free

The duties are all calculated on the ad valorem principle, and, except on distilled spirits, none of them exceed 30 per cent. That per centage, if it can be fairly and fully exacted, would, it is not doubted, for many and probably for all well-established manufactures, be adequate protection-but it will be found impossible to carry them out; the ad valorem principle offers such bounties to fraud and piracy, that no restrictions nor penalties can prevent them. Of this, however, we shall have more to say when the bill itself shall be reported.

The condition of the money market is

Cotton 3 cts. per pound, salt 8 cts. per bushel, tea and coffee free.

easy and satisfactory, and the general run of business is steady. All new and distant enterprises are still more or less paralyzed by the uncertainty that hangs over our political affairs-but the constant and daily trade of the country, which is immense, is prosperous.

We annex a comparative statement of the condition of the banks of N. Y., on 1st. February...

COMPARATIVE CONDITION OF THE BANKS. State for the 1st February inst., with that of Comparative condition of the Banks of this the February quarterly report of last year, viz:

financial measure of Sir Robert Peel-a measure which, more than anything else, marks the growth of popular power in the British Empire-based upon principles against which he has always fought, and in explicitly-avowed abandonment of that theory of Protection upon which all the landed and conservative interests of the Empire rest. What are its provisions, and what will be its probable effect upon this country, are fully set forth under our financial head.

It will readily be supposed that so remarkable a step on the part of the Premier, was not taken without provoking very embittered references to that long and brilliant political career, upon whose principles and policy it placed at once the brand of condemnation. Both within and without the walls of Parliament Sir Robert Peel was assailed with reproaches for his inconsistency. He was denounced in the most violent terms, as having betrayed the party to which he owed his elevation, and threatened with its displeasure, which must hurl him from his official preeminence. He met the shock with dignity and courage. An honorable relief from the duties of office, he declared, would be to him a favor and not a punishment; but he proclaimed his readiness "to incur its responsibilities, to bear its sacrifices, to affront its honorable perils; but," said he, "I will not retain it with mutilated power and shackled authority. I will not stand at the helm during the tempestuous night, if that helm is not allowed to traverse freely. I will not undertake to direct the course of the vessel by observations taken in 1842. I will reserve to myself the unfettered power of judging what will be for the public interest. I do not desire to be Minister of England; but while I am Minister of England, I will hold office by no servile tenure: I will hold office unshackled by any other obligation than that of consulting the public interests and providing for the public safety." This is language worthy the high position from which it was uttered.

The measure, it is believed, will pass the House of Commons, and the Lords will acquiesce, though not without a struggle. It has thrown parties and party organs into some confusion. The Times defends it in the main. The Herald, hitherto strictly ministerial, cannot "conceal its disappointment at the paltriness of the compensation offered to the agricultural interest." The Post exhorts all the protectionists, "all men of common sense and sound principle" to oppose the "new device of the enemy"-absolute free trade in corn at the end of three years; and to pursue under all circumstances a "stern, uncompromising resistance to the scheme." The Standard confesses that it "cannot

understand the proposed change," or rather that it "cannot believe it rightly understands a change proposed by one whom it had been accustomed to regard as a statesman of the first order, but which it is impossible to reconcile with all he has before uniformly professed and taught." The Daily News, the new radical paper, and the Globe, Whig, censure the delay of three years in the abolition of the duty; and the Sun approves it entirely-regarding the question as settled, and adding that "the Peers and the landlords may for a time rebel against the minister; but all the wise, all the prudent, and all the able portion of the aristocracy know that their efforts are vain, and that in this country no class, however powerful, not even the first nor the second estate of the realm can gainsay the voice of the people." This, we apprehend, is very nearly the truth; and it is certainly a truth of the very highest importance to the progress of the principles of popular freedom in the British Empire.

Public attention in England has been so much absorbed by this financial measure, that other topics have received but little notice. In reply to questions in the House, Sir Robert Peel expressed some censure of Mr. Pakenham's summary rejection of the offer of the President to make the 49th parallel the boundary line in Oregon-not that the rejection was wrong in itself, but because it should first have been referred to his Government at home where it might have been made the basis of a proposition that should prove acceptable. The tone of the press upon the subject has undergone but little alteration. England, although apparently willing to accept any fair and equitable offer by which the difficulty may be adjusted, is evidently preparing for an adverse issue, which, to say the least, is possible-and notwithstanding the formi dable condition of her military and naval force, very large additions to both are demanded by the Government.

