tion in the other direction will doubtless begin to make itself apparent again.

A fatality of misfortune seems to have attended the case from the commencement. All the subsequent deportment of the prisoner has been judged from the point of view of his assumed guilt, and not from that of his own version of the unhappy encounter, with which it has been entirely in harmony, down to the last solemn moment of his parting assurances of the truth he had spoken. It has thus ministered to a feeling of vindictive indignation against him, of which the influence is very apparent in the later proceedings of the case. In the strong predisposition against him existing in the public mind, the subsequent disposal of the body of the fallen man has been made to sustain inferences of his probable guilt of the worst form of the homicide, altogether unsustained by justice,-to put all consideration of human charity out of view. There were obviously abundant reasons existing to lead a man of his character to strain every nerve to bury in eternal secresy the awful fact. His explanation of his motive and promptings is so perfectly natural and probable, that we look in vain for any of those self-betraying flaws which falsehood never can avoid leaving open to the searching penetration of justice. It was unfortunate for him, too, that immediately prior to his application for some degree of judicial or executive indulgence, had been published an article in a foreign Review, to which great attention was attracted; and, in which, amidst much general abuse of America and American institutions, the alleged impunity of crime was strongly criticised, and the very pending case of Colt referred to in illustration of the certainty with which influence and exertion could rescue the most atrocious guilt from punishment. It is not going further than a respectful intimation that the high public functionaries referred to were simply human, to suggest that this cause was not

without some degree of effect in knitting more fixedly the firmness of that official frown which was bent so unrelentingly on all their efforts, whether for a writ of error, commutation or respite.

We regret sincerely the mode of his death, though it is impossible to see in it, under the circumstances, any ground for harsh severity of condemnation. In its proper sense, of the guilty abbreviation of the natural term of life, the word suicide is scarcely, perhaps, applicable to the act. It was adopted by him only at the last moment, when the last shadow of a shade of chance had departed, and when it was a simple choice of modes of death; and for obvious reasons, with reference to the future feelings of a child, as well as of other relations, the presence of which on a mind surrounded by all the struggling agonies of his position might well excuse a departure from that higher rectitude of moral vision and judgment, as well as of religious duty, which would have arrested the hand that did its fearful work so fearfully well. Had he submitted, however, to the last injustice of the law, against which this act was his final protest, the sentiment which the whole dreadful tragedy would have aided to strengthen against the bloody and bad barbarity of the Gallows, in the midst of a Christian civilisation, would have been much stronger than even now it already manifestly is. At any rate, thank God! it cannot stand much longer; and even though he may have perished undeservedly-as he certainly has on no sufficient and satisfactory evidence of the guilt imputed to him-the fate of this unhappy man will probably ere long be recognized to have rendered indirectly in this mode a far greater amount of benefit to the society to whose wrath he was a victim, than his original act inflicted of injury, or than any length of years would have enabled him to render of good.

In our last number, we remarked upon the abundance of money then apparent in the market, and also upon the progress of that movement of specie from this city to New Orleans, and thence throughout the western country, the commencement of which we recorded in our article of September. The latter movement has now in some degree changed the first feature. That is to say, the activity of specie has caused the banks to renew that caution in their investments, which the accumulation of specie in their vaults had begun to lull into security. Large sums of specie have been received into the city of New York, and still larger sums have sought, in pursuance of the

laws of trade, those channels of circulation vacated by the winding up of broken and discredited banks. The specie of the New York banks was so large a few weeks since, as to be burdensome, and has been diminished by this process of shipment nearly $2,000,000. The rates of the inland exchanges are very low, and generally in favor of the leading points of the south and west. At Cincinnati, sales of sight bills on New York were made at one-half per cent. discount. At the same time, the foreign exchanges are greally in favor of all the ports of the United States. The following is a table of the leading rates of domestic bills, as compared with former dates :

The two banks of Illinois no longer furnish a currency. Two or three of those of Louisiana suspended, may resume, but they now furnish but a small part of the currency. In Michigan, the two banks furnish but very little towards the immense agricultural wealth with which that prolific state abounds. In Ohio, the circulation has fallen off from near $10,000,000 in 1836, to about 1,174,000 now, and the charters of nearly all the banks which issue that small amount expire in a few months; hence we have inserted only the capital and circulation of those which will remain. In

Arkansas one bank is in liquidation, and the bills of the remaining one are so depreciated, that they scarcely answer the purposes of a circulating medium. In Florida the banks have ceased to exist. The reduction of circulation in other sections where the banking institutions still go on, is probably as much more. At the same time, the quantity of exchangeable values was never so great as now. The following is a table of the quantities of the leading articles of produce, exported from New Orleans, in 1836-7, and in 1842:

not fail to produce the present state of affairs as exhibited in a stagnation of trade, and exceedingly low prices, disabling the agricultural classes from purchasing goods, as well from the absence of profit on their sales, as from the want of that circulating medium, which idly filled the vaults of the Atlantic banks, while irredeemable paper was tolerated as a currency, and is now finding its way into the channels of

circulation. The quantities of produce to come forward the ensuing year, will greatly exceed those of the past; and as the specie of the Atlantic cities is seeking the interior in exchange for the produce, so are the precious metals of Europe finding their way here for its purchase. The following is a table of sterling bills at all the Atlantic ports, as compared with the same period last year.

