cation. The culprit seems only a loser in a game of chance. Things have gone against him. He has met with losses. The very machinery, so to call it, of business blinds us somewhat to the position he is in. We only see so many ruled books of accounts, and little slips of inscribed paper. We only hear of state of the money market,' acceptances, returned paper, assets, dividends, and other terms more metaphysical than real. It is difficult, particularly when the transactions are of large amount, to connect the case with human passions, error, and trespass. Yet even here the moralist may come in with his rebukes and warnings. The aim of the commercial man in the contracting of his obligations is, after all, a selfish one; he intends by the results of such transactions, to obtain exactly those tangible indulgences which have brought his non-commercial neighbor into debt. It is, in the world's morality, legitimate to follow this object with one's own means and industry; but it never can be so to follow it by means of the property of another man. Such is the case of him who trades chiefly upon means not his own; who, in other words, trades largely upon credit. If A B, for example, possessing property to the value of only five thousand pounds, orders foreign corn to the amount of fifty thousand, in the hope of making fifteen thousand by it, while there is a chance on the other hand that, by a fall of markets, it may only sell for thirty, he undoubtedly is risking a loss of fifteen thousand pounds to his creditors for the chance of making as much for himself. Rightly judged, this is an unprincipled action-as much so as to commit positive larceny. Yet, sad to say, this is the system pursued by a vast proportion of commercial men. All trading beyond a proper substratum of means is only a kind of masked profligacy-unless, indeed, credit is pushed upon a man by others, who have their own selfish objects in view; in which case the insolvent may be as much the sinned against as the sinning. We were lately told of mercantile houses which had not been in a position to pay all their debts within the memory of any person; yet the partners had been living in handsome style, upon these ventures of the means of others, during a series of generations!What a false and hollow life! It could never find one voice to justify it, if there were not so many involved in some degree in the turpitude. One painful consideration is, that many, if they would keep to their own means, might be prosperous and happy; but unable to rest satisfied with moderate doings, they rush into the difficulties consequent upon credit, and thus make for themselves great reverses. It appears as if some men had such a liking for embarrassment as others have for opium or brandy, and never could be at rest except when tossed about in a forest of dilemmas. Talk of the frivolous lives of the ultra-gay, of the unhealthy lives of the poor, but what can be more forced, unhealthy, or unnatural, than the life of one of these infatuates of the business world, who rush from speculation to speculation, as if to gratify a morbid love of excitement, and, in the absorbment of their daily avocations, forget nearly every domestic tie?

It surely might be possible to make the proper allowance for the bankruptcies occurring through inevitable misfortunes, and yet be sufficiently alive to the nature of those cases in which there had been no right substantial basis of means from the beginning, or where business had been

persevered in long after the right means had ceased to exist. Were the latter course marked by the public as immoral, which is its real character, we might hope to see it less frequently followed.

Perhaps there is need for some reform of our whole ideas regarding credit. When it is said that without credit business could not be carried on, that credit is the soul of business, and so forth, a truth is stated; but it does not properly imply anything more than this, that a man must be believed to have the means, as well as the honest intention, of discharging his obligations, in order that his transactions may go on smoothly, seeing that it is practically impossible, in any but a small class of cases, to hand the money in exchange for goods. It is to be feared that with the mercantile class generally, the maxim has come to sanction the incurring of obligations without any very rigid regard to the means of discharging them. Some appear to worship it as a principle which comes in place of, and dispenses with, capital; but in as far as it is not expressly referable to actual means-that is, the means of making good, and that readily, any difference between the value of goods purchased or engaged for, and that to which they may fall, and all other unfavorable contingencies which may be expected to take place in the course of business-it is a delusion and a snare. Men proclaim that the business of the world would be at a stand-still if there were not this faith, not in things unseen, but in things which do not exist. We deny the assertion. The business of the world would be executed by men possessing real means, if it were not anticipated by men without means. The traders on fiction, who are a species of impostors, only so far prevent those who would trade on fact from having their legitimate share of the said business; and how far it would be better for the public at large that the latter class were not thus interfered with, it is superfluous to say.