In the French Legislature American affairs have been made the subject of protracted, able and important discussions. In the Chamber of Peers the subject was brought up by Count Pelet de La Lozere, formerly a Cabinet minister, and a man of ability. He called upon Guizor for explanations, which were at once afforded. As between England and the United States, his policy was to preserve an attitude of entire neutrality. But when he came to speak of Texas, and of the manner in which he had joined with England in her efforts to prevent annexation, he was forced to justify a palpable abandonment of neutral principles and a direct interference in American affairs. This led him naturally to the right which he asserts for France and the European powers in general, of preserving an equilibrium—a

balance of power-among the various powers on the American Continent. He was very ably answered by MM. THIERS, BERRYER, BILLAULT, and others, and M. DE TOCQUEVILLE had announced his intention of speaking on the same side. The speech of Thiers was long and very able, in defence of the United States, urging the utility to France of an American alliance, and contesting the general principles which Guizot had laid down. By all the orators of the opposition the Minister's assumption that the rapid growth of the American Union was in the least degree dangerous to France, was scouted, and his theory of interference to prevent its too great extension, was vigorously resisted. The ministerial resolutions, however, adopted by a decisive majority.

were

In the Literary Intelligence of the month, we find little of any great interest. A history by Capt. Keppell, has been published of the English Expedition against the Pirates of Borneo, which opens an entirely new field for description and speculation, and is said to possess many features of remarkable interest. The expedition has hitherto excited but little attention; but we doubt not that, although having for its avowed object merely the suppression of piracy in one of the East India Islands, it will in the end be found to have had important relations to the extension of British commerce and enterprise.

Vols. I. and II. of Count Montholon's History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena, have made their appearance. As the work will, of course, speedily be reprinted in this country, we may defer any notice of its character and contents. That it will be read with avidity may safely be predicted.

A book of Travels through England and Scotland, by the German Dr. CARUS, who accompanied the King of Saxony on his tour in 1844, has just been published in London, and attracts a good deal of attention. It seems to be able, and in a high degree, interesting. Passing over its speculations we find quoted from it two or three portraits, which our readers may be glad to see-as this of Sir Robert Peel, who "appears about fifty years old. He is well built, rather stout, with a significant structure of the head, inclining towards breadth. The three divisions of the cranium are tolerably well proportioned, so far as I could observe them through the rather thick grizzled hair-the middle of the head is not high. The countenance expresses much firmness, united with something thoroughly prosaic, but acute and judicious. In conversation with superior personages, [Dr. Carus probably ranks the King of Saxony far above the Prime Minister of England,] his mode of expression, with all its reserve, falls into

an amiable tone, and his gestures also partake the change. His general demeanor is polite, cautious and self-possessed." Of the Duke of Wellington the same graphic pencil gives this sketch: "Just the model of an old soldier! Stiff, half-deaf, yet cheerful; you may see, even now, that he was, in his day, a well-formed, compact man. The form of his head and his face inclines to length; the forehead and the posterior part of the head are tolerably well elevated. His white hair is rather plentiful for his age. His eyes are set in wide hollows, and seem to bear witness to his character, as a man accustomed to trust his own eyes, rather than to listen to others." The Czar of Russia, a decided notability of the day, says Dr. Carus, "has a tall, handsome, broad-shouldered and powerful figure, with a symmetrically shaped head, but without any remarkable modeling of the forehead. His hair is brown, and thin at the top: his features are calm, large and regular, not without something of elegance and mildness. His carriage is quite military; his movements are quick and decisive, and his gestures free and expressive." These extracts indicate vigor, and an eye for prominent characteristics, which may make the book valuable and interesting.

SIR JOHN BARROW, in his old age, being within a year or two as old as GALLATIN, has prepared and published a synoptical history of all the English Expeditions of Discovery and Research in the Arctic Seas. It has, of course, a very marked interest and value.

The Daily News-the new London rival of the Times, with which the name of Dickens was connected in the preliminary announcements-made its first appearance on the 21st of January. It is a large and very well filled paper, excelling in the department of musical criticism, and likely, so far as can be judged from appearances, to prove successful. Dickens' labors thus far have not extended beyond two or three Traveling Letters" from Italy.

A book with the ambitious title of the Age of Pitt and Fox," is announced in London, and the first volume has been issued. It is by the author of "Ireland and its Rulers," a book of little merit and less success, issued a few years since. We have seen the first volume of this new book. It is racily written, but falls short of the strength and knowledge with which so important a work should be marked.

Among the books in press, announced in London, is the Life and Correspondence of HUME, by J. H. Burton, to be in two volumes and prepared from original manuscripts. If well done it cannot fail to be valuable.