Difference,

4.70 a 4.71 4.70 a 4.71 66

currency, gives an actual exchange of 2 discount. The comparison produces the following results, in the average rates of bills in the United States in 1841 and in 1842:

PAR.

1842,

$4.961 4.51

$4.85 4.85

The average rate now being 8 per cent. less than par, gives more than 4 per cent. in favor of importing specie.

The present low rates of bills are the effect of great supply and the absence of demand. This latter circumstance is likely to continue for many reasons, principally the absence of credit in effecting sales of imported goods and the low prices of the produce leaving little or no surplus wherewith to make cash purchases of goods, and the operation of the late tariff, which prohibits the import of the most valuable goods, even if circumstances would favor their sale. Hence the importing merchants have no occasion to remit. At the same time many of the States, banks, and companies, which formerly remitted large sums as dividends to foreign stockholders, have become delinquent, and have no longer anything to remit. This last item probably amounts to $5,000,000. The imports of foreign

2 per cent. advance. 8 per cent. dis.

0.451 cts. the £, or 10 per cent.

goods may be reduced $40,000,000, all of which will constitute a sum equal to $45,000,000, to the extent of which the demand for foreign bills will be diminished, simultaneous with the increased supply. When the rate falls to a figure admitting of the import of specie, a new demand is created from the importers of coin, which is now the case to some extent, both here and at New Orleans, where this new demand has raised the rate of sterling from 2 dis. to 1 prem.

The demand for money for business purposes will of course lessen the disposition to invest in stocks, or confine it to the choicest descriptions. Since the favorable result of the New York elections quite a demand has sprung up for the State Fives, Sixes, and Sevens, the former have improved 21 a 3 per cent., and the latter 1 a 1 per cent., already. In other stocks there has been but little change, with the

exception of Ohio Sixes, which have improved 3 per cent. New York city Seven per cents. have been in demand at 4 a 5 prem. The Six per cent. stock of the Federal Government has been entirely neglected, and the movement of specie having restricted the investments of the banks, Treasury notes have fallen to par, at which a large amount could not be disposed of. The voice of the people of New York through the ballot-boxes, proclaiming their determination to adhere to the mill tax of last session, and to discountenance any further increase of the State, cannot but exert the best influence not only upon State credit but upon that of the whole United States. The New York election is the first instance where contending parties have gone to the people on the direct question of taxation to discharge debts. The Whig party, on the one hand, used every possible art to tempt the cupidity of the people by endeavoring to show the uselessness of the imposition, and to convince the people that, independent of that tax, the resources of the State were ample not only to meet present claims, but to admit of a further considerable increase of the debt. Governor Seward, in his message of January last, intimated that $17,000,000 of additional debt might all be discharged before 1855. The Democratic party, relying solely on the intelligence and integrity of the people, have been supported by a response more clear, distinct, and unanimous than ever came from a free people. The influence of this result, not only upon the market value of the stock of New York, but upon the motions of the delinquent States, is already perceptible. Illinois, which was one of the first to repudiate, from alleged inability to pay, is, under her new Democratic rulers, already making active exertions towards a settlement. The precise amount of her outstanding liabilities cannot be clearly ascertained; but, after cancelling the bank bonds, will not be far from $10,000,000, which has been expended for public improvements. Those improvements are in an unfinished state; consequently yield no revenue. The Illinois canal, it has been estimated, will require about $1,500,000 to complete it, when it is thought that it will yield sufficient to meet the annual liabilities of the State.

Some of the influential citizens of that State have recently been in New York, and procured the subscriptions of some of the leading capitalists to a sum nearly sufficient to put the canal in working order, on the condition that the Legislature, about to meet, will levy a tax of three mills on every dollar of valuation, to be appropriated towards paying the interest on the debt. The revenues of the canal, when in order, to be placed in the hands of trustees, for the benefit of the bondholders, provided some compromise can be made with them. This is the first step towards renovating the credit of the Western States, and it is to be hoped that it will be carried out-always with the understanding that there is to be no more borrowing.

The regular session of Congress is now rapidly approaching, and, during its continuance, many measures of the highest importance to the commercial and financial world will be discussed, and perhaps perfected. Among them the most prominent are the Exchequer projects, the warehousing system, as connected with the tariff, and the existing commercial treaties with foreign nations. Of these different topics the Exchequer is the most interesting, because it involves the most important consequences. Some recognized system for the government finances is undoubtedly necessary, yet none has been in existence since, at the extra session of Congress, the party in power abolished the Sub-Treasury plan before any new scheme was adopted. The destruction of that system may have been one cause for the present disgraceful condition of the government finances; but, bad as they now are, they are in much better plight than would have been the case had the monstrous scheme proposed as its successor been adopted. Since then the contending factions have been unable to agree upon any project. The state of public opinion, created by the experience of the past four years, renders a National Bank of the old stamp entirely out of the question, and, although a large number of commercial men of both parties cling to the idea that some facility may be given to the movement of exchanges, or more particularly to the settlement of the balances between different sections by governmental interference; yet it seems to be pretty generally admitted that