Ships, adjusting compasses of iron.......... 694 Tobacco, trade, statistics of.. Ship, a mammoth merchant........ 702 stocks of leaf in Europe.. 94 108 537 exports of, from New Orleans..... 560 Trade with the West Indies..... legislation in Prussia... 129 66 at Erbit, early and present.. 246 Treasury circulars.. "trade, British efforts to stop the........ 700 66 428 701 701 474 663, 666 operation of Assistant in N. York. 535 Treaty between U. States and Chili.... U. 227, 556 341 109 579 Union-the, br'f rev'w of the past and present 372 66 built at Pittsburg in 1849 & 1850 407 Steamboat navigation of Cincinnati.. 66 229 138 66 Spain, commercial code of.... 199, 312 66 Spirits, consumption of in Scotland.. England's best customer...... 451 Steamboats, description of North & East River 239 66 66 66 66 469 66 66 receipts and exports at N. Orleans of 65 Zollverein tariff, proposed alterations in..... 557 United States laws relating to..... 664 460 of United States, issue of papers to.. 339 525 546 W. Welland Canal, history of.. 566 468 123 586 219 330 346 527 I. THE GOLD MINES OF CALIFORNIA. By Hon. GEORGE TUCKER, late Professor of Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in the University of Virginia, author of "Pro- gress of the United States in Population and Wealth in Fifty Years," etc., of Pennsylvania. 19 II. THE OPIUM TRADE: AS CARRIED ON BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA, INCLU- DING A SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY, EXTENT, EFFECTS, ETC. By NATHAN Allen, III. COMMERCIAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE UNITED STATES.-No. 21-BALTI- MORE. BY HENRY STOCKBRIDGE, Esq., of the Baltimore Bar............... IV. INTEREST OF MONEY.-No. 4. By DAVID FOSDICK, A. M., of Massachusetts... V. THE COFFEE TRADE-PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF COFFEE IN 1850.. 59 VI. JAMES TALLMADGE, LL. D., PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, (with COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW: EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRA- TED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS: Condition of the Money Market-Transfer of United States Stocks at Washington on Foreign Ac- counts-Arrival of Immigrants-New York and Erie Railroad Loan-Rates Paid for Erie Railroad Bonds-Dividends of New York Banks from 1845 to 1850--Dividends of Boston and Philadelphia Banks-Bank Paper-Imports and Exports at the Port of New York-Freights on Public Works-The Produce Markets-Prospect of Crops-The Ohio Loans at Six and Five Per Cent-Revenue of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad........ Value of Domestic Exports of the United States, year ending June 30th, 1849. Foreign Merchandise exported from the United States in 1848-49... Price of Cotton and Cotton Fabrics in 1849 and 1850.... Stocks of Leaf Tobacco on 31st December, for last five years.... Nicaragua Treaty between the United States and Great Britain.. Of Falsely Packed and Unmerchantable Cotton Inspection of Flour in Albany, New York...... Freedom of the Coasting Trade of India... A Decree opening the Port of Realijo, Nicaragua, to steamers.. JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE. Condition of the Banks of the State of New York on the 30th March, 1850 California Gold at the United States Mint-its fineness, etc.... Receipts and Expenses of the Boston and Worcester Railroads. Massachusetts Railroad Dividends in years from 1845 to 1849. JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES. Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, to be held in London, May, 1851... Production of the Precious Metals in Russia....... Mineral Riches of Southern Illinois.-Improvements in Dyeing...... HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW., JULY, 1850. Art. I.