COTTON TRADE.

Table showing the equality of prices in Charleston, Savannah, and Havre, laid down at the latter place, with charges as at foot. The charges noticed at the bottom of each table are included in the prices.

At Savannah.-Commission for purchasing, 24 per cent. ; commission for drawing, 1 per cent.; insurance against fire, 1-6 per cent.; rope, mending, and drayage, 25 cents per bale; insurance over sea, 14 per cent.

At Havre-Freight, lc. per lb., and 5 per cent. primage; duty, 22 francs for 50 kilogrammes; landing charges, storage one month, and delivery, 2 francs per bale; and all other charges at Havre, including loss of interest, commission, and brokerage, 5 per cent.; tare bonification, 3 kilogrammes per bale, and ropes at 3.

Remarks.-c. difference in the freight, is 1 centimes; c. in the price of cotton, is from 1,75 to 1,80 centimes. 100 lbs. at Savannah yield 41,20 kilogrammes at Havre. N. B. The above table also applies to Marseilles.

Table showing the cost of Cotton bought at Savannah, laid down in Liverpool, with charges, as annexed.

Commission for purchasing, 2 per cent.; commission for drawing, 1 per cent.; insurance against fire, 1-5 per cent.; rope, mending, and drayage, 25 cents per bale; insurance to Liverpool, 1 per cent.; loss of weight, 5 per cent., from weight paid for to landing weight; freight, d. per lb., and 5 per cent. primage; duty, 5-16 per lb., or 2s. 11d. per 100; landing charges, 3s. per bale; brokerage in Liverpool, per cent.; two months interest and commission, 4d.

Table showing the equality of prices in Liverpool and Havre, for American Cottons.

The following statements, (says the Baltimore Patriot,) as exemplifying the practical operation of the banking system in Maryland, will, of course, command attention. As regards the relative amount of specie and circulation possessed by the banks, the statement, in its aggregate, shows the Maryland banks to be in a condition which would have been deemed one of undoubted soundness and safety. Their aggregate specie, to their aggregate circulation, as shown by the annexed tabular statement, made up from these returns, is about as one to two. Ten years ago, one to three was generally held to be a safe proportion. The reflection that naturally arises is, that banks which, in a period of suspension, are able and willing to contract their issues and to maintain their circulation at so low a point as two to one, compared with their specie, must be, in the main, conducted with prudence and caution, and are, therefore, likely to deserve the public confidence.

Condensed View of the condition of the several Banks of the City of Baltimore, on the 6th January, 1840.

Total.

9,499,004 1,807,00411,784,338 1,036,765 2,198,867 3,224,498

* Of which sum, $194,844 is a deposit of the state. + Of which sum, $366,543 is a deposit of the state.

BANK OF ENGLAND.

Quarterly average of the weekly liabilities and assets of the Bank of England, from the 10th of December, 1839, to the 3d of March, 1840, both inclusive, published pursuant to Acts 3 and 4 William IV., chap. 98:

£27,494,000

Compared with

This return shows an augmentation in the currency to some extent. the last account, there is an increase upon each item-on circulation, £167,000; on deposits, £326,000; on securities, £242,000; and on bullion, £307,000. The actual stock of bullion in the Bank at this moment, is estimated to be about £4,500,000.

INSURANCE.

ANNALS OF INSURANCE IN THE WEST.

The first Insurance Company established in the west, was at Lexington, Kentucky, which went into operation about 1816, but ceased to exist in one or two years. The second was the old Cincinnati Insurance Company, established in 1818, which issued some fifty or sixty policies, and in one or two years closed up its concerns. The third was the old Louisville Marine Insurance Company, which was established in or about the year 1818, and issued two hundred policies or upwards, and some years afterwards wound up its affairs. The fourth is the Cincinnati Equitable Fire Insurance Company, established in 1825, and is now in operation, and conducted on the principles of mutual insurance. The fifth was the Ohio Insurance Company, established in 1827, at which period there was no local insurance company in the west, with the exception of the Equitable Fire Insurance Company referred to, the Fire and Marine Insurance being at this period confined to the eastern offices, and their agencies in the west. To those familiar with the history of that period, it will be recollected that for several months pending the establishment of the Ohio Insurance Company, it was exceedingly doubtful whether it could be put in operation, from the difficulty of disposing of a sufficient amount of the stock; but having commenced its operations, its success was decided, and two years afterwards arose, in 1829, the Cincinnati Insurance Company.

These two companies had, by their charters, a capital of $250,000 each. The same year, the Louisville Marine and Fire Insurance was organized, and went into operation, capital, $200,000. In 1830, three new offices were established in the west, viz.: the Louisville Mutual Fire Insurance Company, the Louisville Merchant's Insurance Company, and the Wabash Insurance Company, with an aggregate capital of $100,000. In 1831, two more were added, viz.: the Madison Insurance Company in Indiana, and the Missouri Insurance Company at St. Louis-aggregate capital, $200,000. In 1832, three more were added, viz.: the Firemen's Insurance Company at Cincinnati, the Lansingburgh Insurance Company, and the New Albany Insurance Company in Indiana -aggregate capital $100,000. In 1833, but one was added to the number, viz.: the Franklin Fire Insurance Company, at Frankfort, Kentucky-capital, $100,000. But in 1834, seven new offices were chartered at Warren, Dayton, and Cleveland, in Ohio; at Maysville and at Louisville, in Kentucky; and at Jeffersonville and Rising Sun, in Indianaaggregate capital, $300,000. In 1835, nineteen additional offices were established, viz.: seventeen in Ohio, and two in Kentucky-aggregate capital, $1,600,000. In 1836,

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55

fourteen more were chartered, viz.: eight in Ohio, three in Kentucky, two in Indiana, and one in Missouri-aggregate capital, $1,800,000. In 1837, twenty-two more were chartered, viz.: two in Ohio, seven in Indiana, and thirteen in Missouri-aggregate capital, $4,000,000.

