fully and integrally developed, morally and intellectually, and when the paternal protection of society or a social providence, is extended to all children; it is, we believe, for the noble women of the future; of a regenerated race, to decide upon this most delicate and intricate question. In industrial and political affairs, man should hold the preponderating power; in all things relating to marriage and the family, it should be held by woman. Man has usurped both; and we deem it unjust on the part of Reformers, composed almost exclusively of men, to continue this assumption; and to undertake to legislate, not only for the future, but also for the opposite sex, in matters peculiarly its own. Now, both from theory and conviction, we abstain entirely from laying down laws or building up a system, for the government of the relation of the sexes. We know and feel that we are not capable of doing it. It requires, in the first place, the deepest experiences of the heart, and the profoundest judgments of the mind, based upon those experiences; and, in the second place, it is a question to be decided in an age of universal abundance, universal refinement and intelligence, complete moral and physical development, freedom from pecuniary dependence, and disenthralment from the numerous material considerations that now press upon us all on every side. In short, we leave this whole question to the soul of fully developed, fully educated, and fully independent woman, in a true social order; we are convinced that that soul will then be noble, pure and elevated, and that the decrees which go forth from the heart, will be the voice of God, speaking through the divine affections, which He has implanted in humanity-will be a true guide and a true revelation upon this great subject. These are intimate convictions; this is the ground which we take. If the Associationists of the United States have arrived at such conclusions by experience in reform, and by reflection, and hold to them, then they are not responsible for anything that Eugene Sue may write on the same question, nor any one else; not even for views which Fourier may have entertained, although they hold him to be a man of a truly noble genius, and accept his Organization of Industry, as both beautiful and natural. And now in conclusion, what shall we say of those men, who, with the spectacle of the flood of misery and wretchedness which surrounds us on all sides, before them-have no real pity for their followmen, no living and heartfelt philanthropy to stimulate them to seek for a remedy, or to give them the energy and the zeal to search after or devise measures of relief, and hoist the banner of reform; but who endeavor to pick out of a great plan of amelioration thought upon and advocated long and seriously by men who certainly have as much common sense and honesty of purpose as they some one point or two, which they think they can attack, and then by quotations from a distant source, and foreign to the plan; by slanderous suppositions, by gratuitous misrepresentations, and calumnious insinuations, commence their attack, and appeal to all the prejudices, and the selfish conservatism of the age; and make themselves the apologists of a cold, heartless, and disgusting inhumanity? A. BRISBANE. MONTHLY FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ARTICLE. THE clouds which both in England and the United States have since the summer months lowered over commercial affairs, are now in some degree clearing away. We alluded in our last number to the fact, that in most commercial countries a very great and progressive increase existed in the consumption of those articles which enter most into the necessities and comforts of the masses of the people. The principal check which this state of affairs received, arose from fears in relation to the harvests, heightened by political efforts to make the deficit in England, however small it might be, the instrument of conpleting the liberal commercial policy of the country, which has been progressing since the war, but which received its greatest impulse in 1842, on the accession of Sir Robert Peel to the ministry. The panic which resulted from the exertions of the liberalists, having this object in view, agitated the public mind far beyond what the actual state of things would warrant, and extending to the continent, greatly diminished the consumption of goods, and caused stocks of almost all wares to accumulate in the shops of the dealers. The efforts, however, produced their results; but the landed interest, as represented in the government, obstinately resisted the abolition of the corn laws, evidently demanded by a vast majority of the people; and the minister, unable to overcome this resistance, was obliged to resign his office in December, although possessed of a large working majority in Parliament. His resignation brought into power the Whig leader, Lord John Russell, who was, it appears, unable to form a Cabinet, and Sir Robert Peel was reinstated per force. The ministry has undergone some unimportant changes, and it is rumored that the corn laws will be changed so far as to substitute a low fixed duty of 3s. to 5s. per quarter on wheat, for the sliding scale. The great difficulty of Lord John Russell in forming a ministry, was said to have been the refusal of Earl Grey to take part in a government of which Lord Palmerston should be the foreign minister. The objections to that person arising from his former policy. Thus the important facts developed by the late sudden changes, are, that peace and commercial regulations, of the utmost liberality, are the elements which give the greatest strength to the English Government. The great want of that nation is to sell its goods. To do so, t must compete on the best terms with all other nations, and to this end all that part of the cost of living and of manufacturing goods, made up by taxes, direct or indirect, must be abandoned. With such a state of affairs, war is utterly incompatible. The desire of the English Government for colonial agrandizement, is stimulated by the necessity for more extended markets. If those markets are obtained by commercial regulations on the part of England and those nations with whom she deals, so liberal as to permit the freest interchange of products of mutual industry, an extension of the markets of both countries is the result, and the general prosperity of all is enhauced. The greatest advantages which could accrue to either the United States or Great Britain, viz: the repeal of the corn laws in England and the abolition of protection here, seem now on the point of being realized. These advantages will confer on both nations the highest degree of prosperity, and, on the eve of their consummation, certainly cannot be jeopardised by a barbarous war, although manufactu rers here and aristocrats there might fancy that they derive some temporary advantages from such an event. The reduction of the Tariff of the United States certainly neutralizes the objections which England might have entertained to the annexation of Texas, inasmuch as that a liberal commercial policy is all that she might expect of