that object is desirable only if unaccompanied by a paper or expansive currency. Taking advantage of this vague idea floating abroad, in relation to the facilitating of the exchanges, politicians and designing men have brought forward many schemes professing either honestly or ignorantly to obtain the desired result without any feature of expansion or borrowing. Of this class were the three projects submitted to Congress last winter- one by the Secretary of the Treasury, and one each by the chairman of the Senate and House committees. These projects we commented on in our April Number, and it will be remembered that the Hon. C. Cushing addressed a letter, which appeared in the May Number, in answer to our strictures on his bill, denying that it contained any feature of expansion, and yet that bill contained permission to purchase the bills of individuals with government paper, to a restricted amount it is true, but it was not the less an interchange of credits between the government and individuals. Furthermore, it allowed of the emission of two sets of paper on the same amount of specie. It was to receive specie on deposit from individuals, and to issue certificates therefor, and it might also pay out certificates or specie to government creditors at their option; the certificates so issued not to exceed the specie on hand. So, if $10,000,000 were paid in by individuals, and they received certificates therefor, the department could issue to the creditors a like amount of $10,000,000. Thus there would be $20,000,000 of paper outstanding for $10,000,000 specie in hand, and the proportion of paper might be increased through the receipts of coin for bills of exchange sold. Again, if the government creditor did not choose to take paper, there is nothing in the bill to prevent the department from paying to him the specie received on individual deposit, leaving nothing to represent the certificates issued in exchange for it. There are many other incongruities in that bill, but we refer to those features now only to illustrate the manner in which the expansive feature is concealed under an appearance of utter hostility to it. The bill of the Senate's committee was less disguised in its expansive policy, and ad

mitted a very dangerous inflation of the currency. The plan of the Secre tary was of the ultra paper school, so much as to call forth general disapprobation, and was so promptly condemned by public opinion as to meet with but little discussion. That plan has, however, of late, received additional importance in consequence of the declarations of the Hon. Daniel Webster in his recent speech at Bos ton, wherein he not only asserted that that plan had obtained the unanimous sanction of the cabinet, but that it is his own favorite measure; and on the successful working of which he pledges his own financial reputation. Such being the position of the bill, it may be worth while to enumerate its leading features. The bill loosely provides for the receiving, safe-keeping, and disbursing of the public money in the hands of the exchequer as the fiscal agent of the government. In these particulars it is infinitely inferior to the abused sub-Treasury. It does not admit of discounting notes, but it proposes the establishment of a national paper currency of denominations from $5 to $1,000 on the credit of the gov ernment. The basis of the issues is one-third of the amount in specie, derived from the revenue of the government and the deposits of individuals. Besides these notes, two other kinds of paper may be issued, viz., certificates of deposits and bills of exchange, all of which may be issued to an amount each equal to the specie forming the basis of the notes issued in the proportion of one to three. Thus, if $5,000,000 in specie are paid in from the revenues, $2,500,000 from individual deposits, and $2,500,000 derived from the sale of bills, there will then be $10,000,000 in the Treasury, for which $30,000,000 of notes may be issued, $2,500,000 of certificates, and $2,500,000 of inland bills, making $35,000,000 of paper based on specie, one-half of which may be withdrawn at any moment. It is true the issues of notes are limited to $15,000,000, at the discretion of Congress, but would doubtless be enlarged at the first cry of distress. The bill also authorizes the employment of banks as agents whenever deemed expedient. The certifi cates to be issued at a charge not exceeding half per cent., and the bills to be sold at not more than 2 per cent. pre

mium: the Treasury notes to be paid out to the government creditors and in the purchase of bills of exchange drawn on places more than five hundred miles distant in another State. These features of the bill are sufficient to make the deposit part of it utter ly impracticable, because depositors would not place their specie in the charge of the department, knowing that it would immediately become the basis of general issues in the proportion of one to three. The great feature of this bill is that it authorizes the issue of a large amount of paper money on the credit of the government. The exchange features are nothing more than the means of getting that paper into circulation. The object of the bill seems to be political altogether. Its financial operation is so palpably at war with the best interests of commerce, that it leads to the conviction that it is designed, first, to supply the pressing and immediate wants of a government, whose credit is unequal to the borrowing of a few millions on a six per cent. stock, by giving it the power of paying out 40 to $50,000,000 of paper money to its creditors, without the means of redeeming it; and, second, to give a temporary éclat to the party in power by stimulating a sudden speculation in business and a rise in prices, accompanied by a short-lived prosperity, to be succeeded by revulsion, disaster, and national disgrace in the bankruptcy of the Federal govern

ment.

