BANK STATISTICS. Table showing the principal Items of the Bank Statements of all the Chartered Banks of the State, for the last five years. Capital. Jan. 1, 1836. Jan. 1, 1837 Jan. 1, 1838. Jan. 1, 1839. Jan. 1, 1840. 86 Banks. 98 Banks. 95 Banks. 96 Banks. 96 Banks. 31,281,461 37,101,460 36,611,460 36,801,460 36,801,460 Circulation. 21,127,927 24.198,000 12,432,478 19,373,149 10,629,514 Statement of all the Chartered Banks of the State of New York, distinguishing between those located in the City of New York and elsewhere, January 1st, 1840. A Table showing the condition of the five Banks in the state of New York not subject to the Bank Fund Law. Aggregate Statement of ninety-one Banks subject to the Bank Fund Law, as reported to the Bank Commissioners, January 1, 1840. Aggregate Statement of all the Chartered Banks of the State of New York, on the 1st of January, 1840. SEVERAL papers intended for the present number, received too late, or omitted for want of space, will probably appear in the April issue. Among them are:-1. The Commercial League of the Hanse Towns, by E. W. STOUGHTON, Esq.-2. Fraud upon Underwriters, by JAMES BERGEN, Esq.-3. Suggestions on the Law of Auctions, No. III., by FRANcis Brinley, Esq., of New York; and the first of a series of papers, prepared by the same gentleman, on the laws relative to debtor and creditor in the several states. The first of the series presents, in a clear and comprehensive form, the means of enforcing debts against the citizens of Maine," which will be followed by similar expositions of the latest statute laws of the other states. These articles will, we are confident, prove very useful to a large portion of the mercantile community. We have also been compelled to crowd out a great number of important legal decisions, furnished for publication in this Magazine by Judge HOPKINSON, of the United States District Court, DANIEL LORD, jr., Esq., of New York, and P. W. CHANDLER, Esq., of the Law Reporter, etc., which will be published at our earliest convenience. THE SALAMANDER SAFE.-Mr. Enos Wilder, of this city, is the patentee of a safe, for the preservation of books and papers against fire, which, we are satisfied, is all that it purports to be a perfect security from that destructive element, fire. We shall, in a succeeding number of the Magazine, give a more extended notice of this important invention, which has already passed through a “fiery ord :a'," and found to be superior to any thing of the kind now in use. HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. APRIL, 1840. ART. I.-THE COMMERCIAL LEAGUE OF THE THE vast political, moral, and intellectual changes, which originate in commercial actions, and spring from extended maritime operations, are eminently worthy the attentive observation of every enlightened mind, and are calculated to awaken a noble pride in the hearts of those who compose the mercantile portion of community. The early history of society is replete with evidences, that point out the numerous benefits which have resulted to every state from intercourse with distant nations; while, upon its more modern pages, shines forth the chronicle of those great advantages which commerce showers upon mankind. From its infant struggles upon the continent of the east, where barbarism in all its shapes prevailed, hindering its advancement, and beating to the earth the barriers by which its founders sought to insure its protection, until, increasing in size and strength, it stretched forth its mighty arms and clasped a western world in its embrace, we see it throwing benign influences wherever its prevalence is experienced, and bountifully bestowing wealth, power, and greatness, upon the empires of the earth. In looking back upon the ancient countries of the world, and marking the character, the pursuits, and the intellectual advancement of their inhabitants, the superiority evinced in these respects by that portion engaged in commerce, and who were bound together by its interests, is powerfully striking. Different cities, however distant from each other, and with whatever dissimilarity there existed to distinguish their religious, their civil, and their political institutions, and with all the variety of habits and customs, language and color, which prevailed, seemed, even in the earlier periods of the world, to be connected together by the chain of common and mutual interest which commercial intercourse had forged; and to be encircled by one broad, entire, and universal band, enclosing them in terms of the closest alliance. In glancing at the city of Tyre as it existed in its ancient unrivalled splendor, when styled Queen of the Sea, the riches of all nations rolled in upon it in glittering profusion; the industrious, patient, laborious, and intelligent character of its people, stands out in bold and bright relief from the barbarism and intellectual darkness which distinguished most of the nations around it; and within its walls could then be found foreign merchants, whom the courtesy and kindness of its inhabitants had invited from almost every portion of the globe, and whose interests were carefully and studiously protected and fostered by the wisest and most politic system of maritime laws which the age presented. In the midst of the wealth, power, and grandeur which the commerce of this great city had reared, we see a band of its citizens emerge from the ponderous gates that guarded its rich treasures from the fierce nations by which it was surrounded, and impelled by the spirit of foreign adventure, which the vast commercial relations of their native city had created, expatriate themselves from their kindred and homes, and launch forth upon their pathless course; and after marking out the foundation of another mighty city, build up its glorious pile, until the name of Carthage was heralded throughout the world for its might in war, its strict undeviating good faith in peace, the wisdom of its internal government, and the just and permanent principles upon which its political institutions were founded, and as the grand centre of trade for half the nations of the earth. Its extended commerce bestowed upon its inhabitants the most princely wealth, and those enjoying the highest and most honorable stations in its government, were proud of being engaged in foreign trade, forming, as it did, the great pillars upon which rested its glory and power. Its fleets swayed the empire and sovereignty of the sea, and even mighty Rome, after a bloody and doubtful struggle of more than forty years in humbling the haughty rival which, begirt in wondeful strength, had dared to dispute its unlimited superiority, was compelled to deprive Carthage of its commerce, ere its power could be subdued and conquered. The map of more modern nations presents numerous cities, whose commerce, like that of those we have mentioned, has encircled them around with the barriers of strength and safety, has filled them with the glittering riches of distant lands, distinguishing their inhabitants for superiority of intelligence and intellectual refinement, and causing them to be feared and respected throughout the half barbarous empires by which they were surrounded. The powerful aid which commerce has afforded in redeeming mankind from barbarism and ignorance, in freeing them from the chains of despotism and tyranny, and in alleviating their moral and social condition, is exemplified upon almost every page of history to which we turn, and is so familiar to the minds of the present age as to render its detail here unnecessary, and even uninteresting, besides being foreign to the object which we now have in contemplation. Our present purpose is to unroll from the records of by-gone ages, and spread out to view, the history of a commercial confederacy which was formed in the north of Europe in the early part of the twelfth century, at a period when most of the nations inhabiting the eastern world were sunk in gloomy ignorance, dark and fearful barbarism, and slavish superstition. At the time we mention, commercial enterprises were extremely hazardous, and the cultivation of peaceful pursuits entirely neglected. |