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CONTENTS OF NO. VI., VOL. XXVII.

ARTICLES.

ART.

PAGE.

I. DEBTS AND FINANCES OF THE STATES OF THE UNION.-WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR GENERAL CONDITION AND PROSPERITY.-CHAPTER IX.-THE WESTERN STATES-ILLINOIS. BY THOMAS P. KETTELL, of New York.....

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II. SUGAR: AND THE SUGAR TRADE.....................

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III. COMMERCIAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE UNITED STATES.-No. XXXIII.— NEW YORK.-PART IV. By E. HALE, Jr., of New York..........

686

IV. MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY.--JAMSETJEE JEEJEEBHOY-A PARSEE MERCHANT 694 V. TRADE AND COMMERCE OF MOBILE, 1851-52.........

702

JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW.

Under what circumstances a foreign minister can sue and be sued in the United States......... 710

COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW:

EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRATED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS:

General commercial prosperity-Distinction between the spirit of enterprise and speculationThe danger of a thirst for sudden riches-Banks and bankers-Increase of new banks--Domestic trade and interior collections--Prices of stocks and bonds-Deposits and coinage at the Philadelphia and New Orleans Mints for October-Ditto at all the Mints since January 1st -Production of California gold, and export to Great Britain-Imports of foreign merchandise at New York for October and from January 1st-Classification of imports, with the receipts of foreign dry goods-Revenue of the country-Cash receipts at the port of New York-Exports from New York for October, and from June 1st-Shipments of leading articles of produce-Diversion of shipping to Australia, and consequent advance in rates of freight... 713-720 VOL. XXVII.-NO. VI. 42

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.

Production and consumption of cotton...

Export of leather, boots, and shoes from the United States..
Virginia Tobacco trade, 1851-52....

Advance in the price of sperm and whale oils...

The butter trade of Cincinnati.

Prices of tobacco in New Orleans..

The pork trade of Cincinnati...

.......

Agricultural statistics of the United States....
The trade and revenue of Ireland..

Receipts of produce by the new canal at New Orleans..

Shipments of brandy from Charente to Great Britain...

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.

Postal treaty between the United States and Prussia..
Signals for ships ordered by Sweden...

Tribunals of Commerce...

Method of putting up produce for market...

Ship building in Louisiana.-Of ocean postage.

The passengers' act of the United Kingdom.-Reduction of export duty at Turk's Island.

JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE.

Capital and dividends of New York city banks...
Production of Precious metals in the world
Progress of the British penny postage system..

Receipts and expenditures of the United States.

United States treasurer's statement, October 25, 1852.

PAGE.

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740

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Banks under the general banking law of Illinois.-Gold and silver in the Bank of England.
British post-office system of remitting money.-Shipments of gold dust from San Francisco..... 743
Weighing department of the Bank of England

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Of entering the channel of the Bay of Smyrna.-Of the light on the Island of Seiro.
South Foreland High Light.-Directions for sailing into and out of Harbor Grace...
West Coast of Jutland, and the Coasts of Bornholm.-Detention of vessels at Hampton Roads.. 746

JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES.

The first mining operations in North America...

The manufacture of glass.-No. iv. By DEMING JARVIS, Esq., of Massachusetts..
Industrial progress of Georgia..

Statistical account of tanneries in the United States, compared with the returns of 1850.
Manufacture of ladies' muffs in London.-Items of gold mining in California..
Progress of British cotton manufactories.....

Production of Indigo in South Carolina....

RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS.

Florence and Keyport plank road..

Cost and expenses of seven railroads of Massachusetts for the years 1850 and 1851.
Statistics of Massachusetts Railroads.

Rates of freight on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad

Influence of railroads on Agriculture

Persons employed on railways in England..

Key West as a depot for California steamers..

STATISTICS OF POPULATION.

Emigration from the United Kingdom....

Population and territory of the Austrian empire in 1851...................

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

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HUNT'S

MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE

AND

COMMERCIAL REVIEW.

DECEMBER, 1852.

Art. I.-DEBTS AND FINANCES OF THE STATES OF THE UNION.

WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR GENERAL CONDITION AND PROSPERITY.

CHAPTER IX.

The Western States-Illinois.

AMONG all the States of the Union which succumbed to the financial storm of 1836-40, none had more canvas spread, or so little ballast, as that gem of the West, Illinois; nevertheless, none has more promptly recovered its position, or more satisfactorily responded to the hopes of its friends, or the wishes of its creditors. The locality of Illinois is highly favorable for the development of its great natural resources, under the influence of modern improvements. The north-eastern extremity borders Lake Michigan.