In our last article we adverted to the policy of the English government, in connection with the Bank of England, which averted present political embarrassments, growing out of general distress, by stimulating business through an artificial abundance of paper money. Something akin to this policy seems to be that which urges in this country the emission of paper money in unlimited amounts.

We have not thus gone into the merits of the proposed scheme because we imagine that there is any danger of its adoption, but merely to indicate the plans for expanding the currency at the will of individuals, which are built upon the desideratum of effecting the settlement of balances by some process more easy, safe, and cheap, than the removal of cumbrous masses of specie on individual account, for this is

all that commercial men mean by "facilitating the exchanges." The value of commodities which change hands in the course of a year in the United States, may be estimated at not short of $2,000,000,000. This immense amount of transactions is effected by the use of individual bills almost altogether, and will ever continue to be so effected. Bills are drawn and redrawn from one end of the Union to the other with the utmost facility, and without risk of loss when the medium in which the bills are payable is uniformly specie. It is only toward the close of the agricultural year, when actual balances are to be paid according to the excess of sale or purchase, that inconvenience is experienced. A process similar to this is now going on in the shipment of specie from this city to New Orleans, in the manner indicated in our September number. This flow of specie is now, not a settlement of balances, but the process by which the country is becoming filled with a specie medium of circulation to supply the place of the bank bills withdrawn; but the movement will serve to explain the difficulty which is sought to be overcome. It is estimated that there is now on the way to New Orleans, $750,000 in specie. The actual expense in sending specie to New Orleans is about 3 per cent., and the delay thirty days, with the risk, through shipwreck, of a total loss to the world of the whole amount. This risk is so great that the insurance officers on a recent occasion refused to take any further risks until part had arrived out. Now, we will suppose that the country has received its full supply of the precious metals, and, business being in steady operation, a balance falls due at New Orleans. This is indicated, first, by a fall in bills there and a rise here, which continues until the rate slightly exceeds the cost of sending the specie, which then goes forward. The advice of the fall in bills comes through in seven days, but it will take thirty days for the coin to arrive out; in all which time the market is in an uncertain state. The shipment of the specie at New York depletes the market here, but the currency at New Orleans is not augmented until thirty days afterwards. This depletion of the market at the indebted point, and repleting it at the point of indebtedness, is the settlement

of balances by which the exchanges become restored, in the healthy course of trade. The operation of the United States Bank was always directly the reverse of this. If, for instance, bills on New Orleans become scarce and high in New York, the branch here would draw any amount against the credit of the bank there, and would discount notes to the same amount, by which process no necessary depletion ever took place at the indebted point. Now, to obtain the desideratum of settling the balance with out the risk, delay, and expense of transmitting the specie, it has been proposed, on the restoration of the Sub-Treasury law, to engraft upon it a system by which the desired end may be obtained. The provisions in relation to receiving, safe-keeping, and distribution of the public moneys, are sufficiently well; but it is proposed to establish in the same buildings distinct sets of books and officers, with a separate vault. These shall be empowered to receive from individuals any amount of gold and silver for which they may draw or accept bills of exchange to the same amount, on any other Treasury office, at a charge of say half per cent., the specie in the vault invariably to correspond with the amount of bills drawn. It is supposed that in the regular course of trade the quantity of specie on hand at each office would regulate itself, so that it would seldom be necessary to move it. By this process the specie now going to New Orleans would be deposited in the vault at New York, depleting the currency to the same extent, and the bills drawn for an equivalent, arriving there in the course of mail, would release the same sum from the New Orleans office, and throw it into the market. The settlement of the balance would thus be effected in seven days instead of thirty, at a charge of half per cent. instead of three per cent., and the exchanges restored to their equilibrium. In the revolution of a few months the process would be reversed, and the specie

