LEADING FEATURES OF THE SOUTH-WESTERN BANKS FOR JULY-CONTINUED. Total.......... $16,011,941 $13,298,302 $11,395,800 $11,479,174 If we compare these aggregates with the total amount in the eight States named for the year 1838, we shall have results as follow: The value of the produce sent from all these States to New Orleans in 1847, was $90,000,000, and the producers owed the banks for loans and advances $26,377,589, or less than one-third of the amount of the bank debts. In 1838, the value sent to New Orleans was $35,000,000, and the producers owed the local banks $125,484,662, or nearly four times the whole value of their products for the year. These figures are important, inasmuch as they show the great improvement which the condition of the produce in the valley of the Mississippi has undergone, and the strong position they are now in, notwithstanding the low price of cotton during the past year. The aspect of the foreign markets is now such as again to give a great stimulus to the farm produce of the Mississippi valley. It is to be observed in the above table, that in all that prolific region, the quantity of bank notes outstanding is less than the sum of the specie held by the institutions; and the prospect is, that exchanges will become healthy in event of continued peace in Europe. By healthy exchange is to be understood we mean such a state as fluctuates at or about par. As long as the supply of bills nearly equals the demand, the rate fluctuates from a fractional discount to a fractional premium, and within the cost either of the import or export of specie, they are healthy. A heavy fall in the bills which induces an import of specie, such as that which took place in 1843, and again in 1847, is as injurious to the interests of general trade, as such an advance as will cause an export of specie. In fact, when the currency is sound and the condition of trade healthy, the export of specie is not a matter to be regretted, because, in such a case, it will not go unless there is a redundancy, and the interests of commerce require it. It is only when a very extended state of credits exists, by which the purchase and consumption of an undue quantity of goods has been brought about, that the export of specie forcibly curtails those credits, and produces a fall in prices and values ruinous to those who are holders of goods with any considerable amount of outstanding obligations. Such a state of affairs does not now exist. The quantity of specie in the country is now extraordinarily large; the import of goods has been smaller than last year, and the amount of circulating credits is limited. We stand, therefore, comparatively free of debt at the close of the crop year, with the rates of foreign bills 94 a 94, or slightly in favor of this country, and with a margin of 1 per cent before shipment of specie can regularly take place. On the other hand, if we look carefully over the surface of the interior States, we find the real wealth of the country prodigiously great. The leading crops, sugar, rice, tobacco, cotton, wheat, and corn, all promise greater abundance than perhaps has ever poured forth from the fertile soil of the American States. The prospect is certainly that the money prices of all these articles, as well as of other produce, will, at least, be no lower. The grand result, however, must be a very considerable increase in the exports of the country, and as a necessary consequence, the amount of bills running on New York will be very large. It becomes, then, very interesting to know what prices this produce may be expected to command in the foreign markets. From present appearances, with the exception of flour and wheat, it is highly probable that the profits will be more remunerative to shippers than was the case last year. COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE KINGDOM OF HANOVER. WHEREAS the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, under the authority of the twelfth article of the treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States of America and the King of Hanover, bearing date the 10th day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, has become a party to the said treaty, with certain modifications, by virtue of a declaration of accession to the same; which was signed and duly exchanged at Schwerin, on the 9th day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, between A. Dudley Mann, special agent of the United States, and L. de Lutzow, President of the Privy Council and First Minister of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on the part of their respective governments; which declaration is, word for word, as follows: DECLARATION. Whereas a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States of America and his Majesty the King of Hanover, was concluded at Hanover on the 10th day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, by the plenipotentiaries of the contracting parties, and was subsequently duly ratified on the part of both governments: And whereas, by the terms of the twelfth article of the same, the United States agree to extend all the advantages and privileges contained in the stipulations of the said treaty to one or more of the other States of the Germanic Confederation which may wish to accede to them by means of an official exchange of declarations, provided that such State or States shall confer similar favors upon the United States to those conferred by the Kingdom of Hanover, and observe and be subject to the same conditions, stipulations