feb. 24, '49. June 30, '49. Sept. 22, '49 Loans and Discounts,. $73,503.787 $74,998.932 $76,824,565 $82,960,422 $85,814,603 12,513,599 12.476,758 12,454,637 12,800,993 12,362,748 13,483,339 20,944,078 17,638,015 The loans of the banks, it will be observed, are, as compared with last year, at a very high figure, and the means are derived from an increase of deposites in the city banks of $8,100,000, and of bank balances $4,200,000, of which $3,300,000 is in specie, and the remainder in discounts. The amount loaned to brokers in February was $1,424,003. This increased to $1,745,022 in June, and has since diminished to $1,687,809, and has been further diminished since the return. The balances due country banks are very large, arising in some degree from the fact, that the trade having not yet come in, the circulation has not reached the city for redemption-an operation that would reduce the balances considerably. This state of affairs has enabled the banks to make large profits, and the dividends this year for the city banks will average 9 per ct., most of the small capitals having declared 10 per ct., in addition to which their surplus funds have much increased. This has stimulated an increase of bank capital, and some $2,000,000 has been added to that of the city. That the amount of loans of the banks is much larger than last year is not an evidence of unsoundness. As long as the discount of short active business paper is adhered to, the larger the general amount of business done, the more considerable must be the sum of the loans. It is to be remarked, that in such a state of affairs the quantity of specie on hand continues to accumulate. Towards the close of the fall trade, bills so advanced as to induce an export of specie; but a small amount served to produce a reaction and fall in bills, and to renew importation of specie, of which, to the close of October, there had been received from California, at the mint at Philadelphia, $3.800.000. The rumor of gold abundance has already produced some slight disturbance in exchange. The standard of France is silver exclusively, whereas Holland and Belgium have coined gold. Last year, owing to political disturbances, a demand for silver sprang up in France, and Belgium passed a law legalising English sovereigns, to avoid the inconvenience of the silver drain. That having now subsided, the law to permit sovereigns to circulate VOL. XXV.-NO. CXXXVII. 6 has been repealed, October 28, and Holland has abolished the use of gold as a currency. The effect of this was to increase the export demand for silver here, but that has now ceased. Under the Independent Treasury specie has increased in abundance. The banks hold now more than ever, and the rate of money is exceedingly low, say 4 a 4 per ct. on call, and 6 per ct. bank rate for 60 a 90 day's paper. This state of affairs has now continued for a longer time than before known for very many years. At the same time the revenue tariff has swollen the receipts of the government. The quarterly revenue and expenditure has been as follows, for five quarters: UNITED STATES REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. Quarter. Dec. 31.. Customs. Lands. Miscel. Loans. Total. 8,991,935....482,709.... 133.271....10,127,200.... 19,735,114 .5,181,870....494,498....934,369 ....... .7,599,950....14.211,348 .8,374,628.. .389,566.. 2,181,350.. .3,734,500. . 14,680,044 .5,004,050.. March 31 June 30.. .5,794,256.. Sep. 30, 1849. .279,685.....63.500.. 11,141,491 Sep. 1848, 303,371,231...8,064,851...2,979,022...181,176...14,597,254...3,268,850 Dec. 31.. .3,864.669...3,803.990...2,680,269. 1,510,659...11.859,567... .2,403,950 March .2,873,033...2,498,259...2,091,291...167,308.. 7.629,888...3.510,208 June........3,909,143...3,001,428...2,041,912. 1,765,224...10,717,707...3,700,523 Sep. 1849, 302,678,760...3,302,315...2,052,435........ 34,499....8,068,009.... 842,177 The revenues of the September quarter exceed those of the corresponding quarter of the previous year about 40 per cent., and the current receipts over current expenditure for the quarter, is nearly $4,000,000, equal to about $12,000,000 per annnm, with the decreasing war expenditure. The whig administration, have, however, through their letter-writers, thrown out feelers to ascertain the public pulse. It is stated, that nearly $20,000.000 of loans will be wanted to make good deficiencies to that extent for the fiscal years, 1850-51. It is matter of congratulation to the people, that the finance committees of the two houses, have, by the late election, been placed in the control of those who will sift into these contemplated iniquities, and bring down the expenses to their proper level. The regular appropriation bill ought not to exceed $24,000,000. All accounts alledged to be connected with the Mexican war, ought to be separately audited, and placed under the charge of a special commission, and such as may be allowed, presented to Congress entirely apart from the regular treasury accounts, to undergo debate and final action. The probability is, that the years 1850 and 1851 will yield $10,000,000 excess of revenue, and the $20.000,000 asked for will make $30,000.000, which by no manner of means should be allowed to swell the corruption of executive patronage. The great change in the laws of the United States and Great Britain, which is to take effect on the 1st January next, in respect to navigation, must have a great influence upon the value of that description of property, as well as upon the demand for most descriptions of exportable goods. The navigation laws of England, followed by those of other countries, originated in a desire not to provide merchants and producers with the best and cheapest means of transporting goods, but to build up a military navy which should deprive the Dutch of