-THE GOLD MINES OF CALIFORNIA. THE extraordinary fertility of the gold mines of California, no longer a matter of doubt, has naturally suggested the apprehension that the precious metals, or at least gold, will experience a depreciation similar to that which took place in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in consequence of the discovery of America. The subject is important from its bearing on all cases of perpetual ground rents; on all money contracts extending over a long term of years; on the value, and perhaps the regulation, of the specie currency everywhere; and on national debts. It behoves us, therefore, to make timely inquiries into the probable extent of this depreciation, that we may either guard against its mischiefs, or prepare for those we cannot prevent. The depreciation of gold and silver caused by the American mines, would furnish us with the safe guide of experience on this subject, if our knowledge of its facts was at once authentic and precise-but they are rarely both, and are sometimes neither. To deduce the future depreciation from the past, we must know the amount of the precious metals in Europe at the time America was discovered; the accessions to that amount furnished by the American mines at different periods; the depreciation at those periods; the quantity of those metals now in existence; and lastly, the amount the California mines are likely to furnish. But all these facts are founded more or less on conjectures; some of which, resting on loose and imperfect data, have differed very widely from one another. While precise certainty is thus unattainable, enough is probably known to enable us to make, within certain limits, approaches to the truth on which we may, with some confidence, rely. According to approved authorities, the quantity of gold and silver in Europe, at the end of the fifteenth century, when America was discovered, was about $300,000,000. Mr. Jacob estimates the coin then in circulation at $170,000,000. Of the amount drawn from the American mines Baron Humboldt's estimate is entitled to more respect than any other. He examined the several previous estimates thoroughly; and he had means of information which probably no preceding inquirer had possessed. The result of his investigation was as follows: From 1492 to 1500 the amount of gold and silver which flowed into Europe from America was $250,000 a year: in all $2,000,000. From 1500 to 1545 it was $3,000,000 a year: in all $135,000,000. From 1545 to 1600 it was $11,000,000 a year: in all $605,000,000; making the whole amount then received from America $742,000,000. From 1600 to 1700 it was $16,000,000 a year: in all $1,600,000,000; making the whole amount received from America $2,342,000,000. From 1700 to 1750 it was $22,500,000 a year: in all $1,125,000,000; making the whole amount received from America $3,467,000,000. From 1750 to 1803 it was $35,300,000 a year: in all $1,870,000,000; and raising the total amount sent to Europe to $5,337,000,000. From this estimate it would appear that in one century from 1500 the precious metals in Europe had received an accession of $740,000,000, or of 2463 per cent; in two centuries an accession of $2,340,000,000, or 780 per cent; and in little more than three centuries the accession had been $5,335,000,000, or nearly 1800 per cent. To ascertain the present amount of the precious metals in Europe and America, we must add to the amount drawn from the American mines-1. The amount in Europe before the discovery of America. 2. The amount in America at 1803. 3. The amount drawn since 1803 from the American, European, and Siberian mines, and imported from Africa. From their aggregate sum we must then deduct-1. What has been consumed by wear, or in the arts, and by losses at sea. 2. What has been transported to India and China. Thus: The whole amount received from America, including $25,000,000 of booty obtained by the conquerors of Mexico and Peru, as estimated by Humboldt. The amount in Europe in 1492. $5,445,000,000 300,000,000 The amount in North and South America in 1803, according to 153,000,000 Drawn from the American mines from 1803 to 1820, according to 750,000,000 Drawn from the same, from 1830 to 1850, at the same rate.. 555,000,000 The product of the mines of Europe, and the gold dust from Africa, according to Mr. Gallatin 450,000,000 The same since 1830-at $7,000,000 a year-20 years. 140,000,000 From the Russian mines.. 270,000,000 Consumed by wear of utensils, &c., and lost. Total...... From this sum let us deduct Consumed by the wear of the coin-about a five hundredth part annually. Transported to India and China, according to Jacob. Total... Now remaining in Europe and America... $3,400,000,000 $4,663,000,000 which is less than Mr. Gallatin's estimate, and more than Mr. Jacob's. This is indeed less than Mr. Jacob's estimate, but more than Mr. Gallatin's founded on the experience of the United States. He stated that the annual loss from the wear of coin in this country was $70,000 on $40,000,000, which is as 1 to 571. $8,063,000,000 $600,000,000 700,000,000 2,100,000,000 |