the whole government, civil and military, of half-a-dozen principalities. The whole civil charges of nine of the original colonies which now constitute the most influential members of the American Union, amount to no more than £64,700 a year: the civil expenditure of Jamaica, less by a considerable space than any one of them, amounts to £400,000 per annum. The annual civil charges of the State of Maryland, four times the size of Jamaica, are but £26,000: the police of Jamaica are supported at an annual cost larger than the whole civil charges in the State of Maryland; while the annual disbursements of the country, to be provided for by taxes, are £400,000.* Notwithstanding that the state of the insolvent laws in the United States, and of the relations of the currency to the banks and the legislature, are not calculated to place their dealings as a nation on a safe and substantial basis, yet it is remarkable that the whole amount of taxation of the country, including local imports, is not at present more than what is expended for the collection of the revenue and parochial taxes in the United Kingdom. Some time since, owing to a scarcity of money and the want of a circulating medium, which operated as a great impediment to domestic commerce and improvement, a system of credit was created, which not only occasioned a disordered state of mercantile affairs, but involved the character and credit of the nation. Banks were unsafe, and suspended payment. The whole system of credit was expanded to suit the ambitious scope and insufficient means of speculation, which brought on a crisis that shook the Republic to its centre. The secret power of some houses, and the bad management of others, were thus at length brought to light. Commercial gambling had at last brought upon itself a severe rebuke. But legitimate trade and the banking system were purified by the ordeal, and the whole monetary system placed on a more substantial basis. On the 1st of January, 1856, there were in the United States 1,398 banks. Capital, 345,874,272 dollars; specie, 59,314,063 dollars; circulation, 195,745,950 dollars; loans and discounts, 634,183,280 dollars; deposits, 212,705,662 dollars; real estate, 20,865,867 dollars. The annual report of the Director of the Mint gives the * Examiner, 1848. D following statement of the deposits and coinage at the various mints for the year ending June, 1855:- Entire gold deposit Gold pieces Dollars. 64,223,893 5,793,114 53,097,182 5,219,150 22,458 3,870,004 22,848,700 2,274,147 The gold product of California for 1855 was 58,111,466 dollars. The whole coinage of the United States since the declaration of her independence in 1793 is 498,866,567 dollars; of which amount there has been received from California, since 1848, 313,234,330 dollars.** Dollars in the United States are divided into dimes, cents, and mills. The dollar in the Northern States is 6s. currency; in New York and North Carolina, 8s.; in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, &c., 7s. 6d.; and in South Carolina and Georgia, 4s. 8d. A golden eagle is ten dollars, or £2 3s. 8d. sterling; a dollar is 4s. 3 d. sterling; and a cent, 208 grs. of copper, the hundredth of a dollar. There are 22,688 post offices in the United States. The post office regulations and rates of postage are as follows:Postage on letters sent to any point in the United States must be invariably pre-paid. Letters not exceeding half an ounce, and within 3,000 miles, three cents, and the same for every additional half-ounce or fraction thereof. Over 3,000 miles, ten cents, and the same for every additional half-ounce or fraction thereof. Each newspaper, periodical, unsealed circular, or other article of printed matter, not exceeding three ounces in weight, to any part of the United States, one cent; and for every additional ounce or fraction of an ounce, one cent additional: when the postage on any newspaper or periodical is paid yearly or quarterly in advance, one-half of said rates. Small newspapers and periodicals published monthly, or oftener, and pamphlets, not containing more than sixteen octavo pages each, when sent in single packages, weighing. at least eight ounces, to one address, and pre-paid, by affixing postage stamps thereto, shall * Amer. Chris. Alm., 1850, 1856, 1857. ounce. be charged only half of a cent for each ounce, or fraction of an The postage on all transient matter shall be pre-paid, or be charged double the rates above mentioned. The publishers of weekly newspapers may send to each actual subscriber within the county where their papers are printed and published one copy thereof free of postage. Foreign Postage.-From any point in the United States, to England, Scotland, and Ireland, by British and American steamers, twenty-four cents a single rate, or half-ounce, prepaid or not. Newspapers (wrapped in a narrow band, with both ends open) two cents, pre-paid. To Bremen, by American line, twenty cents, pre-paid or not; newspapers, two cents, pre-paid. To other points on the Continent of Europe, the inland and sea postage is twenty cents, the residue of the postage is paid abroad. To most other countries of the world, postage can be pre-paid at any office in the United States, varying from twenty to eighty-seven cents a rate of half ounce, but in many countries the rate is one-fourth instead of one-half an ounce. Newspapers and periodicals pre-paid, may be sent to most foreigncountries. Books by mail.