the result of her influence over independent Texas. In relation to Mexico, the interests of England would be more promoted by its adhesion to the Union under a permanently liberal commercial policy, than either that it should remain in its present state of barbarous anarchy, or that its wealthy and influential citizens, including its powerful clergy, should seek a permanent quiet under a Spanish Prince. The commercial policy now definitively adopted by the English Government, if responded to in a spirit of sound economical policy, must put at rest all disturbing political questions between the two countries for the future, and eminently promote their mutual prosperity. Industry in both will receive the highest degree of encouragement, by finding the readiest sale for that which it produces in the greatest abund ance. The state of our own commercial mar. kets during the uncertainty which the progress of these events has produced, has been one of quiet; an indisposition to embark in new enterprises has prevailed, as well as an indisposition to loan money; generally falling, prices of stocks and commodities, with a scarcity of money, have marked the daily transactions; at the same time, a continual discharge of obligations, as they arrive at maturity, without the creation of new ones, have contributed to reduce the amount outstanding, up to the time of making up the bank returns for the February quarter, and therefore to pro duce a greater ease in the money market. The foreign exchanges during the year ending December 1, 1845, were remarkably steady throughout the year, and the import of precious metals was nearly equal to the export. The monthly export from the port of New-York, with the rate of sterling bills, at the close of each month, were as follows: EXPORTS OF SPECIE FROM NEW-YORK AND RATE OF STERLING BILLS. The year closed with prices much lower than at the same time last year, contrary to general expectation; and this exhibits in a considerable degree the influence which political causes have exerted on almost all business. The same effort has been displayed in the London market. United States Stock. Consols which sold in the first week of January, 1845, at 1004, were sold at the same time in 1846, at 944-a decline of 5 per cent. In the same time United States stock declined 4 per cent., and Bank of England stock fell 7 per cent. The depreciation of capital is nearly as follows: Amount. Price, 1845. 1346. Decline. Am'nt of dec'e. $17,075,445....113. 72,765,000. 107 4. ..205 ...7 768,394 132,634,646 5,078,350 2,411,539,015. 1004. 94. 5. The difference in the price of the English 3 per cents. represents a value nearly equal to the whole taxable property of the State of Ohio. The small amount of the U. States Stock afloat makes it less liable to fall, but it is a matter of congratulation, that although foreign capitalists utterly refused to purchase or subscribe to the stock, it can be held steadier here, by our own citi zens, than English Consols, "the horse that never stumbled"-can be held in London. Large sums have been paid off by the several states during the year, amounting in all to some $11,000,000. Pennsylvania has continued to pay her interest, and at the close of her fiscal year, November 30, had, wherewithal, to meet her February payment; and the treasurer pointed out such modifications of existing laws as would, in his opinion, ensure the continued and regular payment of the debts of Pennsylvania. The finances of Maryland have also improved in a surprising manner, and there is every hope, that with the increased business of other public works from which she draws a revenue, that her credit will soon be fully restored. The affairs of Illinois progress successfully under the trusteeship of her canal, which will doubtless be completed in the three years specified in the law, and give a new spur to her industry. The tax levied at the last Indiana debt, principal.................. The state is to retire one-half of this debt, say $5,545,000, by issuing in exchange for it new certificates paying 5 per cent. on them, by taxation, up to 1857, when half the arrearage interest, $1,613,500, shall be added to the principal, and the whole bear 5 per cent. interest. The other half, principal and interest, is to be paid out of the canal property and its revenues, when it shall have been completed, and the faith of the state to be released from its payment. In Arkansas and Louisiana nothing has been done towards the discharge of the delinquent debts, but to continue the liquidation of the banks for the benefit of $11,090,000 $14,317,000 which they were created. The state legislature of Florida has been in session, but no allusion to the old territorial debt, or "faith bonds," appears to have been made. On the whole, considerable progress has been made towards the diminution of indebtedness, and the future payment of debts. Great dependence is in all directions placed upon the revenues of public works as a means of meeting the demands upon the several treasurers. Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New-York, on the Atlantic, are traversed longitudinally by canals, the object of which is to afford a cheap and easy outlet for the This contains a glance at the movement on the principal works. The Erie Canal, it will be observed, is immeasurably a-head of all the others in importance. The completion of the Michigan rail-roads across the Peninsula, also that of the Illinois Canal, from Chicago on the Lake Michigan, through 100 miles of the most fertile country in the world, to the Illinois River, and the extension of the Wabash and Erie Canal, from Lafayette, Indiana, to Evansville on the Ohio River, will lay open these immense tracts of land, the agricultural capacities of which are hardly estimated as yet, and to test their capacity a large and steady foreign demand is requisite, and the producers of wheat can become wealthy by selling wheat at prices lower than it can be produced for in the most fertile portions of the grain countries of Europe. Even at the present time, with out any communication with the interior, wheat pays well at Chicago, Illinois, at 60 cents, and the export of that thriving place, for the year ending with the navigation of the last fall, was 924,515 bushels, leaving 358,306 bushels in store, December 1st, when the price there was 96 cents. In the year 1826, Mr. William Jacob was sent by the English government through Europe, in order to ascertain the cost of raising wheat in Europe, and the extent to which it could supply the wants of England. The large estates of Europe are owned by nobility and gentry, and are cultivated under their care, or rented to others. Mr. Jacob reported, that estates near Dantzic, in a most fertile district, produced good crops in 1824 and the wheat was sold, on the estate, at 72 cents per bushel, at which rate a loss of 20 per cent. was sustained. The wheat actually cost 86 cents per bushel, and two farmers in succession on one estate became bankrupt. Again, wheat at Warsaw cost 28 shillings, sterling, per quarter, and delivered in London, costs as follows: Shipped at Buffalo. Arrived at Tide water. |