matured and payable variously from 1853 to 1877, inclusive, was $3,182,516 54, as follows:

Of the above outstanding debt of the First Municipality, $10,148 75 are small municipal notes; and of that of the Third Municipality, 846,048 52 are similar notes. It is doubtful if the whole, or even the greater part of these two amounts be ever presented for payment.

Assuming that no more bonds will be issued in exchange for any portion of the obligations of the old corporations maturing in 1853 and 1854, the Commissioners make the following exhibit of the means in their hands, and the liabilities for those two years:

Total liabilities up to Jan. 1, 1854, for obligations and interest maturing $609,099 56 Cash on hand $437,320 22 650,000 00

Tax of 1853

It thus appears that ample provision has been made to meet the obligations of the city, maturing for the next two years.

In conclusion, the Commissioners make the following just reflections:

Twelve months ago the act of consolidation went into operation, and the Commissioners entered upon their duties. It found the city without credit, confusion in most of its branches of government, and the people disheartened. To day its credit is above par, no just demand can be made upon its treasury that is not promptly liquidated, and its fair name is without a blot. The spirit of the people has been awakened, and their energies, their intelligence, and their wealth, are directed to the development of the natural advantages of our city, and a bright future is before us.

BASIS OF BANKING CAPITAL IN NEW YORK STATE.

Governor SEYMOUR has returned with his veto the bill entitled "An Act to authorize the business of banking,” and submitted his objections to its becoming a law. We give the substance of the Governor's message on this subject:—

The bill provides that hereafter the stocks of the incorporated cities of this State may, subject to certain restrictions, be used as a basis for banking, and be received as securities for bills to be issued in pursuance of the general banking law. The constitution of the State makes it the duty of the Legislature to restrict the power of municipal corporations to borrow money, contract debt, and loan their credit. It is evident that this bill, should it become a law, would cause a demand for the stocks of our cities, and add largely to their value in market, and create an inducement on the part of municipal corporations to incur debts. I have with reluctance signed bills permitting some of our cities to borrow money for objects which are deemed of great importance to their interests; but this bill is more clearly in conflict with the purposes of the constitution of the State, as it offers direct encouragement to local corporations to contract debts. It is not expedient at this time, when a highly speculative state of feeling pervades the community, to encourage a disposition to incur liabilities by converting debts into a circulating medium.

It is alleged in favor of allowing the debts of cities to be used as a basis for banking, that the stocks of this State, and of the United States, the use of which as a bank

ing basis is now authorized by law, cannot be obtained for that purpose. But it will
be found, from the following statement, that but a small proportion of these stocks
are now pledged at the Banking Department as securities for the bank bills which
have been issued and are in circulation:-

The funded or stock debt of the United States amounts to.....
The funded or stock debt of the State of New York amounts to....

Total..

The stocks of the General Government now pledged at the Banking Department for the security of the bill holders, amounts to...

The stocks of the State of New York, pledged for the same purpose..

$64,115,957

23,390,802

$87,506,759

$5,571,172

10,184,792

$15,755,964

Leaving the amount of stocks yet applicable to banking purposes..... $71,750,795
From this sum there should be deducted the amount of stock used in other states
as security for bauk bills, which may ab-orb $50,000,000 of the State and of the
United States.

It is true that these stocks command high prices in the money market of the world,
but they sell for no more than they are intrinsically worth. Their high values, and
the fact that they are deemed safe and desirable for investment, make them better
securities for the bill holders, as they insure prompt redemption under all circum-
stances. These stocks can be obtained at their market value, and although they pay
directly but small interest to the holders, the profits of banking institutions at this
time are so great that they more than compensate for any loss of interest on the secu-
rities pledged for the redemption of their notes. It is evident that the profits of
banking must be limited either by judicious restraints or a competition resulting from
a multiplication of banks which will endanger our whole financial system. No bet-
ter or safer system for limiting the profits of banking can be devised than that which
requires the highest and best security for the bill holders; and it is no argument in
favor of cheaper securities that they will increase the profits of banking, facilitate the
establishment of new banks, and thus inflate the currency of the country. It is true
the increase of business makes more capital necessary in conducting it, but a large
proportion of the indebtedness to the banks at this time, and the great amount of bills
in circulation are the results of speculative rather than of legitimate business demands.
There are now in this State three hundred and ten banks or banking institutions.
Twenty-five of these institutions have been established within the past six months,
besides ten safety fund banks which have been reorganized under the provisions of the
general banking law. This is about equal to the entire number which were estab-
lished during the preceding twelve months. It appears from the report of the super-
intendents of the Banking Department, that the aggregate capital of the banks of
this State, on the first of December last, was $62,207,216. At this time the capital
of these institutions amounts to over $70,000,000, showing an increase of about eight
millions within six months. The profits of banking have recently been unusually
large, and numerous associations are now forming in different parts of our State for
the purpose
of engaging in this business. If the number of banks and the amount of
banking capital shall increase hereafter as rapidly as they have during the past six
months, it will give an annual increase of more than fifty banks, with capital amount-
ing in the aggregate to about $16,000,000. While these institutions are multiplying
with alarming rapidity, I can see no good reason for giving any new impulse to their
creation by increasing their profits and lowering the character of the securities re-
quired by our present law for the protection of the bill holder.