the marine dominion which they then exercised. The free trade system of the industrious Hollanders had given them the carrying trade of the world. Their merchant marine multiplied because it was the cheapest and most efficient means of transportation. The increase of seamen thus produced, naturally constituted in a military navy that which was resistless. The English navigation act, introduced into the Long Parliament by St. John, a Puritan republican of the Commonwealth, was intended not only to undermine the power of the Dutch, but to punish the colonies that had remained faithful to the Stuarts. It 563 was undoubtedly an outrage upon the rights of mankind and on the freedom of trade; but the tendency of all discussion, during that age, of the natural rights of men, was confined to those modes of liberty which bear upon the internal organization of government. While the shipping interest was fostered for a specific purpose and avowed end-viz: to form a navy-there was no other welldeveloped industrial or commercial interest which could contend against an interest backed by such state reasons. commerce and industry of the nation suffered through the monopoly created by The burdens and oppressions which the the navigation act, were considered as necessary to the national defence. There is no doubt but that the commerce of the world and the progress of civilization were greatly retarded by those enactments. that they were almost the exclusive cause of the dissatisfaction which ultimately Mr. Huskisson admitted, in 1826, caused a separation of the colonies. the jealousy and malignity manifested by the government of Great Britain against But it may also be admitted, that it was the shipping of the New England states, on their independence being established, that drove those States to seek a union with the South, under a federal government that else might not have been formed with sufficient strength to retaliate. The South clearly made a great sacrifice when they assented to confer upon northern ships a monopoly of carrying their produce. Nevertheless, the policy of the federal government, although firm, was liberal. They formed treaties of reciprocity early with the northern states of Europe, and constantly tendered terms of reciprocity and equality, which were haughtily rejected by England, until, as Mr. Huskisson declared, she was "forced by necessity" to adopt them in 1815, in the direct trade with the United States. She, however, obstinately and arrogantly refused to grant what Mr. Canning called "a boon," viz: permission to trade with the colonies. 1815, passed a law which was embraced in the treaty with Great Britain, in The United States, however, in respect to the direct trade, repealing all discriminating duties on foreign ships, to take effect in favor of any nation which should abolish similar duties on United States vessels. In 1817, they passed a law of a more coercive character, to the effect that no goods should be imported into the United States except in American vessels, or those of the nation that produced the goods;-this rule not to extend to nations that had not adopted similar rules in respect of United States vessels. The English would, however, yield nothing in respect to their West India trade, until the United States prohibited British vessels arriving thence. The "necessity" that had manifested itself in 1815, in respect to the direct trade, was by this law made apparent in relation to the colonial trade, and Parliament opened certain ports to American vessels for the admission of certain goods. The vessels, however, could not leave the colony for another, or for England. This regulation has remained in force down to the present time, when the whole fabric of laws thus pertinaciously maintained during a struggle of half a century, is removed altogether. Under the old law, a British ship must have been built in the British dominion. If she was repaired abroad she lost her nationality; also, if sold to a foreigner she could not be repurchased; she must be manned with three-fourths British seamen, and always have a certain number of apprentices to her tonnage. This is now changed. A vessel may be bought of foreigners, and get a British register; foreign repairs will not affect her nationality. She may be sold and repurchased. Asiatic seamen are now deemed British. The requirement of apprentices is removed, and the Queen may waive altogether the requirement of a certain proportion of British seamen. A British ship has advantages only in the coasting trade of the British islands, in which foreigners may not engage. They may, however, trade from one colony to another, or to the mother country; or the colonial legislature may procure permission for them to trade between different ports in the same colony. Tea may be imported from any country, and foreign whalemen may arrive from sea. These are some of the main features of the new law, which, in respect to the foreign trade, permits foreign vessels to do all that British ships may do. This vast change which has been wrought in British policy by the enterprise and energy of the United States, developing the eternal truths of free trade, has manifested itself in England through the instrumentality of those great industrial interests that have grown up in the last thirty years. The most remarkable of these is cotton. The following table shows the number of lbs. imported into England, and the quantity of cotton goods exported at two periods : The aggregate average freights from the South is 1,500 lbs. cotton per ton measurement; hence it required 484,673 tons of shipping to carry England her cotton in 1848, or 445,415 tons more than in 1815. A similar increase in tonnage was required to carry the goods abroad. The number of persons interested in England in this