The operation of the present laws is much against the trade of the country, there being, in the absence of cotton and tobacco shipments to England, no large credits there to draw against in favor of the East India and China trade. Specie shipments are required, and when the goods land here cash duties must be paid, at high rates. While these are paid in demand notes the difficulty is not so great; but when these are absorbed gold must be paid. On general importations, also, the exchanges are adverse. At this time last year exchange was 4 per cent.; it is now 13 per cent. to the importer, to say nothing of higher duties. This is a serious difference to encounter, and it is not, therefore, surprising that the imports show less in amount. It does not much mend the matter to remit gold, because, although the large banking-houses can remit at 9, an individual cannot do it under 114; and if he is required to give 2 per cent. premium on the specie, it will cost him 13, or more than the bills. The continued decline in prices abroad for produce has given a great check to the exports, and has involved the shippers in considerable loss. The exports of breadstuffs have consequently become small from the port. The exports of flour, wheat and corn have been as follows: The decline has been regular and large in the shipment of these articles, following the decline of prices abroad, notwithstanding that the price has declined here in the ratio of $1 per bbl. The trade of the port is now so nearly confined to Northern produce, that the sum of the exports must be the guide for the amount of the imports, since there are no bills drawn against produce shipped from other sections, to make good what the proceeds of the produce falls short of the sum requisite to pay for goods received. The deficit makes itself seen in the increasing exports of specie and the firm rates for bills, which have ruled as follows: 46 Apr. 5, 1114 @ 1124 | 5.074 @ 5.024 12, 111@112 5.10 @ 5.031 "19, 111@1121 5.10 @ 5.034 414 @ 421 The moderate amount of business done, and the firmness with which dealers adhere to cash and short time, tend, as the season progresses, to enhance the amount of money seeking investment, since paper matures and is paid faster than it is created. ENDORSED. 42† @ 424 421 @ 424 364 @ 37 74} @ 75 42 @ 42 42 @ 424 364 @ 377 74% @ 744 421 @ 424 36} @ 371 74 @ 74} @ 7 7 (@ 4 @ 6 mos. 7 @ 8 @ 6 @ 9 .. .. .. .5 @ 6 6 @ 7 Not well known. 24 @ 36 18 @ 24 12 19,... 9 7 @ The bank returns, on another page, show to what an extent specie has risen in the bank vaults since the suspension. But the amount lost in December has not been recovered, and how much of that held by the banks belongs to special depositors cannot readily be determined. It is, however, not large, in view of the facts disclosed above, viz., that each succeeding month shows an increase in the excess of imports over exports, and that the value of the present staple export is rapidly falling. The increase of the paper currency, now going on through the banks, based not upon specie, but upon government legal tender notes, will give a new impulse to the outward current of the metals. The commercial loans of the banks, as distinct from the loans to the government, are about $82,000,000, nearly $40,000,000 less than for the corresponding period last year. The deposits, on the other hand, are large, although they have run down under investments in government stocks. This return presents the singular fact, which has been conspicuous since the commencement of hostilities, that the public have loaned the banks $10,000,000 more than the banks have loaned the public. There are no means of investing in business paper, and the banks have loaned the government $40,000,000 on five per cent. certificates at ten days call. The government loans now held by the banks are $41,247,000, being a decline of $35,000,000, which represents the net sales of stocks above the deposits for five per cent. certificates. The circulation of the banks has increased some $2,500,000 since the issue of the government demand notes, and the country banks are procuring large amounts of currency. There have been efforts to bring about a resumption of specie payments, in view of the low price of specie, and the hope that the progress of the armies would not only set free gold hoarded at the South, but also reopen the supply of exportable produce to promote the requisite exchange. The legislature of Pennsylvania has passed "an act requiring the resumption of specie payments by the banks." It exempts them from all the penalties of suspension until the first Tuesday in February, 1863, and gives them immunity from all penalties, by reason of suspension, incurred in the past. The notes of all solvent banks in the State, and the legal tender notes of the general government, are to be deemed and taken as "currency," "for all purposes, as the notes and balances due from the specie-paying banks." Privilege is given to the banks to issue small notes to the amount of thirty per cent. of their capital actually paid in, which is an increase of ten per cent. on their present privileges in this respect. The provision of the act of 1850, which prohibits the banks from holding stocks to an excess of one-third of their capital, is so modified as not to apply to the loans, stocks or notes of the United States, or of the State of Pennsylvania. That the State interest on the funded debt of the Commonwealth may be continued to be paid in specie or its equivalent, the treasurer is authorized to call on all banks in suspension to pay into the State treasury in proportion to their capital stock, within thirty days after the State shall have paid such interest, their ratable proportion of such premium for gold or its equivalent, as shall have been paid by the State, and, in default, to sue for and recover the same. When the rebellion broke out last year, the Common Council of NewYork authorized a loan of $1,000,000 to aid the troops. The issue was entirely illegal, but justified by common consent at the great Union meeting. The bonds were placed at the disposal of the Union Defence Committee, and were mostly expended in the purchase of arms. September 16, Mayor WOOD addressed the Auditor at Washington to obtain reimbursement for the money so expended under the law of Congress, but it was replied that the law only provided for the reimbursement