and of which-extracted from the body of the First, or the Twenty-fourth Book, (it might be either, indifferently,) this fragment is a specimen-how fair a one the reader can judge, as well as we, for we have treated him to the whole of it, barring some dozen lines which claimed no notice, as they contain no glaring defects, nor gross absurdities. The merits of the fragment itself may be summed up with fairness and critical precision in a very few words: Barring a half dozen couplets at the outside, it contains, neither in its conception nor execution, one particle of genuine poetry; but on the contrary, is an ill-constructed mass of labored turgidity and bungling grandiloquence, spiced with piquant incongruities, and done into rhyme. And where, we are constrained to ask, is the "responsible editor" of the Review, that such a specimen of poetry is permitted to find its way into its hitherto somewhat fastidious pages? Is he rusticating during these hot July days? If so, we don't blame him for that, but only for having left his bantling, as he certainly has done, in charge of the printer's devil. For at the close of the Number, (which contains, by the way, several prose articles of nearly equal merit with this "fragment,") we find an "editorial note," which, among other things, says-evidencing a remarkable degree of critical acumen, as well as skill in literary composi tion in the writer-" Our friends will be, we think, amply compensated [for the absence of articles on political subjects] by the rich historical and literary matter which we present in the present number." This smacks very much of a green hand-of a mixing up of very dissimilar vocations. The old adage is a good one: Ne sutor ultra crepidam, and we commend to the consideration of the editor-substitute. EDITORIAL NOTE-Our contributor, who evidently possessed a keen sense of the ridiculous, in addition to a very respectable amount of skill as a literary critic, is not, we suspect, an old strategist, otherwise he would more precisely graduate the weight of his battery to the strength and importance of the enemy to be vanquished. Whereas, he has arrayed and brought to bear a whole park of artillery-Paixhan guns and all--to annihilate--a mosquito. And yet we are not sure that this critique does not do injustice to his judgment and experience both. As he intimates, this "fragment" may very likely be the precursor of an epic "avalanche" from the same source and of similar merit. And with this dire anticipation, it was, not unlikely, our critic's ulterior purpose to give a convincing proof of his abundant means of annihilating the main body, should it venture to appear, by thus opening a round discharge of his heavy artillery to sweep away a small and insignificant avant-guard. And for this timely precautionary step, the literary public certainly owe him their thanks. As for our worthy contemporary, writhing in the agony of a thrust under the fifth rib, dealt by our contributor, we can hardly help pitying him, though he certainly deserves the blow. Our contributor is right in his conjecture in regard to the absence (withdrawal) of the (late) "responsible editor" of that monthly; his sagacity thus preventing him from doing a gross injustice to that gentleman's literary taste and ability. While, in regard to the present literary supervision of that Review, he hits even more pointedly in his closing sentence, than, as we suspect, he was himself We advise our contemporary to take his admonition to heart, and make a imely and appropriate application of it. aware. FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. MONEY continues very plenty at all the cities of the sea-board, and is rather in excess of supply, although it is at this season generally when it is most in demand. It becomes plenty as the fall season commences, bringing down the new crops in the hands of dealers for the payment of city debts. The great increase which has taken place in business in the last few years, has, of necessity, produced a larger amount of paper which figures largely in bank returns, and by enhancing the profits of the institutions, induces the creation of a greater number, and they multiply more rapidly now than at any former period in the history of the country. The returns of the New-York Banks show extraordinary results, and are as follows, comparatively: No. Loans. BANKS OF NEW-YORK CITY. Specie. Circulation. Deposits. Bal. due b'ks. Feb'ry, 1845..26..$32.235,242 - $5,887,446...$5,596,139...$21,745,865...$5,528,941 Dec., 1848..26..41,031,247. .5,850.424. .5,783.492. 21,413,148....5,864,022 March, 1849..26..43,521,441.... 4,523,775....5,460,399. 22,928,554. ..9,804,973 June, 1849..26..43,515,471.... 