issr] 



FARMERS' KEGISTER, 



191 



MONTHLY COJI^l KUCIAr, Rr.I'OUT. 



The present mnnth Ir.is brou<i-lit no alk^viatiou 

 of the distress wliicU pooincd to liave reaclied its 

 crisis when the pus|)ciisioii of specie payments 

 took place, six weeks ago. 



In Virginia, tiiere is almost an utter annihilation 

 of commerce. The few hogsheads of tobacco 

 which are sold at the inspections, comprise nearly 

 all the trade thai is visible. If an embargo exist- 

 ed, our exports could scarcely be less than they 

 have been during the present year. A lew foreign 

 vessels have been loaded lor foreign a<'counr, and 

 it may be worthy of remark, that Ibreign shipping 

 lias superseded our own to a very great extent. 

 Of 100 vessels at New York, put up for ibreign 

 ports, only 34, (including nine regular packets,) 

 are American. The purchase, as well as the 

 transportation of our produce, appears to be get- 

 ting into foreiirn hands. Our commercial resour- 

 ces are, for the present, destroyed, and American 

 enterprise must strike its flag to those countries 

 which abide by experience in preference to experi- 

 tnent. The extraordinary state of commerce and 

 exchanges which now exists, will scarcely be be- 

 lieved some years hence. As for example, take 

 these extracts: 



Washington City. — "The citizens have applied 

 to the banks, requesting them to pay specie for 

 $5 notes, for the purpose of procuring change for 

 marketing, &c." "Specie is 10 per cent, above 

 district notes, and these are 15 to 2.5 per cent, 

 above the notes of the southern and western banks; 

 consequently, the latter are 25 to 35 per cent, be- 

 low specie." 



Mobile. — "The suspension of specie payments 

 leaves us no medium of foreign or domestic ex- 

 change, except; cotton and other produce; and 

 fl'om this cause, and the depreciation of paper, 

 compared with specie, all articles of produce have 

 risen. Notes of New Orleans banks, or checks 

 on them, are saleable in Mobile at 10 per cent, pre- 

 mium, and cotton is now shipped fi-om Mobile to 

 N. Orleans as the only medium for the purchase of 

 provisions, which are enormously high at Mo- 

 bile." 



In Louisville, Kentucky, the notes of the Mis- 

 sippi banks are at 20 to 25 per cent, discount, 

 while in New York the notes of the Kentucky 

 banks are at 10 to 15 per cent, discount — those of 

 ■Georgia and South Carolina at 10 to 15 — of North 

 Carolina, at 10, and of Virginia, at 5, in exchange 

 for N. York notes, which are at 12 per cent, dis- 

 Hjount for specie. Excliange on London, 20 to 22 

 per cent, premium, for New York notes. Thus, the 

 various exchanges on .^100 fi-om Mississippi to 

 Kentucky, thence to New York, and there con- 

 verted into dollars would leave not quite .§60 in 

 specie. Such a state of things must cut off nearly 

 all intercourse between different parts of the coun- 

 trj^ — indeed, it is now impracticable to obtain small 

 change in Virginia for ordinary expenses. The 

 payment of taxes will be attended with great in- 

 convenience, and the payment of duties is render- 

 ed impracticable. 



In some places two prices are now paid on ar- 

 ticles sold — the one for specie, the other for notes, 

 or small bills, which are generally introduced in 

 the northern states, though prohibited by law in 

 some of them. 



That the present distress and prostration is not 

 confined to the Atlantic portion of the country, 



but [lervados the li-uitful west, the Ibllowing extracts 

 will show: 



"The number o( steamboats out of active em- 

 ployment on the Ohio river, between Louisville 

 and Pittsburg, is 125." "On the Pennsylvania c;i- 

 nal, one transportation line has withdrawn its 

 boats and teams for want of employment, and the 

 state treasury of Ohio has to sup|)ly a large de- 

 ficit to pay the expenses of her canals." 



The destruction of confidence on both sides of 

 the Atlantic, has compelled the holders of cotton 

 in N. Orleans to place it under the control of bard<s 

 for exportation, to be accounted for when sold by 

 their agents in England. Importations of foreign 

 •Train continue, and the price has advanced, partly 

 owing to the depreciation of our currency. The 

 following report of sales in New York will show 

 the relative estimation in which different sorts arc 

 held: — 9G00 bushels of Russian, small grain, at 

 .^112.',; 5000 bushels good red German, at .91 15; 

 10,000 bushels good Trieste, at -^1 35; 5000 bush- 

 els white Dimtzic, at.*; 150; 4000 bushels very 

 prime Rostock, at $175. Foreign rye 85 to 90 

 cents. Delaware yellow corn, ^1 03. Southern 

 oats, 51 cents. 



There are no transactions in our own markets 

 to furnish quotations of wheat. The crop now 

 about to be harvested, will, should the weather be 

 favorable, prove fine in quality; but the quantity 

 sown was unusually small, and the growth in 

 most parts is thin. Corn on the rivers 80 to 85 

 cents. 



No sales of cotton have been made in Peters- 

 burg, except for the use of mills in Virginia — price, 

 7 to 10 cents. 



The legislature, at its late extra session, has re- 

 leased the banks from the disabilities they incurred 

 by the suspension of specie payments, but has re- 

 fused to permit them to issue notes of less denomi- 

 nation than five dollars. 



In our own stocks there are no operations by 

 which to furnish quotations. In New York and 

 Philadelphia, rail road stocks seem to be more in 

 favor than those of any other description. 



X. 



THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE — THE STAY-LAW 

 —AID TO AGRICULTURE. 



The legislature of Virginia, at their late extra ses- 

 sion, without much opposition, or the time usually 

 spent in debate on very trivial matters, have passed a 

 law which virtually compels all creditors to receive 

 the notes of non-specie-paying banks, for debts already 

 due in gold and silver. As the irredeemable paper 

 currency was then 10 percent, below the value of spe- 

 cie, this legal measure is neither more nor less than an 

 actual confiscation, or sponging, of one-tenth of the 

 amount of all the debts due in Virginia. This is not 

 the place to discuss the constitutionality, or the moral- 

 ity, or policy, of this measure — and however enormous 

 may be its evils, we are not prepared to say that some 

 such relief to debtors, though by a sacrifice of the 

 strict rights of creditors, was not made absolutely ne- 

 cessary by the present general and calamitous condi- 

 tion of the currency and trade of the country. But 

 we desire our readers to contrast the ready zeal and 

 perfect coolness with which this measure of wide- 

 spread confiscation has been enacted by the legislature, 

 with the morbid sensitiveness of the same body, in all 



