This, added to the receipt of the three first quarters, viz., $14,260,830 35, makes the total amount of receipts of the year, from customs, $18,813,766 32.

From the same Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, we copy the following statement:

Of the Public Debt, December 1, 1842.

Of the (old) funded and unfunded debt payable on presentation: Funded Debt-principal,

$52,087 62
236,218 78

Debts of the corporate cities of the District of Columbia,

assumed per act of 26th May, 1836:

Of the city of Washington,

$930,000 00

225,000 00

225,000 00

$1,380,000 00

Loan of the 21st of July, 1841, redeemable after 1st of Jan

This amount includes $113,631 66, cancelled notes, in the hands of the accounting

officers for settlement.

XI. DAMAGES ON PROTESTED BILLS OF EXCHANGE.

[From the 4th edition of Chancellor Kent's Commentaries.]

The laws and usages of the States vary essentially on the subject of damages on protested Bills. In some cases, the regulations of States approximate to each other, while in others, they are widely different. In some cases, the law or rule is unlike, but the result is nearly similar; while, between other States, the result varies from four and a half to fifteen per cent.

In Massachusetts, the usage was to recover the amount of the protested Bill at the par of exchange, and interest, as in England, from the time payment of the dishonored Bill was demanded of the Drawee, and the charges of the protest, and ten per cent. damages in lieu of the price of exchange. But this rule has been changed, by statute, in 1825, 1835, and 1837; and Bills drawn or indorsed in that State, and payable without the limits of the United States, and duly protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, are now settled at the current rate of exchange and interest, and five per cent damages; and, if the Bill be drawn upon any place beyond the Cape of Good Hope, twenty per cent. damages. The rate of damages in Massachusetts, on inland Bills, payable out of the State, and drawn or indorsed within the State, and duly protested for nonacceptance or non-payment, is two per cent. in addition to the contents of the Bill, with interest and costs, if payable in any other New England State, or New York; and three per cent. if payable in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland; and four per cent., if payable in Virginia, District of Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia; and five per cent., if payable in any other of the United States, or the Territories thereof.

In Rhode Island, the rule formerly was, according to the Revised Code, in 1776, on Bills returned from beyond sea, protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, ten per cent. damages, besides interest and costs.

The rule of damages in Connecticut, on Bills returned protested, and drawn on any person in New York, is two per cent. upon the principal sum specified in the Bill; in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York. (city of New York excepted,) New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, or Territory of Columbia, three per cent.; in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, or Georgia, five per cent. ; in any other part of the United States, eight per cent. upon such principal sun, and to be in lieu of interest and all other charges, and without any reference to the rate of exchange.

The rate of damages on Bills drawn and payable within the United States, or other parts of North America, was, in 1819, regulated in New York by statute, and the damages fixed at five, or seven and a half, or ten per cent., according to the distance or situation of the place, on which the Bill was drawn. But, by the new Revised Statutes, which went into operation on the 1st of January, 1830, the damages on Bills, foreign and inland, were made the subject of a more extensive regulation. They provide, that, upon Bills drawn or negotiated within the State, upon any person, at any place within the six States east of New York, or in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia, the damages to be allowed and paid, upon the usual protest for non-acceptance or non-payment, to the holder of the Bill, as purchaser thereof, or of some interest therein, for a valuable consideration, shall be three per cent. upon the principal sum specified in the Bill; and upon any person at any place within the States of North Corolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, five per cent. ; and upon any person in any other State or Territory of the United States, or at any other place on, or adjacent to, this continent, and north of the

equator, or in any British or foreign possessions in the West Indies, or elsewhere in the Western Atlantic Ocean, or in Europe, ten per cent. The damages are to be in lieu of interest, charges of protest, and all other charges incurred previous to, and at the time of, giving notice of non-acceptance or non-payment. But the holder will be entitled to demand and recover interest upon the aggregate amount of the principal sum specified in the Bill, and the damages, from the time of notice of the protest for non-acceptance, or notice of a demand and protest for non-payment. If the contents of the Bill be expressed in the money of account of the United States, the amount due thereon, and the damages allowed for the non-payment, are to be ascertained and determined, without reference to the rate of exchange existing between New York and the place on which the Bill is drawn. But, if the contents of the Bill be expressed in the money of account, or currency of any foreign country, then the amount due, exclusive of the damages, is to be ascertained and determined by the rate of exchange, or the value of such foreign currency, at the time of the demand of payment.