9,586.305....5,539,572.. .27,227,184....8,536,794 Sept., 1849..26..49,922,265....8,022,246....5,990.100........28,482,228. ..8,591,310 Dec., 1849..26..52,877,371....7,169,016....6,073,348. .28,868,488.. March, 1850..26..56.430,647 .... 6,861,501....6,752,688....32,067,937. June, 1850..27..59,878.038...10,753,682. .5.919,363. .35,861,139...11,461,683 1850..29..65,454,319...11.011.104....6,955,829. Dec.. Since December, 1848, the loans have gone on to increase $30,000,000, or $1,000,000 per month, and the deposits have doubled. The exports of specie between the March and June returns amounted to $14,500,000, and the banks show, notwithstanding, an increase of $12,000,000 on hand. The number of banks has rapidly increased, but so also has the amount of business, and all the old banks continue to show large dividends. From the low point to which loans sank in 1845, the upward progress has been uninterrupted until the present time; and the same is true of the balances due banks, and of the deposits until the March quarter, when, for the first time in a long period, they declined under the demand for money growing out of the spring imports. The progress of the spring business, with the large receipts of produce and the active foreign market, have restored the abundance of money, and again swollen the bank deposits. The foreign markets for United States produce will, for the present year, show a very largely increased amount of exports. The sale of surplus productions on the part of England and the United States, since the change of the policy of the former in 1842, and of the latter in 1846, has very much increased as far as value goes, as seen in the following table from official sources, reducing pounds to dollars: The surplus exports of both countries have increased 50 per cent. since the abandonment of the protective principle by England. She then began to buy United States farm produce, and of course to pay for it with the products of her own industry. The farmers of the western United States were admitted to compete with those of England's aristocracy in supplying the English people. The products of English industry, instead of being applied to the payment of food bought in England, went to the farmers of the United States, and a mutual increase of exports involved necessarily a mutual increase of imports, and the enormous development of international trade manifest in the table resulted. The progressive nature of United States exports to Great Britain is seen in the following table: EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES TO GREAT BRITAIN. Wheat, bus.. bus.. .. 6033. 5077220. ...... Tobacco, M. lbs.. .82418. .5947246 Corn, In the present year all these figures will be very much higher. Thus the article of flour already reaches 1,200,000 barrels, against less than 400,000 barrels last year. It will probably be the case hereafter, that food of Western production will far exceed in value the exports of tobacco and cotton, which have hitherto composed two-thirds of the national export. It is not the mere value of the article sent abroad which is a matter of congratulation, but it is the guaranty of opening markets for goods in the regions of the interior commanded by rail-roads, whence these supplies are derived. It is of little avail that immigrants pour into the country and break up the new lands, if the produce of that land is not available to the farmer in the purchase of goods. That it becomes so, is evident from the large supplies, which are the money with which goods are paid for. The swelling traffic here indicated, involves an increase of paper to represent it, and hence it is, that, although the banks confine themselves to short business paper, they find a constantly increasing amount. The discounts are now double what they were in 1845-that is to say, the payments into the banks are double-but the means of paying are still in greater proportion, and money is more abundant now than then. The country is full of natural wealth, and is possessed of great facilities for reaching market at a moment when the European markets are opening for their reception. The recent accounts of a rapid rise in breadstuffs in France, has imparted much activity to shipments here, and a rise in the price of the vast quantities coming down the canals, the Mississippi River, and every avenue of trade, will add probably fifty millions to the payments from the country to the sea-board, and produce an abundance of money, and a demand for goods never before witnessed. The flour, pork, corn, cotton, and gold, with which we can supply the world, are guarantees against any very decided manifestations of ruin for the present. The supply of the precious metals has far less to do with the abundance of money than is generally supposed. It is only one product of industry, when every product has as much purchasing power as gold. The receipt of 100 barrels of flour in New-York pays a debt for $400 as effectually as 25 ounces of gold; and when, throughout the whole extent of the country, rail cars and canal boats are seen loaded with freight, pressing forward to supply an increasing demand at home and abroad, no serious fears of an immediate revulsion need be indulged. The coinage at Philadelphia for the past six months has been as follows: GOLD COINAGE AT THE PHILADELPHIA MINT. Double Half Quarter Total Total Grand total Eagles. Eagles. Eagles. Eagles. Dollars. Philadelphia. N. O. 6 months. Jan....2116020..None....None...253900.. 