-The new postage law enables persons to forward books by mail at a very moderate expense, to any place within 3,000 miles, as will be seen by the following. order: "Books, bound or unbound, not weighing over four pounds, shall be deemed mailable matter, and chargeable with postage at one cent an ounce for all distances under 3,000 miles, and two cents an ounce for all distances over 3,000 miles, to which fifty per cent. shall be added in all cases where the same may be sent without being pre-paid." CHAPTER VI. ANNUAL EXPEnditure of the Government.-Its great economy compared with that of England and her colonies. Past and present financial state. Chief sources of revenue. Total amount of revenue per annum. Insolvent laws. Banks. Great economy preserved throughout every department of the State. Theory of political economy in the United States. Liberality of the Government, and its beneficial results. Equality of political, civil, and religious rights. General estimate of these advantages by the masses. Misrepresentations of the workings of the Government by tourists and others. Refutation of these misrepresentations. Adaptation of the Republican form of Government to the character and circumstances of the American people. The equality recognised not incompatible with social distinctions. Beneficial results of the Government exemplified in the union, order, and progress of the nation. The national feeling and sentiment in regard to the Government. Lines by Sir William Jones on what constitutes a State. Anomalous conduct of America towards a great portion of her population. Her injustice and impolicy in perpetuating Slavery. The revenue of the general federal Government is derived almost exclusively from the sale of lands, and from duties on imports and tonnage, or foreign merchandise; and it can create no other. Direct taxes, or internal levies on the people, are inconsiderable, amounting on an average to little more than eight shillings per annum each person, and are principally raised and appropriated by the respective State Governments. While an American farmer purchases the fee simple of his property for five shillings per acre, he pays no tithes, no church-rates, no poor-rates, in the West, no income-tax, no highway rate in money, and, with few exceptions, no turnpike tolls,-the markets of Europe and the world being open to him. In the neighbourhood of Kentucky, where assessments on hereditaments are considered high, the entire amount paid by the owner of a house and farm worth four thousand dollars is not more than seven dollars per annum, or less than one-fifth of a dollar for every hundred. The receipts into the treasury, exclusive of loans, have increased from 26,000,000 to over 49,000,000 dollars; and the Californian trade, the whole of which does not appear in the published returns,*-the commercial phenomenon of this com * Vide United States Treasury returns for June, 1852, quoted from Blackwood, June, 1854. mercial age, has also added 100,000,000 dollars to the national commerce, and, more than any event in the last forty years, has invigorated the navigating interest of the country, exerting a powerful influence over the commercial marine of the world, by swelling the internal trade of the United States, and enabling her to own more than two-fifths of the tonnage of the world. In the year ending June, 1852, the treasury returns exhibit an increase of ten per cent. For the fiscal year of 1853 there was a treasury surplus of 32,000,000 dollars, with which only 13,000,000 dollars of the public debt was paid, leaving the debt 56,000,000 dollars. The message of the President recommended further progress in extinguishing the debt with the surplus,-reported the navy to be indifferent, and recommended improvement, an increase of the army, especially on the frontiers, and a reduction of the tariff, as the second best means of preventing a future surplus. Other estimates for 1853 affirm the expenses of the Government to be 51,000,000, and its receipts 61,000,000 dollars; further affirming that by accumulated balances there was at the same time on hand 75,000,000 dollars,-stating the same difficulty as to the disposal of the surplus. Their revenue for the year ending June, 1854, was 14,000,710 dollars, being an increase over that of the previous year of 2,440,000 dollars, exclusively of about 100,000,000 dollars from California. Revenue and expenditure of the United States Government for the year ending June 30th, 1855: Balance in Treasury, July 1st, 1855 18,931,975 The expenditure of the United States for the year ending June 30th, 1856, is as follows:-Judicial, 251,000 dollars; expenses of the United States Courts, 800,000 dollars; intercourse with foreign nations, 936,862 dollars; pensions, 1,458,947 dollars; the whole amount to 63,604,023 dollars. During the session from twenty to thirty thousand acres of national property have been given to different companies. |