The stocks of this State and of the general government have a value in the commercial markets of the world, and will therefore furnish a security for the redemption of bills at periods when we suffer from financial revulsions, while the stocks of our cities, having only a local value and market, will be more affected by the monetary condition of our country. If our banking laws are modified to admit of the use of cheaper and inferior securities, they will, of course, be selected on account of the increased profit which they will afford the banker. I deem it exceedingly hazardous at this period of speculative excitement and pecuniary expansion, to diminish the security of the bill holder, or to increase the motives for the establishment of banking institutions, which are already multiplying at an unprecedented extent.

T

THE PRECIOUS METALS OF MEXICO.

The editor of the Baltimore American has prepared from authentic documentsnot easily accessible in this country-the following table, exhibiting the true result of Mexican coinage from the year 1535 to the 1st January, 1850:-

Silver coinage from 1535 to 1844, inclusive

Gold coinage from 1535 to 1844, inclusive
Copper coinage from 1811 to 1844, inclusive..

General coinage from 1845 to 1849, both inclusive

Total coinage of Mexico in 314 years....

Or, avoiding fractions, nearly $8,500,000 yearly.

$2,465,275,954

126,989,021

5,566,876 70,000,000

$2,667,828,851

This sum, as an average annual production spread over so long a period, does not appear to justify the calculations that have been made relative to the metallic production of Mexico. Still, in fairness to the wealth of the nation, we must remember that for nearly forty years the country has been constantly vexed by revolutions, and that prior to the original outbreak, neither the population nor the mining machinery of Mexico was of such a character as to insure the most copious returns from the veins. Recent mining returns seem to confirm this view. An official table of gold and silver coined in the eight mints of Mexico from the 1st Jan. 1844 to the 1st Jan. 1815, shows that in that time $667,406 were issued in gold, and $13,065,454 in silver; or $13,732,861 in all. At that date it was said that more energy was about to be infused into mining throughout the republic, and that the veins promised a corresponding yield.

We are glad to say that this prophecy has been verified, and that it is likely Mexico will soon contribute a largely increased supply of silver for the world's commerce and circulation.

In February, 1850, an official report was made to the Mexican Chambers by which it appears that in eighteen months, between the 1st January, 1848, and the 30th June, 1849, the coinage at all the Mexican mints, exclusive of Hermosillo, amounted to $1,351,416 in gold, and to $27,003,989 in silver: total, $28,355,405.

To this increased emission since 1844, the author of the "Cuadra Sinoptico" of Mexico, in 1850, estimates that we should add $10,000,000, as having left the country in the same eighteen months, in bullion. This would raise the entire yield of the mines, during that time, to $38,355,405; but as it is likely that much of the coinage was only a reissue of old money, and that the whole of the $10,000,000 exported in bullion was not freely taken from the mines during the same period, we think it quite likely that the true increase may be placed at $5,000,000 annually, or $20,000,000, in 1850, instead of 14,000,000, as in 1844.

These results are very encouraging to all engaged in Mexican mining. We have long believed that the ores of the republic were inexhaustible, and that nothing was required to give Mexico her just supremacy in the control of silver, but an industrious population, that would not be content to live on bananas and revolution.

"MONEY OF PAPER."

A market was built in Guernsey without money. The governor issued 4,000 market notes, and with these paid the workmen who built it. These notes circulated through the island, until the market was built and occupied; and when the rents came in, these notes were received in payment of the rents, and were canceled. In the course of a few years, the notes being all paid in, were publicly burnt in the market place. The Water Works, Upper Canada, were constructed by the same issue.-M. Duncan's Lecture on Currency.

I consider the principle carried out in the above example so important, that none of the mere political questions of the day can bear comparison with it, and so plain that the simplest understanding can grasp it. I doubt not, that all who have money to lend, and who want 4 or 5 per cent for their money, will decry a system which will find the money for labor, whenever labor can be found for money, and this without interest; but I am sure that all honest men, who wish well to workingmen, and espe cially that all workingmen, will hail a system which would give them constant employment as long as public works are wanted; and this without being subject to the unnecessary claim of the usurer and the money lender.-J. Harvey.

THE COINAGE IN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES.

