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In 1816, the interest of the national debt amounted to £33,500,000; it is now reduced to £26,000,000, and £4,000,000 on temporary annuities, which are gradually disappearing year by year. Whilst Great Britain was obtaining these splendid results, she was effecting a vast reform in the manner and extent of her public burdens.

Between 1815 and 1841, a balance being struck between taxes increased and taxes diminished, this power has abolished an amount of £24,000,000 of taxation, and last year suppressed a further sum of £6,000,000.

The taxes abolished are those, especially, which paralyze industry, and oppose obstacles to the superiority of British commerce over that of other nations. In effecting this, do not imagine that England has abstained from carrying out gigantic enterprises, sustaining mighty struggles, and defending her wide-spread dominions with an armed hand. She possessed in India, in 1816, 80,000,000 of subjects; she now numbers 100,000,000. Canada revolted; the revolt was suppressed by force. Her will was contested in the Syrian question; her ships decided the matter. China resisted the odious commerce in opium; an expedition after the fashion of Cortes subdued the Celestial Empire. Two seas existed, the entrance of which was not under the command of England, the Chinese Ocean, and the Red Sea. Aden and Singapore have completed the chain of forts which bind the commerce of the world.

In 1816, England was, without exception, the state most heavily burdened by the weight of taxation. She is now, in proportion to her wealth, less taxed than France. Thirty years ago, England spent £80,000,000 sterling, while France spent but the half. In 1844, England spent £55,000,000, whilst France expended £57,500,000.

Let us observe, at the same time, from one single fact, the enormous difference in the resources of the two countries for the supply of such heavy public burdens. Looking still at 1844, as a means of comparison, I find, says Baron Dupin, "that the commerce of England, favored by a skilful system of taxation, is so great, that the mere amount of the produce of the soil and industry of Great Britain sold to foreign nations, in eleven months, is equal to the total annual expenditures of the Treasury. On the other hand, in France, we only behold an unlimited increase in the taxation, and we have reached a point at which we require the amount of twenty-three months of the sale of our produce to foreigners to pay our expenditure, whilst eleven months, only, suffice to the English."

SAVINGS' BANKS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

The Savings' Banks in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, are regulated by the statutes 9 Geo. IV., c. 14; 5 and 6 Will. IV., c. 57; and 7 and 8 Vic., c. 83.

The amount allowed to be invested by any one depositor cannot exceed £30 in any one year, ending on the 20th of November, nor more than £150 on the whole; when the sum amounts to £200, no interest is payable. The rate of interest payable to the trustees and managers is £3 5s. per cent per annum, and that payable to depositors must not exceed £3 0s. 10d. per cent per annum. Trustees or Treasurers of any charitable provident institution or society, or charitable donation, or bequest for the maintenance, education, or benefit of the poor, may invest sums not exceeding £100 per annum, and not exceeding £300, principal and interest included. Friendly societies, whose rules have been duly certified, pursuant to the acts of parliament relating thereto, may deposit the whole, or any part of their funds. The several provisions of these statutes, as far as they relate to the deposits and depositors, will be found in the rules of every Savings' Bank.

On the 20th of November, 1844, there were 577 Savings Banks established in the United Kingdom, &c., viz: 504 in Great Britain, and 73 in Ireland; and the amount of deposits, including interest, was £29,504,864; the number of accounts open, 1,012,047, of which 564,642 were those of depositors under £20 each, the average amount being under £7, and the number of depositors exceeding £200 each was only 3,044. If the number of friendly societies in direct account with the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt be added, the gross total will show the number of accounts to be one million, twelve thousand, four hundred and seventy-five, and the sum invested, thirty-one millions, two hundred and seventy-five thousand, six hundred and thirty-six

pounds. Since the 20th November, 1844, 12 Savings' Banks have been established, viz: 9 in England; 2 in Scotland; and 1 in Ireland.

SUMMARY OF SAVINGS' BANK IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WALES, AND IRELAND. England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, have a population of 26,787,004; and there were on the 20th November, 1844, 577 Savings' Banks, containing—

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MOVEMENT OF THE OHIO BANKS.

The Ohio State Journal publishes a statement of the condition of the Banks of Ohio on the first Monday of May, 1846, from which we give the following aggregates:

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Average Capital for six months, $5,178,984 08. Tax paid on each $100 of stock, 49.4 cents. Tax per annum on the dollar of stock, 4.94 mills.

NEW USURY LAW OF NEW YORK.

The following "Act Concerning Usury" was passed at the last session of the General Assembly of New York, and affirmed by the Governor, April 8th, 1846:

Sec. 1. Whenever in any action brought on any contract or assurance for the payment of money hereafter made, it shall appear that a greater rate of interest has been directly or indirectly reserved, taken or received, than is allowed by law, the defendant shall recover his full costs, and the plaintiff shall forfeit three-fold the amount of the interest unlawfully reserved or taken, and no more.