and obligations: And whereas the government of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of MecklenburgSchwerin has signified his desire to accede to the said treaty and to all the stipulations and provisions therein contained, as far as the same are or may be applicable to the two countries, and to become a party thereto, and has expressed its readiness to confer similar favors upon the United States as an equivalent in all respects to those conferred by the Kingdom of Hanover: And whereas the government of the Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in its anxiety to avoid the possibility of a misconception hereafter of the nature and extent of the favors differing essentially from those of Hanover, which it consents to bestow upon the United States, as well as for its own faithful observance of all the provisions of the said treaty, wishes the stipulations, conditions, and obligations imposed upon it; as also those which rest upon the United States, as explicitly stated, word for word, in the Engfish and German languages, as contained in the following articles : ARTICLE I. The high contracting parties agree that whatever kind of produce, manufacture, or merchandise of any foreign country can be, from time to time, lawfully imported into the United States in their own vessels, may also be imported in the vessels of the Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and no higher or other duties upon the tonnage or cargo of the vessel shall be levied or collected whether the importation be made in a vessel of the United States or in a vessel of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. And in like manner, whatever kind of produce, manufacture, or merchandise of any foreign country can be, from time to time, lawfully imported into the Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in its own vessels, may also be imported in vessels of the United States, and no higher or other duties upon the tonnage or cargo of the vessel shall be levied or collected, whether the importation be made in vessels of the one party or the other. Whatever may be lawfully exported or re-exported by one party in its own vessels to any foreign country, may in like manner be exported or re-exported in the vessels of the other. And the same duties, bounties, and drawbacks shall be collected and allowed, whether such exportation or re-exportation be made in vessels of the one party or the other. Nor shall higher or other charges of any kind be imposed in the ports of one party on vessels of the other than are or shall be payable in the same ports by national vessels. ARTICLE II. The preceding article is not applicable to the coasting trade and navigation of the high contracting parties, which are respectively reserved by each exclusively to its own subjects or citizens. ARTICLE III. No priority or preference shall be given by either of the contracting parties, nor by any company, corporation, or agent acting on their behalf, or under their authority, in the purchase of any article of commerce lawfully imported, on account of, or in reference to, the national character of the vessel, whether it be of the one party or of the other, in which such article was imported. ARTICLE IV. The ancient and barbarous right to wrecks of the sea shall remain entirely abolished with respect to the property belonging to the subjects or citizens of the high contracting parties. When any vessel of either party shall be wrecked, stranded, or otherwise damaged on the coasts, or within the dominions of the other, their respective citizens or subjects shall receive, as well for themselves as for their vessels and effects, the same assistance which would be due to the inhabitants of the country where the accident happens. They shall be liable to pay the same charges and dues of salvage as the said inhabitants would be liable to pay in a like case. If the operations of repair shall require that the whole or any part of the cargo be unloaded, they shall pay no duties of custom, charges or fees, on the part which they shall reload and carry away, except such as are payable in the like case by national vessels. It is nevertheless understood that if, whilst the vessel is under repair, the cargo shall be unladen, and kept in a place of deposit destined to receive goods, the duties on which have not been paid, the cargo shall be liable to the charges and fees lawfully due to the keepers of such warehouses. ARTICLE V. The privileges secured by the present treaty to the respective vessels of the high contracting parties, shall only extend to such as are built within their respective territories, or lawfully condemned as prizes of war, or adjudged to be forfeited for a breach of the municipal laws of either of the high contracting parties, and belonging wholly to their subjects or citizens. It is further stipulated that vessels of the Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin may select their crews from any of the States of the Germanic Confederation, provided that the master of each be a subject of the Grand-Duchy of MecklenburgSchwerin. ARTICLE VI. No higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United States of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of the Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, or of its fisheries; and no higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin of any articles the growth, produce, and manufacture of the United States, and of their fisheries, than are or shall be