The following Table shows the condition of the Banks in this City (N. Y.) and Brooklyn. Loans and discounts $1,717,263 $2,508,294 $2,160,939 $1,019,289 $2,330,030 $1,826,990 $1,895,065 $4,253,323 $3,917,328 $4,097,115 $2,620,262 $5,048,600 $2,980,000 $3,100,806 23,783 .... ... 376 375,013 895,362 233,570 Capital... LIABILITIES. Circulation Due to Canal fund Profits... Deposits on debts $2,001,200 $2,000,000 $2,000,000 $1,000,000 $1,490,000 $1,000,000 $1,000,000 Dividends unpaid.. Deposits.... Due other banks and corporations... 6,864 760.006 1,108,145 $4,353,323 $3,917,328 $4,097,115 $2,620,262 $5,048,600 $2,980,000 $3,100,806 $1,651,230 $1,687,576 $1,901,950 $1,432,357 $1,002,661 $943,138 $1,262,897 $1,651,230 $1,687,576 $1,901,950 $1,432,357 $1,002,661 $943,138 $1,262,897 72,194 Treasury note. Banks not subject to the Safety Fund Due from city banks............. Law. MANHATTAN COMPANY, N. Y.--Resources. Due from other banks and corporations 35,240 13 $1,571,912 45 $600,000 00 211,757 00 392,710 51 3,909 90 19,095 33 210,323 78 Specie..... Profits... 134,115 93 293,240 11 422,490 30 $1,571,912 45 Cattaraugus County.. St. Lawrence county.. James... { 20,000 34,596 .... Phoenix, of Buffalo 95,600 Bank of Brockport...... $13,200 100,000 78,213 150,000 *17,000 58,549 171,034 130,000 20,000 117,195 28,000 21,721 44,095 50,000 50,600 91,002 30,000 40,714 50,690 75,000 50,000 106,250 S31,000 45,231 116,302 *53,000 Bank of Central New York... 44,900 26,093 58,098 Bank of Silver Creek....... S 20,000 Powell ...... Bank of Orleans... Exchange of Genesee.. Genesee County.. Fort Plain..... *New York state stocks. 2 *6,000 { 25,000 19,153 40,612 15,000 14,500 $21,600 S 51,000 2*14,000 6,000 50,721 { 13,725 25,700 An Act to abolish Imprisonment for Debt. An act supplementary to an act to abolish imprisonment for debt in certain cases. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the act entitled" An Act to abolish imprisonment for debt in certain cases," approved February twentyeight, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, shall be so construed as to abolish imprisonment for debt on process issuing out of any court of the United States in all cases whatever, where, by the laws of the state in which the said court shall { *9,000 20,000 48,800 be held, imprisonment for debt has been, or shall hereafter 41,000 35,745 65,312 be, abolished. 25,000 $2,250 48,200 35,000 Bank of America at Buffalo,. {20,000 Bank of Attica..... U. States, at Buffalo. Mechanics', of Buffalo...... 31,098 75,335 15,000 10,327 $13,917 24,000 20,500 42,327 *40,000 38,450 76,600 50,000 50,200 90,000 {*19,00909090 48,800 94,592 18,150 69,000 39,500 62,950 46,000 39,710 64,400 48,000 35,800 56,350 R. M. T. HUNTER, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Vice President of the United States, Approved January 14, 1841. Bank of Waterville.. *10,000 33,450 81,038 &c. N. E. winds 9 days: E. and S. E. 2; S. and S. W. 7; W. and N. W. 13. Clear days 11. Clouds, rain, snow, 20 days. Pennsylvania Hospital, February 3d, 1841. North American. Rates of Foreign and Domestic Exchange, and Under this act, the mint ratio of gold to silver is 15 2295-2322 to 1, or, in decimals, 15.988+ to 1: that is to say, one ounce of pure gold is estimated as worth sixteen ounces of pure silver-less five grains and 25-43 parts of a The same act diminished in a small degree the quantity of alloy, and increased in a small degree the quantity of pure gold, contained in the eagle. It required that the eagle We have received an interesting Report to the Senate, by should contain 232 2-10 grains of pure gold and 25 8-10 the Secretary of the Treasury, on Foreign and Domestic Ex-grains of alloy, or 258 grains of the standard of 21 3-5 change, and prices of bank notes and specie at New York carats-equal to 9-10, or 900 milliemes fine. and Philadelphia, for the three last years, with numerous tables—a portion of which is inserted in the present number, viz: for New York in 1838. The remainder will follow in future numbers till the whole shall have been published.-grain. At the present remarkable crisis in monetary affairs, they are peculiarly valuable. An attentive perusal and comparison of them, may perhaps throw light upon the causes which have gradually operated to produce some of the disastrous results now experienced. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 12, 1841. SIR :-I have the honor to transmit the accompanying tables and notes, in compliance with the following resolution of the Senate, adopted on the 16th of December, 1840: "Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to cause to be prepared, and communicated to the Senate, tables of the rate of exchange, foreign and domestic, and of the prices of bank notes and specie, on or near the first day of each month, at New York and Philadelphia during the years 1838, 1839, and 1840; and that he accompany the same with a synopsis of the rates of exchange, foreign and domestic, and the prices of bank notes and specie, at New York and Philadelphia, in previous years, so far as the last can be done from the materials now in the Treasury Department." I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. RICHARD M. JOHNSON, Memoranda. "An act for establishing a mint, and regulating the coins of the United States," was passed on the 2d of April, 1792. By this act, it was provided that the dollar should contain 371 grains of pure silver, and 44} grains of alloy, or 416 grains of the standard of 1485-1664-equal to 892 89-208 milliemes fine. By the same act, it was provided that the eagle should contain 247 grains of pure gold, and 22 grains of alloy, or 270 grains of the standard of 22 carats; that is, 11-12, or 9164 milliemes fine. Under this act, the ratio of gold to silver at the American mint was 15 to 1; that is to say, fifteen ounces of pure silver were regarded as of equal value with one ounce of pure gold. These proportions remained unchanged till the 28th of June, 1834. Then, in consequence of a rise having taken place in the market value of gold, as compared with