There is no season so favorable to reflections calculated to enlighten the understanding and to improve the heart as the commencement of the year. At this period it is natural, for even light and trivial minds, to turn their thoughts upon the past, and review the events which have made the deepest impressions upon their memory. It is natural for all men to pause on the threshhold of the new year, and experience a momentary sense of trepidation at entering upon the unknown and inscrutable future which lies before them.

It is the season of accounting with curselves, and with our neighbor, and with Him to whom we are indebted for all our enjoyments. It is the time of retrospection: and while facts are fresh in the memory, and the hearts of men are open to instruction, it should not be allowed to pass without improvement.

Eminent gifts require the observance of corresponding duties, and hence, in feeble and uncultivated minds the growth of virtue is overshadowed and checked by unwonted or sudden prosperity. Here we may observe one of the most difficult impediments to the progress of civilization: the want of a mental and moral basis of sufficient breadth and strength to support an indefinite accumulation of individual wealth and national power. This is the weak point in all social fabrics. It was the vital defect that occasioned the downfall of the great nations of antiquity; and it is our duty to guard our own social structure from decay at this point by all the means in our power.

In many respects, our country is the most favored portion of the earth, “a land of beauty and of grandeur," where all the ele

ments combine to develop the human faculties in their highest degree of perfection. It is indeed a munificent heritage, and most worthily did our fathers observe the duties which it required at their hands. They established political and civil institutions calculated, in an eminent degree, to promote the fullest development of the mental and moral faculties; to incite men to investigate all subjects relating to their individual and social well-being; and to encourage industry in all its varied departments, by securing the enjoyment of its rewards to every individual. Such is the patrimony of the present generation-richer than was ever inherited by any other people. But in our inconsiderate haste to improve it,

we lose the chief enjoyments which it is capable of affording.

A restless desire to accumulate wealth, prevails throughout the land, subjecting every human faculty to its imperious sway. It admits of no repose, gives no place to the finer emotions of the heart, makes every relation subservient to the attainment of one object, and abolishes the distinction between money and morals. It is not our province to draw aside the veil which conceals the mysteries of the domestic relations, and expose the inquietude and discord which spring from this source enough is known to the public to admonish all men of the folly of making wealth the basis of their social relations.

The branch of this subject, which more properly belongs to the public economist, is excessive trading, originating in a desire to grow rich suddenly by buying and selling the products of other men's labors.

Without recurring to the several great revulsions which have prevailed throughout the land at different times, reducing very many to a state of destitution, blighting their hopes, destroying their usefulness, and demoralizing their character, the year which has just closed furnishes facts sufficient to admonish the American people of the evil consequences of over trading and speculation.

At no time in the history of this country have the elements of wealth been so abundant as during the year 1853. The seasons for several years preceding had been propitious, and the labors of the agriculturists crowned with a munificent reward, the mines of California were highly productive, yielding more than $50,000,000 per annum, the shipping interest was prosperous, and every branch of industry, save manufacturing and mining for the more useful metals, had been rapidly increasing, and yet, owing to ex

cessive trading, great embarrassment has been experienced in every department of business.

After giving due weight to the fact that a large amount of money has been drawn from the ordinary channels of commerce for the purpose of building railroads, we still find a more potent cause of financial embarrassment in the excessive importations of foreign merchandize.

According to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the imports of foreign merchandize, including specie, during the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1853, amounted to $267,978,647, being an increase of $55,033,205 on the amount imported for the preceding year. Now if we suppose $50,000,000 of this increased amount of imports to be goods paying duty at the rate of twenty-five per cent., we must add $12,500,000 to the $55,033,205, making the value of imports for the last fiscal year, when received from the custom-house, about $68,000,000 more than for the year ending June 30th, 1852.

It is quite obvious from this view of the subject that it was not the building of railroads, but overtrading in commerce, and speculations in unproductive property, that occasioned the financial difficulties under which the country has been laboring for the last nine months.

The imports of the years 1851 and 1852 were regarded as excessive, but if there had been no increase on the amount received in 1852, every department of business might have remained in a prosperous condition, and the public improvements of the Western and Southern States would have been about one year in advance of their present stage.

It is true, the exports of 1853 exceed the amount of the preceding year, but it is shown by the Secretary of the Treasury that the amount including specie was $37,526,397 less than that of the imports. And here we find occasion to notice the remarks of the Secretary touching this deficiency. He says: "A fair estimate for profits on our exports and the freight of our vessels would cast the balance of this account in our favor, without estimating the money brought in by immigrants, of which no account is taken.'

Similar views were entertained, more especially we believe, by Whigs, in the years 1835 and 1836, but the revulsion of 1837 exposed the falacy of such estimates. The commercial and financial history of this country proves beyond doubt that, whatever may be the profits

to dealers and carriers, the balances against this country must, as a general rule, be paid by the shipment of specie.

The Secretary of the Treasury makes no allowance for undervaluations of merchandize in foreign markets, and seems to forget that the freight which we pay to foreign vessels is a fair offset to that earned by our own. In the fiscal year ending 30th June, 1852, more than half of our domestic exports, and more than a third part of our imports, were made on foreign vessels.

From the notice taken of the money brought in by emigrants, it would seem that the Secretary entertains the opinion that it is to be regarded as an offset to the balance of trade against the country. It is true, it adds to the wealth of the nation, and were one taking an inventory to ascertain whether the country possessed a sufficient amount of money to pay its foreign debt, it would be proper to take this into the account; but it should be remembered that it is private property, and bears the same relation to the foreign debt as the money of other citizens; and as the immigrants are not supposed to possess a larger amount in proportion to their numbers than the old citizens, it is difficult to perceive the principle upon which the money they bring is to affect, in any material degree, the financial condition of the country. Indeed, it is not certain that the immigrants do not send home to their friends quite as much money as they bring with them. It appears from the report of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, for the year 1851, that £990,000, about $5,000,000, was remitted from the United States to the United Kingdom during that year by emigrants.

It is remarkable that, while the Secretary of the Treasury was looking outside of the custom-house reports for facts to show that the balance of $37,000,000 was merely nominal, it did not occur to him that some deduction ought to be made from these imaginary items for the interest accruing upon the public securities of this country held by foreign capitalists.

We regret that the spirit and tone of the Secretary's report is calculated, as we conceive, to encourage rather than check the mazia for trading in foreign merchandize. We did not expect him to suggest a remedy for the evil; indeed, it may be doubted whether it is practicable to protect the country against the consequences of excessive traffic by legislation. There is a class of men whose temperament disqualifies them for that calm and steady employment