payable on the like articles, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of any other foreign country, or of its fisheries. No higher or other duties and charges shall be imposed in the United States on the exportation of any articles to the Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, or in Mecklenburg-Schwerin on the exportation of any articles to the United States, than such as are of shall be payable on the exportation of the like articles to any other foreign country. No prohibition shall be imposed on the importation or exportation of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, or of its fisheries, or of the United States, or of their fisheries, from or to the ports of said GrandDuchy, or of the said United States, which shall not equally extend to all other powers and states. ARTICLE VII. The high contracting parties engage mutually not to grant any particular favor to other nations in respect of navigation and duties of customs, which shall not immediately become common to the other party, who shall enjoy the same freely, if the concession was freely made, or on allowing a compensation as near as possible, if the concession was conditional. ARTICLE VIII. In order to augment by all the means at its bestowal the commercial relations between the United States and Germany, the Grand-Duchy of MecklenburgSchwerin agrees, subject to the reservation in article eleventh, to abolish the import duty on raw cotton, and paddy, or rice in the husk, the produce of the United States; to levy no higher import duty on leaves, stems, or strips of tobacco, imported in hogsheads or casks, than one thaler and two schillings for one hundred pounds Hamburg weight, (equal to seventy cents United States currency and weight;) to lay no higher import duty upon rice imported in tierces, or half tierces, than twenty-five schillings for one hundred pounds Hamburg weight, (equal to thirty-seven and a half cents United States currency and weight;) to lay no higher duty upon whale oil, imported in casks or barrels, than twelve and a half schillings per hundred pounds Hamburg weight, (equal to eighteen and threequarters cents United States currency and weight.) The Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin further agrees to levy no higher transit duty on the aforementioned articles in their movement on the Berlin-Hamburg Railroad than two schillings per hundred pounds Hamburg weight, (equal to three cents United States currency and weight,) and to levy no transit duty on the above mentioned articles when conveyed through the ports of the country. It is understood, however, that nothing herein contained shall prohibit the levying of a duty sufficient for control, which in no instance shall exceed, on the two articles imported duty free, or those on transit, one schilling per hundred pounds Hamburg weight, (equal to one cent and a half United States currency and weight.) ARTICLE IX. The high contracting parties grant to each other the liberty of having, each in the ports of the other, consuls, vice consuls, commercial agents, and vice commercial agents of their own appointment, who shall enjoy the same privileges and powers as those of the most favored nations; but if any of the said consuls shall carry on trade, they shall be subjected to the same laws and usages to which private individuals of their nation are subjected in the same place. The consuls, vice consuls, commercial, and vice commercial agents, shall have the right, as such, to sit as judges and arbitrators in such differences as may arise between the masters and crews of the vessel belonging to the nation whose interests are committed to their charge, without the interference of the local authorities, unless the conduct of the crews or of the captain should disturb the order or tranquillity of the country; or the said consuls, vice consuls, commercial agents, or vice commercial agents, should require their assistance to cause their decisions to be carried into effect or supported. It is, however, understood that this species of judgment or arbitration shall not deprive the contending parties of the right they have to resort, on their return, to the judicial authority of their own country. The said consuls, vice consuls, commercial agents, and vice commercial agents, are authorized to require the assistance of the local authorities, for the search, arrest, and imprisonment of the deserters from the ships-of-war and merchant vessels of their country. For this purpose they shall apply to the competent tribunals, judges, and officers, and shall, in writing, demand said deserters, proving by the exhibition of the registers of the vessels, the muster-rolls of the crews, or by any other official documents, that such individuals formed part of the crews; and on this claim being thus substantiated, the surrender shall not be refused. Such deserters, when arrested, shall be placed at the disposal of the said consuls, vice consuls, commercial agents, or vice commercial agents, and may be confined in the public prisons, at the request and cost of those who shall claim them, in order to be sent to the vessels to which they belong, or to others of the same country. But if not sent back within three months from the day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty, and shall not be again arrested for the same cause. However, if the deserter shall be found to have committed any crime or offence, his surrender may be delayed until the tribunal before which his case shall be pending