* The first of this series of papers was published in the Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review for November, 1847, (vol. xvii,, page 466.) That article, an introduction to the series, related chiefly to the State debts of Europe and of the United States. It was followed in the number for December, 1847, (vol. xvii., page 577,) by an article on the New England States, embracing Maine and Massachusetts; and in March, 1848, vol. xviii., page 243,) by New York; in March, 1849, (vol. xx., page 256,) by Pennsylvania; in May, 1849, (vol. xx., page 481,) by Maryland; in August, 1849, (vol. xxi., page 148,) by Indiana; in October, 1849, (vol. xxi., page 389,) by Ohio; and in the number for February, 1850, (vol. xxii., page 131,) by an article on Michigan. The series, it will be seen by reference to the preceding chapters, with the exception of the first, published in November, 1847, have all appeared under the same general title prefixed to the present chapter. The articles contain the most comprehensive and reliable account of the debts, finances, and resources of the several States, that have ever been grouped in a connected and convenient form for reference -present and future.

The Wabash and the Ohio Rivers border it on the east and south, meeting there the Mississippi, which is its western boundary. The length of the State is 380 miles, north and south. The northern breadth is 140 miles expanding to 200 miles in the center, and terminating in a point at the south, thus forming the figure of a purse, which may be taken as an emblem of its destiny. The circuit of the State is 1,210 miles, of which 70 miles is lake coast, 550 miles the channel of the Mississippi, 140 miles the the Ohio, and 150 miles the channel of the Wabash, leaving 300 miles, or about one-fourth, for land lines. The surface of the State is remarkable. About two-thirds consists of prairies, that are numerous and extensive in the center and north. In the southern part the country is more broken, but nowhere are the elevations 200 feet above the general level. The prairies form wide expanses, stretching as far as the eye can reach, interspersed only occasionally by belts of wood land, following the streams. The surface is of such a dead level as to afford no water shed, and the fallen rains pass off by evaporation. There is much fine timber in Illinois, but it is confined to certain sections.

Illinois was very early settled by the French on the rich bottom, extending from the mouth of the Kaskaskia 90 miles northerly to the bluffs of Alton, having St. Louis on the opposite bank of the Mississippi. The soil is there 25 feet deep, and it has been said that land, planted annually for 200 years with wheat without dressing, is as fertile now as ever. In our article for August, 1849, upon the State of Indiana, we described the "North-West Territory" and its political progress, including Illinois. The disposition that has been made of the lands of Illinois, with the population of the State, is as follows:

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The following table shows the quantity of land sold in the State annually, with the population at different times:

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The five years ending with 1840, embrace the years of great speculation, when the lands went into the hands of persons who got them on credit, and held them for speculation. More lands in the hands of speculators have been hanging upon the market in competition with the government lands, and with the 8,000,000 acres held by the State for various purposes, and sold from time to time. This depressed the average quantity of government lands sold in that State during the subsequent five years.

The State of Illinois very early commenced the system of public improvements by State loans. The opening of the New York and Erie Canal in 1824, gave an immense impulse to Western progress, and it will be observed in the table of land sales that they doubled in 1828 and 1829, continuing to increase until the bubble burst. The great success of the Erie Canal afforded a tempting example to Illinois, because her situation in relation to the lakes is nearly the same. She abuts on Lake Michigan as New York does on Lake Erie, and her great river, Illinois, holds the same relation to the State navigation as does the Hudson to Lake Erie. Hence, the connection of the two latter by the Erie afforded an exact model for the connection of the two former. As early as 1823, the route had been explored. The population was too sparse to undertake it, however, until, in 1829, Congress made the grant of 290,914 acres, mentioned in the above table, in aid of it. The State then passed an act to raise a loan of $500,000, to carry it on. The work was placed under a special commission, and was to extend from Peru, on the Illinois River, to the Chicago River, five miles from its mouth, say 100 miles. When that work was projected there were but about 15,000 families in the whole State, and the expense of the work was estimated at $8,654,337, yet this canal was but a subordinate part of an immense system of internal improvements for which an act was past in 1837. This act created a Board of Fund Commissioners to manage the fiscal concerns of the public works, and a Board of Public Works to determine routes and superintend the execution. This internal improvement system embraced the fol

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