silver, an act was passed, establishing the mint ratio at 16 1-464 to 1; that is to say, estimating one ounce of pure gold as worth sixteen ounces, one grain, and 1-29 part of a grain, of pure silver. This act, also made a change in the relative fineness of our gold coins. It provided that the eagle should contain 232 grains of pure gold and 26 grains of alloy, or 258 grains of the standard of 21 25-43 carats-equal to 116-129, or, 899 29-129 milliemes fine. Another act of Congress was passed on the 18th of January, 1837, by which it was declared that "the standard for both gold and silver coins of the United States shall hereafter be such, that, of one thousand parts by weight, nine hundred shall be of pure metal and one hundred of alloy." This act reduced the quantity of alloy in the dollar from 44 grains to 414; but left the quantity of pure silver in that coin the same as at first, namely: 3714 grains. VOL. IV.-14 According to this act, both the gold and silver coins of the United States should contain 9 parts of pure metal and 1 part of alloy; or, in other words, be of the fineness of 900 milliemes. These are the only acts that have been passed, since the adoption of the constitution, respecting the weight and fineness of our gold and silver coins. The dollar is the unit of reference, and the money of account; and the quantity of pure metal in the American coin of that name has never been altered, by law, since the adoption of the constitution. The Spanish dollars are not all of the same weight.Those in circulation in 1829 were said by the director of the mint to be worth, on an average, 100 cents 3 mills. The Mexican dollars are said to be equal to the Spanish. The "Carolus dollars" are the Spanish dollars coined prior to the year 1809, in the reigns of Charles III. and IV. They are said to be not superior in weight and fineness to the Mexican. The British sovereign should contain 123 171-623 grains of gold of the standard of 22 carats; that is, 11-12, or 9163 milliemes fine. If they were equal to the standard, each sovereign would contain 113 grains and 1-623 parts of a grain of pure gold, and be worth, at our present mint valuation, $4.86.6. But, from repeated assays at the Philadelphia mint, it has been found that British sovereigns, instead of being 22 carats, or 9163 milliemes fine, are only 915 milliemes fine. This would make them worth in American gold $4 86+ if they were of full weight. But it appears that many of them that reach this country are deficient, not only in fineness, but in weight also; so that, in strictness, at our mint valuation, they are worth, on an average, a fraction less than $4 85. The Spanish doubloon should, according to the regulations which have nominally prevailed since the year 1772, contain 376 grains of pure gold, which would, at our mint valuation, be worth 16 dollars 19 cents and a fraction; but. according to assays made at the London and Philadelphia mints, previous to the year 1829, Spanish doubloons contained only from 360 to 362 4-10 grains of pure gold. This would make them worth, on an average, at our mint valuation, about $15 55. The difference in the price of Spanish and Patriot doubloons, and of the different species of dollars, at New York and Philadelphia, is said to be chiefly owing to difference of demand for them in foreign markets. In the price currents, $4 44 4-9 were long assumed as the par of exchange on England; that is to say, a British pound sterling was estimated to be worth $4 44 4-9. This practice began wher. Spanish pillar dollars were in circulation, when silver was a standard of value in England, and when the silver coins of that country were much worn. It was proba bly, when adopted, the true par; but, after the British made gold their standard, the true par varied with every variation in the market value of gold and silver. It was estimated by Mr. Gallatin, in 1829, at seven per cent. above the nominal par; by Mr. Raguet, in another year, at 8 per cent, Since the passage of the act of Congress of January 18, 1837, the true par, estimating British gold against American, would be 9.496 (or very nearly 94) above the nominal par, if British sovereigns were of full weight and fineness; but as they are deficient in both weight and fineness, the true par may be assumed to be about 9 per cent. above the nominal par. In the New York price currents, the practice has been of late to quote exchange on England at so many dollars and cents per pound sterling, instead of so many per cent. advance on the nominal par. This practice has not yet been generally adopted in other cities.* The quotations of exchange on France are so many francs and centimes (or hundreth parts of a franc,) payable in France, for a dollar paid here. According to the regulations of the French mint, the silver franc should contain 69.453 troy grains of pure silver, equivalent to 18 708-1000 cents in silver currency of the United States, or a little less than 183 cents. The quantity of pure silver in an American dollar is equal to that in 5 francs 34 534-1000 centimes; but as foreign coins are not a legal tender in France, and as a seignorage or fee of about 14 per cent. is charged for coining silver at the French mint, American dollars, when sold as bullion in France, are said to bring, on an average, not more than 5 francs 26 25-1000 centimes. This is by some In a report previously sent from this department, estimates were inade of the value of foreign coins, and of the par of exchange, under the act of June, 1834. They differ, of course in a small degree, from those made above, under the act of January, 1837. writers, assumed as the par of exchange on France. Other The quotations of domestic exchange are for bills payable at sight. The rates of exchange, and the prices of bank notes and Shipping specie at New York, have been taken from the " and Commercial List and New York Price Current." Those at Philadelphia from "Child's Philadelphia Price Current." The letter d stands for discount, and the letter p for premium. The letter a is an abbreviation of the Latin ad, to. |