Sec. 2. Whenever a greater rate of interest than is allowed by law, shall hereafter be paid, the party paying the same may recover back three-fold the amount of the lawful interest so paid, and no more.

Sec. 3. So much of the second and third sections of the thirty-fifth chapter of the Revised Statutes, as is inconsistent with this act, is hereby repealed.

JOHN RANDOLPH AND THE MERCHANTS' BANK.

We find the following “anecdote” going the rounds of the newspaper press, credited to the State Register. We know not on what authority it is given, but it is so characteristic of the eccentric individual named, that we can scarcely doubt its authenticity.

"In New York, many years ago, during a suspension of specie payments, John Randolph of Roanoke, went there on business. Having a check on the Merchants' Bank, for a large sum, he called for the cash, and would take nothing but the specie, which the tellers obstinately refused to pay. Randolph disdained to bandy words with either clerks or principals; believing himself swindled, he withdrew, and had a hand-bill printed and circulated all over the city, which set forth that 'John Randolph of Roanoke, being on a visit to New York, would address his fellow-citizens, that evening, on the banking system, from the steps of the Merchants' Bank.' Long before the hour, a crowd began to gather-which increased to a fearful number, when the officers of the bank taking the alarm, sent Mr. Randolph his money in gold; who received it with a sardonic smile and the apt quotation: Chastatiam invention aurum reliquit.' He left New York next morning in a stage before day; and, his being unknown in that city, the hand-bill passed off for a hoax on the public."

STATISTICS OF POPULATION.

POPULATION OF LONDON, BY THE LAST CENSUS:

COMPARED WITH THAT OF ALL THE CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

THE last census of London, taken in 1841, numbered 2,103,279, and by this time, no doubt, it will have reached two millions and a quarter. Now, "by and by, is easily said," as Hamlet says, and so is two millions and a quarter; but it is not so easy to realize it. Some years ago, Cooper, the celebrated actor of his day-before railroads were intro. duced, or steamboats went so fast-laid a wager, of the whole profits of his engagement, against a like amount, that he would go from New York to Boston, and play there two weeks, before his opponent could count and mark down one million. And he won his bet. One day's hard scratching served to prove that it would take upwards of twenty days to perform the task, even if a man could retain his senses during the monotonous operation. And London contains two millions and a quarter of a million, within a periphery of eight miles! Think of it for one moment, and then compare the amount of the population of London with that of

THE POPULATION OF ALL THE CITIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES, IN 1841.

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The population of all the Cities of England and Wales, is, therefore, not one-third of the population of London. There are fifty-two counties in England and Wales, and if we compare the population of London, with that of the other fifty-one capitals, or chief

cities and towns of the counties of England and Wales, it will be seen from the table below, that altogether their population is very much short of one-half of the population of London. Counties.

Anglesey,.......

Bedfordshire,..

Berkshire,...

Chief Towns. Pop. in 1841. Counties.

Holyhead,......

Bedford,......

Reacing,.

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Chief Towns. Pop. in 1841. 3,869 Lincolnshire,......... Lincoln,........ 16,172 9,188 Merionethshire,.... Dalgetty, 21,163 Monmouthshire,... Monmouth,.... 7,430 Montgomeryshire,. Montgomery,.

Buckinghamshire,.. Buckingham,.. 4,054 Norfolk,..........

Caernarvonshire,... Caernarvon,..
Cambridgeshire,... Cambridge,.
Cardiganshire,..... Cardignan,....

2,016

5,446

1,208

...... Norwich,...... 62,344

Caermarthenshire,. Caermarthen,. 9,526 Northamptonshire, Northampton, 21,242 8,001 Northumberland,.. Newcastle,.... 100,991 24,453 Nottinghamshire,.. Nottingham,. 60,170 2,925 Oxfordshire,........ Oxford,........ 23,834 25,613 Pembrokeshire,..... Pembroke,..... Launceston,.. 2,460 Radnorshire,....... Radnor,....... Carlisle,........ 24,453 Rutlandshire,....... Oakham,.. 2,726 8,045 Shropshire,........ Shrewsbury,.. 23,590 36,395 Somersetshire,..... Wells,..........

Cheshire,
Cornwall,..

Cumberland,.

Chester,......

Denbighshire,.. Denbigh,......
Derbyshire,......... Derby,.

7,412

478

5,443

Devonshire,......... Exeter,.... 39,780 Staffordshire,........ Stafford,....... 10,730

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1,961 Warwickshire,..... Warwick,.. 10,077 Westmoreland,. Appleby, Gloucestershire,.... Gloucester,.... 18,551 | Wlitshire, Salisbury,..... 10,086 Hampshire,......... Winchester,... 10,732 Worcestershire,.... Worcester,.... 30,961 Herefordshire,...... Hereford,...... 10,921 Yorkshire,........... York,........... 32,718 Huntingdonshire,... Huntingdon,... 3,507 Middlesex,.......... London,.......