There are no doubt wonderful doings amongst those who work upon fiction: happy strokes, dashing successful adventures, where there was no substance to stand good in the case of an opposite result, are well known. But these are only dangerous exceptions from the rule. The chances are, in reality, much against the success of a business conducted too much on credit. It is a system which always involves a higher scale of prices, and which is costly in its own procedure; thus reducing or extinguishing profits. There is even a more fatal evil attending it, in the demand which it makes on the time and energies of the trader, merely to supply ways and means. The few, as comparatively they may be called, who take the opposite plan, thrive as much by the freedom in which their minds are left to attend to the real affairs of business, as by any advantage they have in getting all things at the greatest advantage. It is merely the mistake of excessive acquisitiveness, or of rashness in combination with ignorance, that business cannot be limited to actual means. There is nothing to prevent it, if men will only be contented to do that in ten years which requires ten years, and not to attempt doing it in five, or three, or any shorter time. Let them use the gains of one year for the business of the next, and never try to make any sum of money do more than its proper amount of work. If they are to make a risk, let it strictly be one which, in its worst issue, will not embarrass them. On such principles, they will conduct their affairs with peace of

mind, and with the best likelihood of success. Are such persons above credit or is credit slighted by their course of procedure? Not at all. These persons enjoy true credit, in there being such an assurance of their substantiality, that whatever they wish to purchase, will be sent on their order-the whole play of the blood and muscle of their business will be healthy by reason of the dependence placed on them. Such is. in truth, the only right kind of credit. That which enables one man to do without money what another man does with it, is, as has been already said, a delusion.

The philosophy of these remarks entirely applies to the question regarding a circulating medium. Barter is, after all, the fundamental idea of commerce. When we pay for articles in gold, we are only exchanging one article for another. It is more convenient and economical to have notes representing the gold; but this does not necessarily imply that we may have notes which there is no gold to represent. That were to proceed upon fiction instead of fact. The gold lying in the coffers of the note-issuing company is not idle. It is serving all the time as a basis for the ideal character of the notes out of doors. But may there not be notes representing land, or houses, or goods, as well as gold? It has been tried and found wanting. The basis article must be readily available and receivable, otherwise the ideal money loses character, and its function ceases. Whatever tends to prevent a currency of this kind, or of any kind but that which is immediately backed by substances which mankind set a distinct value upon, and are always willing to receive at a certain rate, must be serviceable to the true interests of the community. There may be some evils attending it, not springing from itself, but from the imprudence which it checks; but the general force of this principle is clearly advantageous.

The evils of debt and bankruptcy may be said, like many others, to arise from the blind efforts of human ignorance and passion to fly in the face of natural ordinations which we cannot resist with impunity. If men would observe and go along with these ordinations, they would so far secure their happiness. But it so happens that a man may receive what is called a perfect or first-rate education, and yet be unacquainted with some of the very primary rules affecting his well-being as an inhabitant of the earth. The period of comparative security from this class of evils must, therefore, be expected only when the knowledge of mankind has been increased.

"In America particularly. The Scottish banks are remarkable for the large business they long carried on upon the basis of general property; but for this there are special reasons in the smallness of the country, which makes every man's circumstances readily known, and in the extreme prudence with which the business of banking was always conducted in this part of the empire. These things, with time, produced confidence, and enabled bankers to do with less gold than is usually necessary.

FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES.

DEBTS, IMPORTS, EXPORTS, TONNAGE AND COINAGE OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR EACH YEAR FROM 1791 TO 1846.

Coinage of the Mint of the United States, from 1792, including the coinage of the Branch Mints from the commencement of their operations, in 1838.

The coinage at all the Mints during the first six months of the year 1847 reached the The deposites in the same year were $$,906,554 21. These amount of deposites and coinage than has been reached in any exception of the year 1843, when the total coinage was nearly

sum of $8,206,222 67. results show a greater whole year, with the twelve millions.