transportation of cotton at the cheapest rates, is 2,500,000. or 2,000,000 more than in 1815; and they procured the abolition of the duty of 12 per cent. on cotton, and, united with similar interests, procured the abrogation of the India Company monopoly in 1830, more recently an abolition of the corn duties, and now the monopoly of freights. It is to be observed, that while these interests, concerned in cheap freights, have been constantly extending their interests, numbers, and influence, that of the shipping has not progressed. As compared with the United States, the tonnage of Great Britain has been as follows: It will be remarked, that from 1814 to 1832 there is a decrease in the British tonnage, and a small increase in the American. This arises from the fact, that in the former country, in 1827, and in this in 1829, a complete revision was made of the registers, and lost and condemned vessels struck off the lists. Since that time the account has been regular. In the case of steam tonnage, the quantity owned in the United States apparently exceeds that of Great Britain and Ireland, but it is the English custom not to include in the register the room occupied by machinery. This makes a difference of 80 per cent.; that is, including engine-room, the tonnage of 1848 would be 415,814, or nearly that of the United States. As it stands, however, the fact is apparent, that the mercantile tonnage of the United States has overtaken that of Great Britain. While that of Great Britain has increased 1,888,000 tons since the formation of the United States Government, our own has increased 2.952.479, or 60 per cent. more. In all that period, the United States have constantly striven for freedom of the seas, and Great Britain has constantly resisted the inevitable tendency in that direction. She now throws up her futile policy, abandons opposition to American enterprise, permits her merchants to avail themselves of our great resources and skill in ship-building, invites the agriculture of the world to supply her in food, and the ships of all nations to bring it to her, as well as the raw materials of manufactures. There have been in operation several elements to prevent the extension of the influence of the shipping interests in all countries, in a ratio proportioned to that of opposing interests. Thus, improvements in shipping, 1849.] Financial and Commercial Review. 565 with the aid of steam, have enabled the same amount of tonnage, by more rapid passages, to perform a greater amount of work, and the magnitude of vessels has greatly increased. Thus, but a few years since, a vessel of 500 tons was a first class 1,200 to 1,500 ton ships are now quite as frequently to be met with. This has had a tendency to restrict the interest in fewer hands, although perhaps wealthier ones. The immense demand for tonnage to transport food in the famine year 1847, when Frauce, Belgium, and England suspended their navigation acts, added to the United States Government demand for the Mexican war, exceeded the supply, and the exorbitant freights of those years caused an immense increase in the tonnage built. This was as follows: The tonnage built in 1846 was larger than ever before, yet it nearly doubled in 1848. The subsidence of the famine demand, with the restoration of the navigation laws, together with the release of the vessels in the United States Government service, threw an enormous supply of tonnage upon the regular markets, and the consequence was low freights, relieved slightly by the California demand. These new and well-built vessels, sailing at the lowest freights, will, in January next, have the carrying trade of England thrown open to them from all ports; and while the West India and South American, as well as East India and European ports, can offer them English freights, they can afford to carry thither American produce and goods on better terms than formerly. Flour and cotton goods may go to the Brazils, where a coffee freight can be taken, thence to England, as well as the north of Europe. The circumstances of the last few years have conspired to prepare the American marine for that new business now opened to them. The approach of the 1st of January, when free navigation takes effect in England, has induced engagements already to land freights in Liverpool after that date. For this purpose the rates have advanced 60 a 75. Vessels up to land cargoes, under the new act get 2s. for flour and 5d. a 6d. for grain, and rates are a shade better for current engagements. Some of the packets are engaging at free navigation prices. This will cause a movement in foreign goods for England; but, more completely to give our vessels the control of the trade, a more perfect and facile system of warehousing is required. The mercantile interests of the city, having become satisfied of the benefits they derive from a low tariff and the independent treasury, as well as the whole commercial system adopted by the late administration, regard with unmitigated disgust the anti-commercial persecutions to which the trade of the country is subjected in consequence of the tricks of partisans in office. Our shipping having now the privilege of supplying England with any description of goods she may require, no matter where produced, it needs but ample warehouses, where goods can be stored and insured, free of custom-house charges, to make our ports the depot of the products of the world. Whatever clime our ships now visit, they may bring home those goods that they can procure to the best advantage, as the English market is now added to our own for their disposal. Whatever our warehouses may contain saleable in England, our ships may now carry; but if an illiberal and persecuting spirit prevails on the part of our own public officers, all these advantages must be lost. |