restored to the vaults of New Orleans and released at New York. This would require a far less amount of specie to lie idle in the Treasury vaults than is now locked up in those of the banks. It would be a constant check upon the price of bills as well as upon bank issues, while it precludes all borrowing or lending, expansion or inflation of any kind. The only trust would be, that the specie would remain in the vaults where placed until drawn in the regular course of business, and for this the faith of the government would be pledged.

We have thus gone into the various projects which are likely to engage the attention of Congress and the public during the ensuing few months, because it is a matter of the highest importance to the future welfare of the whole country, as well as of the commercial classes. Should a system be adopted by which the door will be opened to borrowing and inflation on the credit of the Federal government, the bubble will be great, wide-spread, and may involve in its inevitable explosion the liberties as well as the fortunes of the people.

We trust that our Democratic friends in Congress, at the coming session, will adhere firmly to the principles of the Independent-Treasury policy, and will not for a moment tolerate the idea of any falling short of them. They have the country with them; and, as it is extremely unlikely that any considerable number of the Whigs can be induced to go for any of the Tylerisms in finance which may be proposed, there is no probability of the Exchequer scheme being forced on them against their consent. The existing state of the law will work tolerably enough for a year longer if necessary, after which the vessel of state will once more be in deep water and plain sailing—not soon again, we are very sure, likely to get itself entangled amidst the treacherous quicksands and the hidden rocks of Whig ascendency,

Journal and Letters of the late Samuel Curwen, Judge of Admiralty, &c., an American Refugee in England, from 1775 to 1784, comprising Remarks on the prominent Men and Measures of that Period. To which are added Biographical Notices of many American Loyalists and other eminent Persons. By GEORGE ATKINSON WARD, Member of the New York Historical Society. New York: C. S. Francis and Co., 252 Broadway; Boston J. H. Francis, 128 Washington-street. 1842. 8vo. pp. 550.

This is the second contribution of a most interesting and valuable character made within a few months to our Revolutionary history-the former being the Memoirs of Peter Van Schaack, also an eminent loyalist during that period, who sought refuge in England from the republican excitement prevailing at home, and who afterwards returned, to close a tranquil old age, amidst the esteem and respect of former and still continued friends-under the shadow of the new institutions established in the country they had never ceased to love, at the same time that they had deplored and opposed a rebellion, whose mission they had not understood, and whose glorious success they had not foreseen. The popular resentment raged very strongly against this class of men at that period; and it is not to be denied that on some occasions it ran into an unjust harshness of persecution, scarcely in harmony with the principles of freedom in whose name it acted. The ashes of those old animosities have long since become cold; and there is no difficulty now in looking back with a generous and respectful appreciation of the motives of men, who then followed in one direction the sincere promptings of their sense of right, as the greater and higher spirits of the time obeyed the truer duty which led them in the opposite. The spirit out of which proceeded that opposition to the scheme and movement of the Revolution, is rife enough still among us, in many persons and classes eminently entitled to our personal respect. Those among us who now are seen to look with so much weak and senile dread upon every new step of progress made by the great Principle of Democracy; who see the approaching dissolution of the whole system of social order, in every successive relaxation of the fetters of tight restraining government upon the giant limbs of the People; who are always eager to cling to VOL. XI.-NO. LIV.

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the accustomed quiet of existing authority, in a vague dread of taking the first step in a path of innovation which may end they know not where,-this class of persons, the uniform conservatives of every successive stage of progress, the constant drag upon every revolution of the wheel of movement, would have been found in the class of which this volume exhibits to us one of the most respectable specimens. Far be it from us to pass any harsh judgment against the class of minds we refer to. They do their duty, and fulfil their proper function in society, as those of a different instinct and mission perform theirs. The one are perhaps as useful and necessary as the other. The centripetal is as essential as the centrifugal force to the harmony of the universe. We are well aware that we may offer this candid tribute of respect to the spirit of conservatism, without the least danger of being suspected of too strong a tendency in that direction ourselves, as we certainly can do so with entire truth and sincerity.

