STATISTICS OF COINAGE. UNITED STATES MINT AND BRANCHES. Statement of the Deposits and Coinage of the United States Mint and Branches, from January 1st to June 30th, 1840. Charlotte, N.C. $53,971 $53,971 35,324 53.971 35,328 $318 Branch Mints, Philadelphia,. 4,328 2,355 $54,925, $1,639 Total,. 59,267 $285,391 $35,959 $321,350 380,617 1,639 148,566 285,391 35,959 321,350 469,945 129,880 478,088 489,376 169,121 658,497 1,136,585 4,676 167,870 322,589 131,519 626,654 774,767 205,080 979,847 1,606,501 COPPER COINAGE.-Not coined till Elizabeth, and then only as a pledge; not received well, and but little coined till 1672; then half-pennies and farthings. Tin and copper studs under James II. with nummorum formulus inscribed. Tradesmen's tokens supplied the place of this coinage. The Duke of Savoy took Saluzzo, and coined a medal with a Centaur running away with a nymph: his motto was Opportune. Henry IV., of France, retook it, and his medal represented Hercules killing the Centaur : his motto was Opportunius. SILVER COIN.-Silver pence, half-pence, and farthings, were coined down to the reign of Edward III. 1354; then groats and half-groats; next a shilling or testoon, called so from a teste coined in 1503. Henry VIII. coined crowns: Edward VI. half-crowns, six-pences, and three-pences: Elizabeth, three-pences, and three-farthing pieces: from 43d Eliz. to the present time the coinage has remained the same. Richard the First's ransom cost 1,600,000 pennies, which beggared the kingdom, and producing the dis contents under John, may be said to have been the origin of English freedom. He was the first king who debased the English coinage, and he did it to 91 per cent. Henry the Eighth's side-faced coin is good; the full-faced bad. Edward the Sixth's the reverse. Edward the Sixth's is the last full-faced coin. Edward the Sixth's base coin of 1547 is the first English coin bearing a date. Under William III. was the grand recoinage of silver, to the amount of £6,400,000; county mints were established to expedite this coinage. GOLD COIN. The first was under Henry III. 1257, gold pennies. The next was that of Florence, 1344, six shillings in value; then angels, angelets, ryals, sovereigns, crowns, and twenty-shilling pieces. The guinea was coined in 1663, of Guinea gold, to go for 20s, but it never went for less than 21s, by tacit consent. A guinea in 1696, was worth 30s. It is computed that the whole cash of the kingdom passes through the bank in three years. In 1733, all the gold coins, Unites, Jacobuses, Caroluses, &c., were called in and forbidden to circulate. STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. PRODUCE OF BRITISH AGRICULTURE. From McQueen's letter to Lord Melbourne we have the following remarkable schedule of the produce of British agriculture: Allowed for the consumption of farmers in some articles not enu merated, Wool, hops, seed, flax, hemp, &c... 20,000,000 120,300,000 63,502,000 82,283,759 12,000,000 48,500,000 2,500,000 22,479,166 33,970,276 £538,536,201 Mines, minerals, coals, &c.... Total produce of British agriculture,....... We next come to the capital invested in, and the charges on, the manufactures of the United Kingdom: Or fifteen to one in capital, and double in produce; with this further superiority, that in the agricultural capital it is all fixed and real. Agriculture, it is aptly remarked, expends nothing abroad, while manufactures pay to foreigners £20,000,000 annually for their material. Then as to another important interest, the commercial, we are told that the total exports for 1838 amounts To foreign countries to.. £37,833,000 15,532,566 £53,365,566 Thus, then, British agriculture pays most of the burdens of the government, supports a privileged clergy, and contributes £6,000,000 annually to her poor rates, while its pro. ducts exceed in value more than fourteen times the whole amount of British exports to foreign countries, although her commerce exceeds that of any other nation. The agri. cultural capital, too, is fixed and abiding, while the commercial and manufacturing are subject to many contingencies. MICHIGAN COPPER. Professor Houghton, the state geologist, has commenced the survey of the copper regions about Lake Superior. It is to occupy three or four months of his time. The result of his investigations must prove highly interesting to this important branch of industry. COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. TRADE, COMMERCE, AND NAVIGATION OF CUBA. During the last fifty years, a concurrence of circumstances has rendered Cuba the richest of the European colonies in any part of the globe; a more liberal and protecting policy has been adopted by the mother country; the ports of the island have been thrown open, strangers and emigrants have been encouraged to settle there; and amid the political agitations of Spain, the expulsion of the Spanish and French residents from Hispaniola, the cession of Louisiana and Florida to a foreign power, and the disasters of those who, in the continental states of America, adhered to the old country, Cuba has become a place of general refuge. In 1778, the revenue of the island amounted to $885,358; in 1794, it was $1,136,918; and in 1830, 8,972,548-a sum superior to the revenue of most of the secondary kingdoms of Europe. In 1775, the population consisted of only 172,620 souls; in 1832, it had increased to 833,000, of which nearly three-fifths were free. In 1800, there were only 80 coffee plantations on the island; in 1827, they had increased to 2,067. Between 1760 and 1767, the exports of sugar amounted to 5,570,000 lbs. annually; in 1832, to 250,000,000 lbs. The Intendent of the Island of Cuba has prepared and published documents, giving minute details of the commerce, navigation, and revenue of the island, for a series of years ending on the 1st of January, 1840. For the following tables, translated and compiled with great care from these documents, we are indebted to the Morning Herald. The following is a table of the imports and exports of the principal articlesImportation and Exportation of the Island of Cuba, for the year 1839, and the aggregate compared with 1838. The following is a table of the principal articles of import and export, showing the increase or diminution over or from the year 1838: 66 66 1838,... 20,471,102 $1,010,759 The aggregate import shows an increase of $585,925, principally in the articles we have enumerated. The excess in the exports of the island, $1,010,759, is made up solely of the productions of the island-the exports of foreign productions showing a decrease as follows: One of the principal articles of production which has rapidly increased of late, is copper ore, the product of the mines in the eastern section of the island. This has been an important article of export for two years only. The Importations and Exportations in ships of different nations, have been as follows: Number of vessels that have entered and sailed at and from the different ports of entry in the Island of Cuba, in the year 1839. The number of ships and tonnage as compared with 1838, shows the following re The comparative trade of each port in the island is seen in the following tables :— Statement of the Imports and Exports at and from the different ports of entry in the island of Cuba, for the year 1839. Imports. Exports. Havana,.. Cuba,...... $18,436,888 $12,206,737 Cienfuegos,....... $187,935 $280,699 192,252 Neuvitas,. 152,647 82,727 San Espiritu,.... 21,677 10,681 3,335,284 Santa Cruz,.... The annexed table gives the tonnage and the duties collected at each port of entry. Statement of the Tonnage arrived at and cleared from the different ports of entry in the Island of Cuba, with the import and export duty, for the year 1839. These tables present an extraordinary degree of prosperity. The excess of imports over exports is $3,833,940, or about 17 per cent. of the export, which may be considered the profit on that export. The trade in the precious metals, which was formerly prohibited, is now free, or subject only to a very small duty. The beneficial results of this change have been immense, as the following tables will evince : |