shall have pronounced his sentence, and such sentence shall have been carried into effect. ARTICLE X. The subjects and citizens of the high contracting parties shall be permitted to sojourn and reside in all parts whatsoever of the said territories, in order to attend to their affairs, and also to hire and occupy houses and warehouses for the purpose of their commerce, provided they submit to the laws, as well 'general as special, relative to the right of residing and trading. Whilst they conform to the laws and regulations in force, they shall be at liberty to manage themselves their own business in all the territories subject to the jurisdiction of each party, as well in respect to the consignment and sale of their goods by wholesale or retail, as with respect to the loading, unloading, and sending off their ships, or to employ such agents and brokers as they may deem proper, they being in all these cases to be treated as the citizens or subjects of the country in which they reside, it being nevertheless understood that they shall remain subject to the said laws and regulations also in respect to sales by wholesale or retail. They shall have free access to the tribunals of justice, in their litigious affairs, on the same terms which are granted by the law and usage of country to native citizens or subjects, for which purpose they may employ in defence of their rights such advocates, attorneys, and other agents as they may judge proper. The citizens or subjects of each party shall have power to dispose of their personal property within the jurisdiction of the other, by sale, donation, testament, or otherwise. Their personal representatives, being citizens or subjects of the other contracting party, shall succeed to their said personal property, whether by testament or ab intestato. They may take possession thereof, either by themselves or by others acting for them, at their will, and dispose of the same, paying such duty only as the inhabitants of the country wherein the said personal property is situated, shall be subject to pay in like cases. In case of the absence of the personal representatives, the same care shall be taken of the said property as would be taken of a property of a native in like case, until the lawful owner may take measures for receiving it. If any question should arise among several claimants to which of them the said property belongs, the same shall be finally decided by the laws and judges of the country wherein it is situated. Where, on the decease of any person holding real estate within the territories of one party, such real estate would, by the laws of the land, descend on a citizen or subject of the other, were he not disqualified by alienage, such citizen or subject shall be allowed a reasonable time to sell the same, and to withdraw the proceeds without molestation, and exempt from all duties of detraction on the part of the government of the respective States. The capitals and effects which the citizens or subjects of the respective parties, in changing their residence, shall be desirous of removing from the place of their domicil, shall likewise be exempt from all duties of detraction or emigration on the part of their respective governments. ARTICLE XI. The present treaty shall continue in force until the 10th of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, and further, until the end of twelve months after the government of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on the one part, or that of the United States on the other part, shall have given notice of its intention of terminating the same; but upon the condition hereby expressly stipulated and agreed, that if the Grand-Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin shall deem it expedient, or find it compulsory, during the said term to levy a duty on paddy, or rice in the husk, or augment the duties upon leaves, strips, or stems of tobacco, on whale-oil and rice mentioned in Article VIII. (eighth) of the present treaty, the government of Mecklenburg-Schwerin shall give notice of one year to the government of the United States, before proceeding to do so; and, at the expiration of that year, or any time subsequently, the government of the United States shall have full power and right to abrogate the present treaty, by giving a previous notice of six months to the government of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, or to continue it (at its option) in full force, until the operation thereof shall have been arrested in the manner first specified in the present article. Now, therefore, the undersigned, L. de Lutzow, President of the Privy Council, and first minister of his Royal Highness, on the part of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and A. Dudley Mann, special agent on the part of the United States, invested with full powers to this effect, found in good and due form, have this day signed in triplicate, and have exchanged this declaration. The effect of this agreement is hereby declared to be to establish the aforesaid treaty between the high parties to this declaration, as fully and perfectly, to all intents and purposes, as if all the provisions therein contained, in the manner as they are above explicitly stated, had been agreed to in a separate treaty, concluded and ratified between them in the ordinary form. In witness whereof, the above named plenipotentiaries have hereto affixed their names and seals. Done at Schwerin, this 9th (ninth) day of December, 1847. A. DUDLEY MANN. [L. S.] |