COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. REGULATIONS OF TRADE IN THE EAST INDIES. THE following notice of a highly important regulation of trade, removing the restraint under which foreign ships laid, to import into the East India Company's ports only articles the product of their respective countries, has been received from the United States Consul at Singapore : SINGAPORE, Feb. 1, 1840. By a government regulation, dated in Calcutta, 2d December, 1839, the former regulation limiting foreign ships to import into the British ports of India, only articles of the growth or produce of their respective countries, has been rescinded, and “foreign ships belonging to any state or countries in Europe or America, so long as such states or countries remain in amity with H. M., may freely enter the British seaports and harbors in the E. I., whether they come directly from their own country or any other place, and shall be there hospitably received, and shall have liberty to trade there in imports and exports, conformably to the regulations established or to be established in such seaports; provided, that it shall not be lawful for said ships to receive goods on board at one British port of India, to be conveyed to another British port of India on freight or otherwise; but nevertheless, the original inward cargoes of such ships may be discharged at different British ports for their foreign destination." The following is given in a parliamentary paper, just published in England, as the revised rule of the admiralty commission on this subject: Divide the length of the upper deck, from the after part of the stem to the fore part of the stern post, into six equal parts. Depths.—At each of those points of division, measure in feet and decimal parts of a foot the depths from the under side of the upper deck to the ceiling of the limber strake. In the case of a break in the upper deck, the depths are to be measured from a line stretching in continuation of the deck. Breadths.—Divide each of these depths into five equal parts, and measure the inside breadths at the following points: videlicit, at one-fifth and at four-fifths from the upper deck at the foremost and aftermost depths; at two-fifths and at four-fifths from the up per deck at the midship depth, and at one-fifth from the upper deck, at each of the two remaining depths. Length. At half the midship depth, measure the length of the vessel from the after part of the stem to the fore part of the stern post. Then add twice the midship depth. to the depths at the foremost and aftermost points of division, for the sum of the depths; and for the sum of the breadths add together the upper and lower breadths at the fore most and midship divisions, the upper and twice the lower breadths at the aftermost di vision, and the single breadth measured at each of the two remaining divisions. Then multiply the sum of the depths by the sum of the breadths, and this product by the length, and divide the final product of 3500, which will give the number of tons fo register. MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS. MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CORRESPONDENCE. With pleasure we insert the following correspondence which has passed between Mr. Vermilye and Mr. Zabriskie, and others, on the occasion of the former leaving this city, and the consequent dissolution of his connection with the Mercantile Library Association of New York. Mr. Vermilye has been for many years a member of this institution, and has discharged the responsible trusts committed to him with satisfaction to all interested. His loss will be felt; but we trust that he will be successful in the formation of a kindred association among the young clerks of the city to which he has removed. JACOB D. VERMILYE, ESQ., [Copy.] NEW YORK, 14th May, 1840. Dear Sir-Your departure from this city, and the consequent dissolution of your connection with the Mercantile Library Association, affords an opportunity for those with whom you have been more intimately connected in said institution, to express to you their regret at the loss of one of its most valued members. For a series of years, we have been witnesses of your devotion to its interests; and in the prosecution of our mutual endeavors to extend its usefulness, have always found a helping hand in one whom, with reluctance, we are compelled to part with. Accept, dear sir, our united and sincere wishes, that wherever your lot in life may be cast, the smiles of a benign Providence may attend you; that prosperity, so richly deserved, may never desert you; and that success may attend all your efforts. We are, dear sir, with much respect, ALBERT G. ZABRISKIE, N. WILLIAMSON, JNO. H. REDFIELD, H. P. MARSHALL. [Copy of Reply.] NEWARK, N. J., June 16th, 1840. A. G. ZABRISKIE, Esq., and others, Gentlemen-I have received your kind and flattering communication of the 14th May last, which should have been answered ere this, but for the pressure of business attendant on my removal from the city of New York. If any thing could add to the regret which I feel on leaving my native city, it would be in parting with so many kind and much esteemed friends. Our situation and circumstances in life, are not at our own disposal; but, wherever in the course of providence our lot may be cast, it becomes us with faithfulness and assiduity to fulfil the duties incumbent upon us. The institution of which you are members, will continue to have my warmest wishes for its prosperity. With you, gentlemen, I have had personal and pleasing associations, the remembrance of which will be ever grateful to my heart. Wishing you individually, and the members of the Mercantile Library Association generally, all the happiness which an hon. orable career in life can afford, I remain, gentlemen, yours truly, DONATIONS TO THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. The Board of Directors of the Mercantile Library Association of New York, would gratefully acknowledge the receipt of the following donations: Of Donations to the Cabinet.-A collection of Land and Fresh Water Shells from Michigan, several Minerals, and Skull of Bear, (Ursus Americanus,) from Rev. Charles Fox. Minerals and Fossils, from Abraham D. Sands, Esq. Minerals, from J. Albert Lintner, Esq. Of Ostrich's Eggs, and Fishes, from C. Colden Hoffman, Esq. Of an Arab Spear, or Javelin, from P. S. Parker, Esq., United States Consul at Bombay, through Henry P. Marshall, Esq. Of Donations in Books-from J. Cassidy; John Hall; George C. Barker; John C. Spencer; and G. C. Verplanck. BALTIMORE MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. We are gratified to learn that this young and interesting association is in a flourishing condition. It was formed in November, 1839. The number present at the adoption of the constitution, was twenty-seven; at the end of the first month, as the fruits of its exertions, they had raised upwards of eleven hundred dollars, in subscription and donations. The association has now been in active operation nearly six months, and the number of volumes now in the library, is twelve hundred and sixty. With the exception of some hundred volumes added by the purchasing committee, this number was raised among the members of the association. The reading room, which is a most excellent feature of the association, is supplied