VALUATION OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. At a meeting of the Board of Equalization, held at the office of the Secretary of State, on the 23d September, a majority being present, the following resolution, on motion of Controller ROBINSON, was adopted: Resolved, That the valuation, as now fixed by the Board of Equalization, and hereto annexed, and amounting in the aggregate to the sum of $1,454,454,817, be and the same are hereby adopted, approved, and certified, as the equalized aggregate valuation of the real and personal property of each of the several counties of this State, and that the same duly certified by the chairman and secretary of this board, be deposited in the office of the Controller as the assessed amount upon which the said Controller is to compute the State tax for the year 1863, and that the said equalization, as made upon each separate county, be entered in the book of minutes of the proceedings of this board. State of New York, ss: We do hereby certify the foregoing to be a correct transcript of the original resolution this day adopted by the Board of Equalization. D. R. FLOYD JONES, Lt. Gov. and Pres. of Board. EBENEZER BLAKELY, Secretary. I. LIABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN FOR THE DEP. REDATIONS OF REBEL PRIVATEERS ON THE COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES, CONSIDERED. BY CHARLES P. KIRKLAND..... II. TEXTILE FABRICS. FLAX, HEMP, WooL, SILK, AND COTTON.... IV. RUSSIA-POPULATION OF MOSCOW, FINANCES, ETC... 329 355 362 ....... 865 V. THE SUEZ CANAL. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE AND WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE.. 367 VI. COMMERCIAL LAW. No. 7. NEGOTIABLE PAPER; OR, NOTES OF HAND AND BILLS OF EXCHANGE....... VII. COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW.. ........ 370 382 ...... 400 401 Official Letter of Controller McCullough-Answers of the Controller of the Currency to Questions in Relation to the National Currency Act... STATISTICS OF TRADE AND COMMERCE. Breadstuffs-Exports to Great Britain and Irelan-Crops in U. S. for 1863....... Valuation of Real and Personal Property of the State of New York............. THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. DECEMBER, 1863. THE CRISIS IN EUROPE. COTTON AN ABSORBENT OF SPECIE. THE late news from Europe, of a sudden rise in the rates of interests at the great reservoirs of money, at a moment, too, of the realization of large harvests, admonishes the commercial world of the vast change which is taking place in the currents of commerce, and of the new condition of affairs that must resuit from a continuance of the present state of things for any length of time. Since the peace of 1815, the commerce of Western Europe has been immensely developed, and a material element of that development was the cotton drawn from the United States. Starting at comparatively small amounts, the purchases, mostly by England, rose to $200,000,000 per annum of cotton alone, and that cotton was paid for altogether by the manufactured goods of England and Europe. Suddenly the supply from the United States ceased; the demand for goods stopped with it, and great distress resulted. Still, cotton must be had, and during the two last years the supply has been furnished by other countries, who demand not goods, but coin in payment, and at exorbitant rates. The drain of coin thus occasioned is producing the serious results of which the indications have reached us during the last few weeks. The normal condition of commerce left Great Britain largely in the United States' debt. The quantities of corn, cotton, tobacco, etc., which she purchased more than paid for the goods she sold to this country, and thus there remained a large balance due to the United States. This balance was drawn against in favor of France, for silks, wines, etc.; in favor of China, for tea, and of Brazil and Cuba, for coffee and sugar, in payment for all of which bills ran on London. With France and the continent the operation was the reverse. She sold to the United States large amounts of goods in excess of her purchases, and for these goods she had a balance of bills running on London. To illustrate, the trade of France with the United States in 1860 was a follows: Thus, France in 1860 sold enough goods to the United States to pay for all the produce she bought of us, and received $21,371,986 in specie besides. In 1861 her purchases of cotton, etc., were as large as ever; but in the summer and fall the imports of goods into the United States suddenly ceased. The consequence was, that instead of paying for the cottons as usual, in goods, she was compelled to pay in specie. Inasmuch as she did not sell her goods, she was deficient $40,000,000 of bills on England, and in October, 1861, the Bank of France suddenly lost $15,197,581. To remedy this sudden loss, the Bank of France was compelled in the first week in November to raise its rate of interest to 6 per cent, as it has now done. The same cause which made money scarce in France made it cheap in England, and the Bank of France borrowed $5,000,000 at ninety days through the house of Rothschild in London, and $5,000,000 through the house of Baring. These amounts were drawn against, and carried the Bank over the exigency. In regard to the United States, they had sold their cotton, tobacco, and rice, but did not buy the goods, consequently the import of specie was very large. The specie movement at New York for four years was as follows: Great This table shows the great perturbation which the war caused in the specie movement. The regular current of exports was checked, and a large amount of coin came back. Fortunately for the United States, at the moment when this cotton fund which paid so much of our imports was cut off, the circumstances of the crops in England and France required a large amount of United States food. The export of breadstuff's stepped in to supply the lack of cotton, and the drain of gold from this country, that would otherwise have been excessive, was checked. Meantime the supply of cotton from other sources has grown up, and with it an intense demand for money. The course of this trade has been rapid. Britain was the chief recipient of the cotton crops, and in 1861 purchased 1,262,607,800 lbs., for which she paid $190,000,000, mostly in goods. The largest portion of the cotton-80 per cent of the whole-was of United States origin, and was of a quality and cheapness that could not elsewhere be reached. Indeed, as long as the United States crop was in full supply, that of India, Egypt, Brazils, etc., was only in incidental demand, and at prices which barely remunerated the grower, since long transportation and shipping charges absorbed most of the proceeds. When the United States supply was entirely cut off the prices rose rapidly. The rates in Liverpool have been as follows for middling: The natural effect of this immense rise in price in the Liverpool markets was to stimulate production in every country where cotton will grow. It is an immense bounty held out to all the world to raise cotton for the English spinners. The effect of such a bounty cannot be realized for some years, since the means of planting and growing on a large scale do not exist. A drawback upon the effort to meet the demand exists in the uncertainty of its continuance, since a cessation of the war and a resumption of the growth on the part of the Southern States would gradually destroy the market for other cottons, as none of them can compete either in quality or price with the United States descriptions. It is also the case that where a new and large demand is made upon a country for raw products the only means of payment is specie, because the markets for goods do not grow in the same proportion. The operation of the demand is manifest in the following table of the qantities and values imported into Great Britain from each country in the first seven months in 1861 and 1863; COTTON IMPORTED INTO GREAT BRITAIN. Total.... Decrease. 916,070,775 $135,198,845 304,353,421 $118,243,138 611,717,354 16,955,707 This is a curious result. In the present year England has procured only one-third of the quantity of cotton which she purchased in 1861, yet she has offered nearly three times the prices for it. In other words, the average price in 1861 was 143 cents, and in the present year 384 cents. The result of the demand is, that Brazil has received four times as much money as in 1861; Egypt, six times as much; India, nearly five times as much, and many minor sources of supply have increased some $17,000,000 in value. The amount of it all is simply this-England has paid nearly as much in 1863 as she was called upon to disburse in 1861, but has got only one-third the cotton for it, and, what is of still greater importance, in the former year she paid mostly in goods, but this year she has been required to pay in the precious metals, or thus: Paid United States in goods... 1861. 1863. $116,108,938 $997,770 19,089,907 117,245,368 The payment of this large amount in specie has been possible only by reason of the supplies of the metal derived from the United States, which |