of States, and did not cover the case of the city. That loan falls due May 1, 1862, and by a law of April 12, 1862, the legislature empowered the corporation to issue a new stock for $1,000,000 six per cent., payable November 1, 1864. That stock the Comptroller now offers in discharge of that which falls due. The annual returns at the Canal Department at Albany, gives the number of tons carried on the canals and rail-roads of the State. They are as follows: Of this large amount one-third in tonnage was veritable food, and in value it was $130,000,000, which large amount was mostly destined for New-York city. The total mileage on canals and rail-roads has been comparatively as follows: The increase of mileage is mostly on food coming by the rail-road. There has been a considerable decrease in the amount of merchandise sent West, growing out of the diminished business of the year. EUROPEAN ARMIES AND NAVIES. The following, according to the Almanack de Gotha, was the state of the disposable land and sea forces of the great powers of Europe in 1861: France: army on war footing, 767,770 men, 130,000 horses; peace footing, 414,000 men, 72,850 horses. Navy, 600 vessels afloat, building and under transformation, carrying together 13,353 guns. Out of that number there are 373 steamers, of which 56 are iron cased. The crews of the fleet, who on a peace footing amount to 38,373 men, may, in case of war, be increased to 60,000 men. The seamen forming part of the maritime inscription are 170,000 in number. The effective strength of the marines is 22,400 men in peace, and 26,879 in war. Custom-house officers or coast guard, 25,591 men. Great Britain army, 212,773 men, 21,904 horses. Navy, 893 vessels, carrying 16,411 guns. The crews number 78,200 men, of whom 18,000 are marines, and 8,550 coastguard men. Russia: army, 577,859 men regular troops, and 136 regiments of cavalry, 31 battalions, and 31 batteries of irregulars. Navy, 313 vessels, of which 242 are steamers, carrying together 3,851 guns. The Russian government has also 474 vessels acting as guardships at different places and for transports. Austria: army, 587,695 men. Navy, 53 steamers, 79 sailing vessels, carrying together 895 guns. Prussia: army, peace footing, 212,649 men; war footing, 622,366 men. Navy, 34 vessels, of which 26 are steamers. Italy: official effective strength of the army on the 10th of June, 1861, 327,290 men, divided into 68 regiments of infantry, 26 battalions of bersaglieri, 17 regiments of cavalry, 9 of artillery, 2 of engineers, and 3 wagon trains. Navy, 106 vessels, carrying 1,036 guns and 18,000 men. A NEW TRICK. The Gironde, of Bordeaux, states that a respectable tradesman of that city was cheated last week by the following trick: He had set a lookingglass outside the shop-door for sale, when a fashionably dressed man stopped to look at himself in it. As he stood thus occupied, with his walking-stick under his arm, a person passing behind him came in contact with the stick and drove it with such violence against the glass as to shiver it to atoms. The apparently innocent cause of this accident immediately offered to pay the value of the glass, worth 50 francs, and handed the tradesman a 1,000 franc note. After receiving the change he took his departure, and soon afterwards the tradesman made the unpleasant discovery that the note was a forged one. THE BOOK TRADE. Cadet Life at West Point. By an Officer of the United States Army. With a Descriptive Sketch of West Point, by BENSON J. LOSSING. Boston: Published by T. O. H. P. BURNHAM. This volume fills a niche in our national literature, which has long stood empty, inviting notice, and only now receiving it. The experience of Mr. RICHARD RANKANFILE in our great military academy, will be read with enthusiasm by all those junior members of society whose mind's eye is fixed with fervor on their own prospective drill and discipline, and ultimate military prowess; by the graduates whose memories go back gladly to the old times long gone by; and by non-military people in general, to whom a new page of boy life is laid open. The book is pleasantly written, and full of those initiatory excitements which come alike to PLEBE" or "FRESH," wretched to endure, but amusing to recite, and which, like the music of OSSIAN, are pleasant, yet mournful to the soul of the reader. The Old Lieutenant and his Son. By NORMAN MACLEOD. Boston: T. O. H. P. BURNHAM, There is something rather aside from the usual style of story telling in the "Old Lieutenant." The author writes as if he were narrating the history of friends who were very dear to him, and could not, therefore, help being extremely interesting to the world. He describes their looks, gestures and remarks, upon various little unimportant occasions, with such fervent admiration, recounts their virtues, and explains away their faults with such blind devotion, that in some of the earlier chapters one cannot help smiling at his hero-worship, while, at the same time, forgiving it, as a very amiable weakness. But such enthusiasm is contagious, and long before the story is half through, the coolest reader will find himself thoroughly enlisted on the side of NED FLEMING, and ready to battle for him to the last. It is, perhaps, more of a sea than a land story. The hardships and temptations of a sailor's life are often very strongly pictured, and none can read it without an increased interest in and sympathy for the sturdy mariners whose experiences it chiefly deals with. It is remarkable for being a thoroughly religious book-hearty in its commendations of all that is good, and fearless in its denunciations of evil, without being sectarian, stilted or dogmatical. Aids to Faith. A series of Theological Essays. By several writers. Being a reply to "Essays and Reviews." Edited by WILLIAM THOMSON, D. D., Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. New-York: D. APPLETON & Co. When the writers of the "Essays and Reviews" sent their book out upon the world; they threw an apple of discord into the heart of the community that stirred it up from its depths. It has given rise, therefore, to a vast amount of argument, discussion and disapproval, and now there appear simultaneously two books in answer to it. The "Facts for Priests and People" being the broad church view of the controversy, and "Aids to Faith," which comprises a series of essays by men who ad |