with twenty-six of the principal domestic and foreign periodicals of the day. The members at present are one hundred and forty honorary, and about eighty active. This number increases slowly, but surely. OUR SECOND YEAR. We enter the second year of our existence with this number, with the pleasing as. surance, if the liberal encouragement we have received may be considered evidence, that we have not altogether failed to discharge the duties we have undertaken. There are many difficulties connected with the establishment of a new periodical, which are now happily nearly overcome; and we hope to make improvements in the Merchants' Magazine, which shall render it doubly worthy of the favor which has hitherto attend. ed its progress. If industry and increased exertion can effect any thing, we think we may venture to promise, that our subscribers shall have no reason to regret having placed their names on our list. The assistance of many of the ablest pens in the country has been promised us, and assuredly neither pains nor expense will be spared. Standing aloof from politics and parties, and with the interests of the business part of the community for our sole object, we doubt not to deserve the countenance of all. As differences of opinion must arise, we are not so wedded to our own as to refuse to others the respect that is their due, and our pages will be open to the discussion of any topic within the scope of the design of this magazine. We conclude with a grateful acknowledgment of past favors, and a hope for their continuance. HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AUGUST, 1840. ART. I.-THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. In presenting the remarkable history of this enormous bubble, which in 1720 burst in the British metropolis, overwhelming thousands with the gloom of utter bankruptcy, and crushing their fondest hopes and brightest prospects in the relentless grasp of sudden poverty, we do not claim for it the slightest affinity to the causes that have conspired to produce the commercial and monetary embarrassments, which have existed in this country for the last few years. Nor do we think it bears the least resemblance to that vast chain of individual credit and personal confidence which, throughout the United States, have called into existence a large proportion of our national wealth and internal prosperity. We give it because it mirrors forth the events of an era, more remarkable for the production of imaginary and spectral schemes, by designing and visionary men, than were ever breathed into life and form by the wildest speculations of any other age or period of the world. The universal mania, which then raged, not in England alone, but in France also, conjuring up a thousand dreamy and unsubstantial shapes, which, after assuming the name of some delusive stock, and absorbing the capital and entire fortunes of the credulous multitude, vanished in a single night, and expired with the hopes of its miserable votaries, while the vil lanous and unprincipled inventors amassed from their fraudulent schemes the wealth of princes, furnishes no lesson which is in the slightest degree calculated to guide or instruct the enlightened merchant of the present age, in any of those extended dealings in which his confidence in the honesty and integrity of his fellow men induces him to engage; and we would not so far impeach his business capacity and general intelligence as to gravely inform him, that in this age, when credit in its varied forms and in giant strength is stalking through our republic, we present the wild and frantic speculations which have been buried beneath a century and one score years, as a monument of human folly which may be paralleled, or even approached, by the stupendous credit system of our own land. But the great South Sea bubble was fraught with consequences too important to be uninteresting, even at this remote period, and it is in the belief that its history may furnish amusement rather than instil instruction, that we shall proceed to narrate the circumstances with which it was connected and the results that it created. The first proposition which appeared in England for the establishment of a company with commercial privileges for the purpose of opening a trade to the South Sea, was made in 1711. Previous to that period, and particularly in the reign of Elizabeth, many bucaniers and adventurers had made voyages to America, and upon their return published such glowing accounts of the trading advantages to be acquired there, as filled the minds of the English people with the most extravagant visions of future wealth, while their imaginations, which were but newly opened to the advantages of foreign commerce, eagerly pictured the speedy acquirement of unlimited and princely riches from the trade in those seas. The wealth that was derived by Spain from her South American dominions, and the immense quantity of the precious metals which were found there, together with the profits that were realized by the Spaniards from the sale of merchandise in those remote regions, all combined to produce a powerful and lasting impression upon the English merchant; and as bold and restless adventurers were not wanting, to engage in any enterprise which promised rich rewards, for some time previous to the organization of the company proposals were openly circulated for effecting settlements in the south seas of America, by the employment, if necessary, of a competent armed force, to be directed against the Spanish authorities. Thousands were eager to engage in any project, however uncertain and romantic, which had for its object the extension of British commerce to those seas, and in the year we have mentioned, the Earl of Oxford, then lord high treasurer of England, by his earnest recommendation, and the exercise of the powerful influence which his station created, procured the passage of an act of parliament, by which Queen Anne was empowered to incorporate the owners and proprietors of a portion of the national debt of Great Britain, for the purpose of carrying on a trade to the south seas. The resources from whence this portion of the debt arose were various; being composed of the navy debt, office of ordnance debt, transport debt, army debentures, subsidies due to the Elector of Hanover, and the Duke of Zell, besides some others of a different nature, in all amounting to 9,471,325 pounds, the yearly interest upon which at 6 per cent, was 568,279 pounds 10 shillings; and the real object of the lord treasurer in procuring the incorporation of the holders of these different government stocks, was not to benefit the owners or advance the commerce of his nation, as was pretended; but was in reality designed to place a part of the national debt of Great Britain in a position where its ultimate payment would be rendered more easy and convenient to the party in power. In pursuance of this act, the queen granted her royal charter on the 8th day of September, 1711, incorporating the subscribers of those debts by the name of "The Governor and Company of Merchants of Great Britain trayding to the South Seas." Many exclusive privileges were conferred upon them, and the rich commercial franchises with which they were invested, secured to them the enjoyment of the trading monopoly of half the southern and western world. |