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We may add to all the chief towns or cities of the fifty-one counties, the proverbially teeming population of the five largest manufacturing towns of England.

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Add the population of Hull, another large town in Yorkshire,...
Population of all the chief towns,.

68,085

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POPULATION OF THE GERMAN CITY OF BERLIN.

THE population of the city of Berlin is 352,000, 182,000 males, and 170,000 females. Among the latter there are 10,000 prostitutes, 12,000 criminals, and 6,000 persons receiving public charity to the amount of 144,000 rix dollars. It contains 5,000 weavers, having, on an average, four children each, and being all paupers, are unable to procure bread for their families. This makes an additional number of 30,000 poor, besides 2,000 pauper children, and 2,000 orphans supported by government. The official statistics give the following recapitulation:-10,000 -prostitutes; 10,000 sick in consequence of vice; 10,000 female servants; 2,000 natural children (foundlings); 12,000 criminals; 1,000 living in almshouses; 200 prisoners of the police; 6,000 receivers of public alms; 20,000 weavers and children; 2,000 charity children; 1,500 orphans; 6,000 poor sick in the hospitals; 4,000 beggars; 2,000 convicts of state prisons and houses of correction. One hundred and six thousand and seven hundred poor, sick, criminal and debauched people in the most literary and educated city of Germany!

JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES.

THE MINES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

It is not, perhaps, the best time to appreciate the commercial value of the mining region of Lake Superior, when the stocks of the different companies are passing from hand to hand, at a great advance from the original price. The discreet will be cautious, when stocks are bought on speculation, rather than for the permanent or profitable investment of surplus capital. Making all due allowance for the mining fever, we have no doubt that the mines in question are rich in copper and silver ores, and that they will be worked with profit and advantage to the country, as well as to the companies immediately interested. Our advices from that region are generally encouraging. It seems that the steamboat Detroit, recently arrived at the city of that name, with ninety barrels of copper and silver ore, from the Cliff vein, belonging to the Pittsburgh and Boston Company in location. The weight of the ore is twenty tons; what will be its product is not stated. This lot is consigned to Dr. Hays for reduction at his great establishment at Roxbury. Fifty-four tons of the same ore have been brought to Buffalo.

A new trade is now opening through this channel with Lake Superior, and is likely to give employment to a considerable portion of the Michigan shipping, while a new and steady market is opened among the miners and laborers of that country, for the produce of that state. The Detroit Daily Advertiser says, that a steamer "has arrived with fifty tons more of the same ore, including two masses of native copper and silver, weighing, the one twelve hundred, the other about two thousand pounds. These masses were filled with silver injected into the copper, and are the richest specimens yet brought from Lake Superior. We learn that the shipments of the remaning ore on the bank will be made with all possible despatch."

We copy from the London Miner's Journal of May 2d, 1846, the following notice of this region:

"In the matter of the copper and silver at Lake Superior, there is a strong probability— to say the least-that a very extensive district, rich in mines of copper certainly, and perhaps silver, is there discovered. As evidence of this fact, the government have given leases, covering an area of two hundred and eleven square miles-a tolerable mining field-and granted permits to locate five hundred and eighty-eight square miles in addition, which are not yet selected, but most of which will be as soon as the spring opens, and the country is accessible. That all this area of eight hundred square miles is mining ground, is not imagined; but that there are extensive and valuable mining fields, cannot be reasonably doubted. I have a letter from an intelligent and respectable Cornishman, written in December last, who has been some months on the ground, who says: 'I have visited many mining districts, been extensively acquanited with the whole process of mining, and have had considerable practice in mine surveying and reporting, but have never seen a mineral district superior to this. The number of metaliferous veins, their beautiful appearance, their contiguity to each other, the richness of the ores, the fine alloy of silver in many of them, all indicate immense wealth. The veins are well defined and regular; and there is scarcely a spot embraced by the locations but would warrant the outlay of almost any amount of capital, and promise adequate returns. The ores are rich; so that, in their raw state, they are equal, and in many cases superior to the ores (when dressed) of the far-famed mines of Cornwall; they are easily pulverized, and may be made to yield a large per centage of fine copper.'

COPPER SMELTING IN THE WEST.

A new interest has been awakened in regard to copper-and we now not only hear of extensive mining operations at the west, but of preparations for smelting copper at points on the lakes. Gen. C. M. Reed and others have organized a company for that purpose at Erie, Pa., in anticipation of a rich yield of ore from the mines of the Erie and Buffalo Copper Company.

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