In Pennsylvania, the rule, for a century past, was twenty per cent. damages, in lieu of reexchange; but by statute, in 1821, five per cent. damages were allowed upon Bills drawn upon any person in any other of the United States, except Louisiana; if on Louisiana, or any other part of North America, except the Northwest Coast and Mexico, ten per cent.; if on Mexico, the Spanish Main, or the islands on the coast of Africa, fifteen per cent.; and twenty per cent. upon protested Bills on Europe, and twenty-five per cent. upon other foreign Bills, in lieu of all charges, except the protest, and the amount of the Bill is to be ascertained and determined at the rate of exchange.

In Maryland, the rule, by statute, is fifteen per cent. damages, and the amount of the Bill ascertained at the current rate of exchange, or the rate requisite to purchase a good Bill of the same time of payment, upon the same place.

In Virginia and South Carolina, the damages, by statute, are fifteen per cent.

In North Carolina, by statute, in 1828, damages on protested Bills, drawn or indorsed in that State, and payable in any other part of the United States, except Louisiana, are six per cent.; payable in any other part of North America, except the West India Islands, ten per cent.; payable in South America, the African Islands, or Europe, fifteen per cent.; and payable elsewhere, twenty per cent.

The damages in Georgia, by statute, in 1827, on Bills drawn on a person in another State, and protested for non-payment, are five per cent.; and on foreign Bills, protested for non-payment, are ten per cent., together with the usual expenses and interest, and the principal to be settled at the current rate of exchange.

The damages on Bills, drawn in the State of Alabama, on any person resident within the State, are ten per cent. ; and on any person out of it, and within the United States, are fifteen per cent.; and on persons out of the United States, twenty per cent. on the sum drawn for, together with incidental charges and interest.

In Louisiana, in 1838, the rate of damages, upon the protest for non-acceptance or non-payment of bills of exchange, drawn on, and payable in foreign countries, was declared by statute to be ten per cent.; and in any other State in the United States, five per cent., together with interest on the aggregate amount of principal and damages. On protested Bills, drawn and payable within the United States, the damages include all charges, such as premiums, and expenses, and interest on those damages, but nothing for the difference of exchange.

In Mississippi, the damages on inland Bills, protested for non-payment, are five per cent.; if drawn on any person resident out of the United States, ten per cent.

The damages in Tennessee, by statute, in 1830, on protested Bills, over and above the principal sum, and charges of protest, and interest on the principal sum, damages, and charge of protest from the time of notice, are three per cent. on the principal sum, if the Bill be drawn upon any person in the United States; and fifteen per cent., if upon any person in any other place or State in North America, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, or the West Indies; and twenty per cent., if upon a person in any other part of the

world. These damages are in lieu of interest, and all other charges, except the charges of protest, to the time of notice of the protest, and demand of payment.

In Kentucky, the damages on foreign Bills, protested for non-acceptance or non-pay

ment, are ten per cent.

The damages in Indiana and Illinois, on foreign bills, are ten per cent.; and on Bills drawn on any person out of the State and within the United States, are five per cent. in addition to the costs and charges.

In Missouri, the damages on Bills of Exchange, drawn or negotiated within the State, and protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, against the drawer and indorser, are four per cent. on the principal sum; if drawn on any person out of the State, but within the United States, ten per cent.; if out of the United States, twenty per cent.; the same rate of damages as against the acceptor on non-payment.

The inconvenience of a want of uniformity in the rule of damages, in the laws of the several States, is very great, and has been strongly felt. The mischiefs to commerce, and perplexity to our merchants, resulting from such discordant and shifting regulations, have been ably, justly, and frequently urged upon the consideration of Congress; and the right of Congress to regulate, by some uniform rule, the rate and rule of recovery of damages upon protested foreign Bills, or Bills drawn in one State upon another, under the power in the Constitution, to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States,' and the expediency of the exercise of that right, have been well, and I think conclusively, shown in the official documents, which have been prepared on that subject.

XII. SESSIONS OF CONGRESS.

Table showing the commencement, close, and duration of each session of Congress, the number of Acts and Resolutions passed, and of Bills vetoed or retained by the Executive, and the Speakers of the House of Representatives.