251046.. 2620966.. 690000.. 3310966 Feb.. 4560980.. ..333315.. 183702.. 5082997.. 750000.. 5832997 ...243315....95260.. 263220.. 6285735..2000000.. 8285735 .222270.. 387118.. 3176058.. 590000.. 3766058 M'y:..1734940..366250..215000..561690.. 422682.. 3201262..1200000.. 4401262 June.2610300..121270..356180...285610.. 279888.. 3653248..1090000.. 4743000 19061060..599310..814495..1752045..1792656..24020266..6320000..30340266 These very large supplies of coin, of which an increasing amount is derived from New-Orleans, through the incapacity of the Philadelphia mint to coin all that is offered, are the source whence the money reservoirs of Europe are filling up; and should, as now likely, peace and the present Constitution of France be preserved, the effect of those large supplies advanced, will be to raise prices there for American produce, and by so doing effectually benefit the whole industrial interests of the United States. The amount sent forward in the first three weeks of July, is very little more than Mexican indemnity and dividends paid by the government-that is to say, the movement is from the government vaults, and no longer from the bank vaults. The payments of the government are from the money collected at the ports of entry, and not from the reserves it has at the mint. Thus, out of $11,147,346 in the Treasury on the 30th of June, there was in the mint to the credit of the government $6,780,000, while the amount in New-York had been drawn down to $635,138. That amount of nearly seven millions has been idle in the mint for more than six months. It is in the shape of bullion. and cannot be paid out, by reason of the incapacity of the mint to coin it. The loss of interest has been $300,000 to the government. The imports are now small, and the government must have its bullion coined to meet its expenses; and to enable it to do so, the public must wait for the coinage of the fresh arrivals. The exchanges are from every point of the Union in favor of New-York, bringing large specie balances from all points into the city to replenish the foreign drain; but the foreign exchanges are also now falling, under the enhanced exports and diminished imports, and good sterling bills are now sold at 10 a 104. These are indications of an easy money market. The exports of specie has been as follows: EXPORTS OF GOLD FROM THE PORT OF NEW-YORK, APRIL 5TH TO JULY 19TH. Of this amount, $4.451,760 went forward from July 1st to 20th. Considerable amounts arrived in London from St. Petersburg, and the quantity in the Bank of England is again on the increase, while that in the French Bank continues to do so. SPECIE IN BANK VAULTS IN NEW-YORK, PARIS, AND LONDON, Since the discovery of the California mines, the accumulation of gold in the banks of these three cities has been equal to the product of those mines. Hence from that source the channels of circulation has received no additions as yet. It will be observed in the table of bank returns, that the specie held by the banks, June 30th, exceeded $12,000 the amount they held March 30thyet during the intervening three months, $15,000,000 of specie had been exported. The amount of specie has now little influence upon the abundance of money, because the produce, which is the basis of all business, is abundant, and readily commands sales. The amount of capital expended in the last four years in the means of bringing produce to market, has been immense. Thus the number of miles of railroad opened in the United States, and the cost, are as follows: This is a pretty round sum to be spent in four years of "tariff ruin" without being felt, in addition to $80,000,000 of war expenses, $20,000,000 in shipping, and other expenditures in commerce and trade, besides the large sums indicated for town and country taxes. When we remember that all this property is directly profitable in dividends, and indirectly opens lands to market invaluable, we may depend that we are a good ways from ruin yet, and that the ill success of the extra session of 1841 was not entirely fatal to the national existence. The amount of business which these works, as well as the canals, transact, |