Judge Curwen, the subject of this Memoir, was already far advanced in years at the time of the breaking out of the troubles between the colonies and the mother-country, having been born in 1715. He had also long held such an official relation with the existing government, as would be likely naturally to incline the bias of his mind in the direction of loyalty to its authority, having been for thirty years in the commission of the peace, and at the time of the breaking out of the Revolution a Judge of Admiralty, in which office he was succeeded by Timothy Pickering, the patriot, who afterwards so ably filled distinguished offices in the army, in the cabinet of Washington, and the councils of our country. As an honest man, in obedience to his convictions, Judge Curwen made so open and manly a manifestation of his opposition to the incipient revolution, that he could not have remained in his native place, Salem, otherwise than as an object of such reproach and unpopularity as he could not suffer without much personal pain; and he accordingly retired before the impending storm, and embarked for England in May, 1775. The feelings with which he never ceased to regard his country, even during an exile of so painful a character, are sufficiently shown in the following extract from a letter to a friend remaining at home, written from Bristol, Jan. 10, 1780, which is taken as a motto to the title-page of the volume :"For my native country I feel a filial

The Hand-Book of Needlework. By Miss LAMBERT. With Numerous Illustrations engraved by J. J. Butler. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 161 Broadway. 1842. 8vo. pp. 263.

Far from us the presumption of pretending to pass a critical judgment upon anything in this beautiful volume, beyond the faultless elegance of its externals! We have ventured with timid and reverential hand to turn over a few of its pages; and at the same time that we perceive that it is none of our business, it is equally apparent that it leaves little to be added, on the subject of which it treats, for those whose gentle ministry presides over that very important department of human affairs. Dedicated by the publishers to "The Ladies of the United States," the offering will, we doubt not, receive at their hands a most gracious and liberal welcome, alike for its richness and beauty as an ornament to the drawing-room, and for its substantial utility as a companion to the work-table. In the history of the art it is profoundly learned, going back to the times of Moses and the Egyptians, as well as of the Greeks and Romans, and the more modern antiquities of the middle ages. It appears to include a full account of every species of work to which the little shining steel' is, or ever has been,

applied,-except only that of steering ships across oceans, though whole clouds of canvass for other purposes figure largely through its pages. Interspersing a certain dash of poetry, even through all the practical details of the art to which it is devoted, the volume reminds us of one of the many fair owners who will soon doubtless, during the approaching season of such gifts, rejoice in its possession, singing over the graceful industry of her useful though modest labors; and in proceeding to the necessary duty of noticing the remaining books on our table, we pass from the one with something of the reluctance with which we should part from the other.

This is the first volume of the Report of the great "Geological Survey," which has been in progress for a number of years in the State, under the superintendence of a board of gentlemen of eminent scientific qualifications for the duty. The publication of the whole Report will not probably be completed in less than ten volumes of similar size to the present ample and beautifully printed quarto; in which is given only the first part of the Zoology of the State, or the New York Fauna, by James E. De Kay, under whose charge was that department of the general work. The department of Botany is under that of Dr. Torrey; that of Mineralogy under that of Professor Lewis C. Beck; and that of Geology and Paleontology under that of Messrs. Mather, Emmons, Vanuxem, and Hall. When completed, this will constitute the most splendid and liberal work of this nature published by the authority of any country, and a just subject of pride to the great State under whose auspices it is issued. It is illustrated by between thirty and forty plates, representing the various animals described, which are generally spirited in drawing and beautiful in execution. Of Dr. De Kay's Report itself, we shall omit to speak more particularly, until the publication of the whole of that section of the work is completed, the present portion being confined to the class Mammalia.

The Governor has prefixed to the Report an Introduction of nearly a couple of hundred pages; which certainly, under the circumstances attending its preparation, entitles him to the thanks of the people of his State in particular, and to great credit for the activity, zeal and ability which