The foregoing enumeration, however, embraces only the offices chartered in the four western states of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Missouri. No office was established in Tennessee, Illinois, western Pennsylvania, or western Virginia, until 1832, since which, fifteen or twenty companies have been established in these states, with an aggregate estimated capital, $1,500,000. Mississippi and Louisiana have been omitted in the foregoing calculation, as our statistics do not furnish adequate data for the occasion, but we estimate the amount of capital in these two states at, perhaps, $300,000. Thus, we perceive, that in 1826, twelve years since, there was no local insurance office in the western states, north of Natchez, except the Equitable Fire Insurance Company at Cincinnati; that in 1833, seven years after, there were only twelve, with an aggregate capital of $1,800,000; but that in the four succeeding years, to the spring of 1838, the number was increased to considerably more than one hundred, the whole wielding, in the aggregate, the immense capital of $15,000,000.

STATISTICS OF NAVIGATION.

STEAM NAVIGATION.

Mr. William C. Redfield, of New York, has furnished for publication the following statements relative to steamboat accidents:

The number of miles navigated by steam vessels connected with the port of New York, in five years ending 31st December, 1824, was about 2,827,750, with an aggregate of 4,796,000 passengers; of whom 38, or one in 126,211, lost their lives. Twelve accidents occurred.

During the five years ending at the close of 1833, the estimated number of miles run was 4,216,200, with an aggregate of 9,419,700 passengers. Number of accidents, 5. Lives lost, 62; or one in 151,931.

During the five years ending 31st December, 1838, the estimated number of miles run was 5,467,450; aggregate number of passengers, 15,886,300; number of accidents, 2; lives lost, 8; or one in 1,985,787.

The average number of miles to each explosion the first of the above periods was 235,646; in the second, 843,240; in the third, 2,733,725.

The estimated average pressure of steam used during the first period, was 7 inches; second period, 14 inches; third period, 18 inches.

It appears from the average results of this table, says Mr. Redfield, that during even the first period of five years after the navigation was thrown open to public competition, the ratio of steam accidents was only equal to one, for more than 20,000 trips or passages; and that the average loss of life was only equal to one, for more than 126,000 passengers exposed. Thus, at the fair outset of this noble enterprise, a degree of safety was attained for the passengers, such as may well challenge comparison with any artificial means of transit or locomotion that have ever been resorted to by the human

race.

FRENCH STEAM NAVIGATION.

The Courier Français states, that the example of the merchants of Marseilles in subscribing for shares towards the raising of Trans-Atlantic Steam Navigation Companies, has been followed at Nantes, Bordeaux, and Havre. At Bordeaux, it adds, the subscriptions amount to 3,000,000 francs, and at Havre, to 4,175,000 francs. To this we may add, that the chamber of commerce of Bordeaux has summoned a meeting of the merchants of that city, to deliberate on the best means of establishing the line of communica

tion in question, and a committee of five gentlemen has been named in consequence. The commissioners of the subscribers to the Marseilles company are instructed, says the "Temps," to request Admiral Baudin to lend his experience and influence towards the prompt accomplishment of their object.

The Minister of the Marine has ordered to be built, at L'Orient, a steam ship to carry engines of 450 horse-power. It is to be called the Cuvier, after the celebrated naturalist, and will be the largest in the French service. Its length will be greater than a threedecker, and it will be sufficiently capacious to carry 1,200 troops.

LIGHT-HOUSE AT THE PENINSULA OF JUTLAND.

The Department of State at Washington has received notice from the Danish government of the erection of a new light-house cn the easternmost point of the peninsula of Jutland, called Fornas, or Foreness, of which the following particulars are communicated, for the benefit of our navigators:

A new light-house has been erected on the easternmost point of Jutland, called Fornas, or Foreness, projecting into the Kattegat passage, situated five eighths of a Danish mile northeast half east from the entrance of the harbor of Grenade, 7 miles west southwest half west from the light-house of Arholt, and 7 miles northwest and a quarter north from the Island of Hesselder. The light is placed on a quadrangular tower, at the height of 67 Danish feet above the sea, and may be seen at the distance of three and a quarter miles by a person standing ten feet above the sea. The light is given by six lamps, which revolve every three minutes, in such a manner, that the spectator sees every half minute a bright light, which lasts about six seconds, and is invisible for twenty-six seconds following.

MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS.

TABLE OF REVENUE, EXPENDITURE, AND PUBLIC DEBT OF FRANCE.

373,923,909 Chamber of Deputies..

600,000

Registration, Stamps, Domains 193,225,000 Legion of Honor.

3,302,417

Felling of Timber.

24,000,000 Pensions..

58,389,654

Customs....

.154,300,000 Ministry of Justice.

19,469,700

Excise on liquors, tobacco, &c.. 171,000,000 Foreign Affairs..................

Post Office.

7,502,000

34,290,000 Religion...

34,804,600

Lotteries....

8,000,000 Public Instruction.

2,575,030

Gaming Houses..

5,500,000 Ministry of the Interior....

3,380,000

Fines...

3,300,000 Commerce and Public Works

123,500,000

Sundry Proceeds.

Extraordinary Resources.

Balance of 1831....131,467,267

Administration and Collection