The other literary announcements are of no great interest. A splendidly illustrated

book on the Picturesque Antiquities of Spain has been issued. The Stuart Papers; the Correspondence of Bishop Atterbury; the letters and papers of Lord Bolingbroke, the Earl of Mar, the Duke of Wharton and others; the Miscellanies of Sir James Mackintosh, collected by his son; Pericles-a Tale of Athens, by the author of a "Brief Sketch of Greek Philosophy;" the fourth volume of d'Aubigne's History of the Reformation; a Life of Sir Philip Durham; Kugler's Hand-book of Painting; these are all the books announced in regard to which any general interest will be felt. New editions of many very valuable books have been printed.

An important accession has been made to scientific libraries, in the publication, in quarto and very expensive form, of the Magnetical and Meteoric Observations made at the Greenwich Royal Observatory in the year 1843-issued under the direction of the Board of Admiralty. Many of these observations are highly interesting.

Another scientific publication of marked value is that upon the Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains, by Murchison, de Verneuil and Count Von Keyserling-issued in two volumes, uniform with Murchison's Silurian system. The main object of the work is stated to be to aid the inquiries of geologists of the present day into the order of the older sedimentary strata, and of the organic remains they respectively contain. Russia exhibits an unaltered succession of older rocks, and presents greater facilities than any other country in Europe for such an inquiry. As a general result of his investigation, Mr. Murchison maintains that "the lower Silurian rocks constitute the earliest formed sediments in which animal life has been discovered in tracts where the series, void of all animal remains in its lowest stratum, rest on crystalline rocks." The subject of the drift, so extensively spread over Southern Europe, and the boulders which accompany it, is treated at considerable length. The second volume of the work includes the paleontology by M. de Verneuil and Count Keyserling, aided by other distinguished naturalists.

At the meeting of the Asiatic Society in London on the 17th of January, a letter was read from Capt. Newbold, giving a description of some remarkable tombs he had visited in North Arcot, which cover an area of more than a square mile, and are said to bear a close resemblance to some of the Druidical remains of England.

At the Paris Academy of Sciences on the 12th a paper of mournful interest was read on the premature interments, which, under existing regulations, are known to occur more or less frequently in France. It was stated that since 1833 no less than 94 such burials were prevented by causes purely

M.

accidental of these, 35 persons, supposed to be dead, had suddenly awaked just as their coffins were about to be nailed. le Gueru, who presented the paper, expresses the belief that at least 27 persons are annually buried while yet alive, in France alone.

Some experiments performed by Professor Faraday, upon the correlated phenomena of magnetism and light, have excited a good deal of interest. The magnetic force employed in these experiments was derived from an electro-magnet of great size and power. The magnet used was a half link of the former East India moorings, surrounded by several coils of thick copper wire; and the source of the electric power was Grove's battery, about twenty cells of which were employed. To give an idea of the force of this electro-magnet, Prof. Faraday stated that " once, while he was at work in his laboratory, an iron candlestick which happened to be standing near its poles, instantly flew to them, attracted with such violence as to displace or break everything in its way." A piece of heavy glass was so adjusted between the poles of the magnet as to receive a ray of the oxy-hydrogen light of Drummond, after it had been polarized and before it had been depolarized by Nicholl's eye-piece. The following facts, demonstrating the magnetism of light, were then exhibited:

"1. As to the rotation of the ray. A polarized ray, having been extinguished by the depolarizing plate, was instantaneously restored when the magnetic current was sent through the prism through which the ray was transmitted; and conversely, the polarized ray, when, by the common adjustments of the plate, it had been made visible, was extinguished by the force of the current.

2. As to the relations of this electro-magnetic power to other laws of polarized light. The rotation having been established, it was shown (a) that the direction was absolutely dependent on that of the magnetic force (b). That, while in common circular polarization, the ray of light always rotates in the same direction with regard to the observer, (to whatrected,) it is very different in the state of the ever part of the medium his view may be diray induced by this new force. When brought under the influence of the magnetic current, polarized rays always rotate in a constant direction with respect, not to the observer, but to the plane of the magnetic curves.

In exhibiting the results of these highly interesting experiments, Prof. Faraday stated that it did not seem to him impossible, that the sun's rays might be found to originate the magnetic force of the earth, and the air and water of our planet might be proved to be the dia-magnetic media in which this condition of the force was eliminated. The subject had attracted the attention of the Paris Academy, and had been there discussed.

At a recent sitting of the Royal Academy