An article in the London Economist gives a detailed statement of the coinage of gold and silver coin in Great Britain for the past five years, and in comparing it with the coinage by the United States' mint and its branches, we are surprised to find that in that time (five years) our coinage far exceeds that of Great Britain. The amount coined in England since 1848 is as follows:

This gives a total of £19,264,437 of gold, and £561,594 of silver, which, added to £12,808, the amount of copper coined, makes a total of £19,838,375. The coinage of gold in 1852, it will be seen, is nearly equal to that of the four previous years.

By reducing the above amounts from pounds to dollars, at the rate of $4 84 to the pound sterling, and comparing it with the coinage in the United States, we have the following results for the last five years:—

By the above it appears that the excess of the coinage in this country for the five years was $76,304,739. In the year 1852, the coinage of gold in Great Britain was $42,312,587. In the United States, $53,747,187. Excess in favor of the United States, $14,564,800.

SPECIE AND BULLION IN THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

We publish below a table which shows at a glance the increase of gold and the decrease of silver, from 1847 to 1853, in the vaults of the Bank of England. This table has been published officially, with the signature of the chief cashier:

A RETURN SHOWING THE AMOUNT AND VALUE OF SPECIE AND BULLION IN THE BANK OF ENGLAND ON THE FIRST OF JANUARY, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1851, 1852, AND 1853, DISTINGUISHING GOLD FROM SILVER, SPECIE FROM BULLION AND FOREIGN FROM BRITISH COIN.

Such coin as the emigrants to New England brought with them quickly went back again in payment for imported goods; but so long as the emigration was kept up, the inconvenience was little felt. The sudden stop put to immigration, occasioned by the political changes in England, caused a great fall of prices, and a corresponding difficulty in paying debts. Taxes had all along been paid in grain and cattle, at rates given by the General Court; and grain, at different prices for the different sorts, was

now made a legal tender for the payment of all new debts. To prevent sacrifices of property in cases of inability to pay, corn, cattle, and other personal goods,-or, in defect of such goods, the house and lands of the debtor, when taken in execution,were to be delivered over to the creditors, at such value as they might be appraised at by "three understanding and indifferent men," one chosen by the creditor, another by the debtor, and a third by the marshal. Beaver skins were also paid and received as money; and from their value as a remittance, they held the next place to coin. Musket-balls, at a farthing each, were at one time a legal tender to the amount of a shilling. A more available currency was found in the wampum of peace-cylindrical beads, half an inch long, of two colors, white and bluish black, made by the Indians from parts of certain sea-shells. The people of Plymouth first learned the use and value of this article from the Dutch of Manhattan, and they soon found it very profitable in trade with the Eastern Indians-the shells of which it was made not being common north of Cape Cod. Presently it came to be employed as a circulating medium, first in the Indian traffic, and then among the colonists generally. Three of the black beads, or six of the white, passed for a penny. For convenience of reckoning, they were strung in known parcels-a penny, threepence, a shilling, and five shillings in white: twopence, sixpence, two-and-sixpence, and ten shillings in black. A fathom of white was worth ten shillings, or two dollars and a half; a fathom of black, twice as much; but as the quantity in circulation increased, the value presently depreciated, and the number of beads to the penny was augmented.-Hildreth's History.

TAXES ON CERTAIN BANKS IN PENNSYLVANIA.

An act passed at the last session of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and approved by the Governor April 6th, 1853, provides “that such of the banking and Savings Institutions of this Commonwealth as were chartered or re chartered prior to April, 1850, shall be subjected to such local taxes only as are now by law levied and assessed upon the Banking and Savings Institutions re-chartered in 1850. Provided, that the amount of taxes which the said Institutions are now by law required to pay unto the State Treasury, shall in no manner be lessened or affected by the operation of this Section." The act of 1850, referred to above, provides that the capital stock of all banks shall not be subject to taxation for any other than State purposes, consequently all bank stock is exempt from taxation for county, road, borough, or school purposes. For State purposes the banks are liable to pay 44 mills on each dollar of their capital stock; and. on their dividends,

These taxes are paid by the cashier of the bank, and are not assessed to the individual stockholders.

TRANSFERS OF PUBLIC MONEYS OF THE UNITED STATES.

The following remarks of the St. Louis Republican of May 6, 1853, confirm the apprehensions which have been expressed in the cities on the Atlantic border of the inconveniences to the Treasury, as well as to the public, which may be expected to attend the late change in the mode of transferring the public money to points where it is needed for the purposes of the Government.

THE NEW TREASURY ORDER.

Under the new Secretary of the Treasury the use of "transfer drafts" is dispensed with altogether. If the Government have $1,000,000 in New York which they desire to place in New Orleans, there is no other way now than to transfer the specie to that point. This is the law; and Mr. Guthrie chooses to interpret it to the letter. Thus, the Sub-Treasurer in this city, yesterday received $499,000 in gold and $1,000 in silver from New York, by Adams & Co.'s Express, and in a little while it will be carted off in some other direction. The Secretary of the Treasury will find this a troublesome business before he is done with it, and if he should meet with one or two losses he will