tend the charter of the bank of Virginia." The other bills contain similar provisions :

Be it enacted by the General Assemby of Virginia, That the charter of the bank of Virginia be and is hereby extended from the first day of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, for six years; and the bank is hereby invested with all the rights, powers, and privileges conferred, and made subject to all the rules, regulations, and restrictions imposed by the 56th and 58th chapters of the Code of Virginia, and the act entitled an act to amend the 10th section of chapter 57 of the Code of Virginia, passed April 9, 1853, so far as the same may be applicable to banks of circulation.

2. The notes of the several banks of this State received in payment of the public revenue except the notes of this bank, the Farmers' Bank of Virginia and the Exchange Bank of Virginia, and the branches of said banks, shall not be redeemed by the deposit banks in specie before the expiration of fifteen days after such deposit. Should either of the deposit banks refuse to receive on deposit the notes of any specie-paying bank, the Governor of the Commonwealth, upon written notice thereof from the Treasurer of the State, shall direct the removal of the deposits of such bank, and have them deposited in some other bank.

3. The loans and discounts of each branch shall be so regulated that they shall not at any branch exceed twice the capital of the branch.

4. The total amount of the paper circulation of a branch of this bank shall never exceed five times the amount of the coin in possession of such branch, and actually the property of the bank.

5. The bank shall give no certificate of deposit, or other evidence of debt, which is not payable in specie.

6. Every quarterly statement of the bank, shall, in addition to the information which the code of Virginia requires to be made, also exhibit the aggregate debt due by such bank; the outstanding debt due such bank; its discount of inland and foreign bills of exchange; its loans to directors; its specie circulation and deposits on the first day of each month of the quarter it embraces.

7. The bank shall not issue or pay out any note for circulation except the denomination of five dollars, ten dollars, or of some multiple of ten.

8. It shall be lawful for the said bank to increase its capital stock by the amount of $650,000 by the sale of stock; provided it shall not be sold at less than par. The said increased capital, as also the present capital of said bank and branches may be distributed between the mother bank and its several branches as the stockholders in the general meeting may determine.

9. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the time when its provisions shall have been approved by the stockholders in the said bank convened in general meeting at any time before the first day of February next, and such approval shall have been made and certified by the President and Cashier of said bank under its corporate seal to the Governor of this Commonwealth.

NOTES OF CIRCULATION ISSUED BY OHIO BANKS.

We find, among the many interesting tables appended to the Annual Report of the Auditor of State on the condition of the finances of Ohio in 1855, a statement showing the amount of bank-notes of each denomination issued by each of the various banks of that State, which were in circulation on the first Monday of November, 1855, as reported to the Auditor in pursuance of law. From that table we compile the following aggregate of the bank-notes of all the banks in circulation :

This table shows a total circulation of " promises to pay" of $9,072,170. The names of ten banks are given in the Report of the Auditor, not included in the above statement. The cause of the omission is not stated.

RATES OF TAXATION IN PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF OHIO.

The subjoined table shows the rate of taxation in the principal cities and towns of Ohio in the years 1852, 1853, 1854, and 1855, together with the total amount of taxable property of each city or town named :—

Taxable valuation, 1855. $1,375,221

330,089

We have compiled the preceding table from the annual report of the Auditor of the State of Ohio, for an official copy of which we are indebted to the considerate attention of WILLIAM D. MORGAN, Esq., the able head of that department. The document abounds in statistical statements connected with the finances, resources, &c., of the State. From it we have compiled for this and other departments a variety of useful information of the present number.

BOSTON BANK CAPITAL AND DIVIDENDS.

We are indebted to Mr. JOSEPH G. MARTIN, Stock broker, Boston, for the subjoined statement, showing the capital and last four semi-annual dividends, with the market value of the different stocks, quoted dividend of October, 1854, April and October, 1855, and April, 1856 :—

The Mechanics' Bank made an extra dividend of 124 per cent in October, 1854. The 5 per cent dividend of the Broadway Bank (S. Boston) was for the first nine

months of its operation. The dividend of the Massachusetts Bank is 3 1-5 per cent, which is given in the table as $8 per share, (par $250.)

As compared with October last the Exchange increased one per cent, and the Shoe and Leather Dealers' one-half. The Broadway, Commerce, Howard, North, and North American, each one-half per cent less. The Grocers' Bank was included in the October table, which about makes the difference between the total then and now.

DEBT OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA.

The following statement, from a reliable source, will show the amount of the public debt of the city of Philadelphia, and the dates at which the same is payable. These loans were contracted previous to the consolidation of the city :-, 6 per cents. Total. Year. $150,550 $200,518 1876

5 per cents.

5 per cents. 6 per cents.

Total.

Year. 1856

$49,968

$9,400

$617,753

$627,153

The five per cent loans amount to $3,416,375; the six per cents, to $12,702,614 -showing a total public debt of $16,148,989.

A PARAGRAPH OF THE LANGUAGE OF FINANCE.

The editor of the Detroit Daily Advertiser calls things by their right names. Ilis remarks do not, of course, apply to the readers of the Merchants' Magazine, who are all "honorable men."

“Finance has a language of its own. Its thieves are not thieves but defaulters. Having more notes afloat than means to pay them is being short of currency; the world calls it poverty and insolvency. Pawning is hypothecation; shinning and borrowing is financiering. Swindling is over-operating; taking men's and women's money to keep safely, and squandering it, or losing it in speculation, is suspending. Loaning out other people's money is accommodation. Paying out doubtful issues in redeeming their own, is retiring circulation. Embezzlement is extending liabilities. Stealing State or government bonds is an over-issue; and managing a bank well is contriving to make somebody not interested furnish means to bank upon. Finance has a smooth business name for almost every act relating to money-its safe keeping, disbursement and prompt payment; the reverse of which, in a private individual, is called by harsh Saxon names, such as are found in bills of indictment and penal statutes. The votaries of finance never steal; they overdraw. They are never poor, though often very close.' They never refuse to pay honest debts; they suspend. The commercial history of this country for the past twenty-five years is a history of financiering-not only or chiefly by bankers, nor even by brokers, but by a class of adventurers who have seized upon these capacities to shroud designs of plunder under technical names."