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 introduced, 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. 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,... ...... Chief Towns. Pop. in 1841. Counties. Bedfordshire,........ Bedford,.. Berkshire,. Breconshire,.. ... 2,016 Reaeing,....... 21,163 Monmouthshire,... Monmouth,... 5,446 Brecon,..... 7,430 Montgomeryshire,. Montgomery,. 1,208 Buckinghamshire,.. Buckingham,.. 4,054 Norfolk,. ...... Norwich,...... 62,344 Caermarthenshire,. Caermarthen,. 9,526 Northamptonshire, Northampton, 21,242 Caernarvonshire,... Caernarvon,.. 8,001 Northumberland,.. Newcastle..... 100,991 Cambridgeshire,... Cambridge,... 24,453 Nottinghamshire,.. Nottingham,. 60,170 Cardiganshire,..... Cardignan,.... 2,925 Oxfordshire,........ Oxford,.. Cheshire,........ Chester,....... 25,613 Pembrokeshire,..... Pembroke,..... 7,412 Cornwall,........... Launceston,.. 2,460 Radnorshire,....... Radnor,....... 23,834 478 Cumberland,. Carlisle,........ 24,453 Rutlandshire,....... Oakham,. 2,726 8,045 Shropshire,.......... Shrewsbury,.. 23,590 36,395 Somersetshire,..... Wells,....... Denbighshire,. Derbyshire,..... Devonshire,.... Dorsetshire, Durham,...... ... Essex,...... Flintshire,. 39,780 Staffordshire,...... Dorchester,.... 6,186 Suffolk,. Durham,....... 14,151 Surrey,. Chelmsford,... 19,045 Sussex,.. Flint,.. 1,961 Warwickshire,..... Warwick,... 10,077 Westmoreland,... Appleby, Gloucestershire,.... Gloucester,.... 18,551 Wlitshire, Hampshire,......... Winchester,... 10,732 Worcestershire,.... Worcester,.... 30,961 Herefordshire,...... Hereford,...... 10,921 Yorkshire,........... York,........... 32,718 Huntingdonshire,... Huntingdon,... 3,507 Middlesex,.......... London,................. Glamorganshire,... Cardiff,. 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. Add the population of Hull, another large town in Yorkshire,.. 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. Ir 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 in. vestment 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.' وو 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. MANUFACTURES AND PRODUCTS OF CONNECTICUT. The State of Connecticut is one of the three smallest States in the Union. Its soil is not noted for productiveness; but it contains more than 300,000 freemen, as industrious, frugal, enlightened, and Christian, as can be found in the Union. Its agricultural productions, as will be seen below, are not small, being nearly sufficient for the supply of its population. In its manufactures, it is rich indeed. The statistics of the State, during the year ending October, 1845, have been gathered and published. In the absence of the official document, (a copy of which we would be glad if some gentleman in that State would furnish the editor of this Magazine,) we gather from the Hartford papers the following items of some of the leading articles of manufactured merchandise in that year, and the number of hands employed in their manufacture :— From this table, it will be seen that the value of the manufacture of ten different articles is $12,480,000, giving employment to 13,112 American laborers. But besides these, were manufactured of flour, $334,698; of boots and shoes, $1,741,920; of hats, caps and muffs, $921,806; of saddles, harnesses and trunks, $547,990; of tin-ware, $487,810; and of pins, $170,000, giving employment to at least 2,500 additional laborers. The value of agricultural productions and live stock, during the same year, are given as follows:-Of butter made, $918,839: of cheese, $334,451; of hay raised, $4,212,725; of Indian corn, $1,183,159; of potatoes, $1,115,377; of rye, $495,090; of wheat, $38,633; of tobacco, $243,805; of buckwheat, $88,566; of oats, $571,434; of neat cattle, $2,808,352; of horses, $1,249,521; of sheep, $315,004; of swine, $1,144,756. We hope that some intelligent gentleman in Connecticut will furnish us with an elaborate account of the "commerce and resources" of that State, or authentic materials for the preparation of an article on the subject. MANUFACTURE OF POTATO SUGAR. The growers of potatoes in the British kingdom are likely to be benefited by the exertions of the home sugar manufacturers, who are now determined to purchase all that comes within their reach. At the manufactory of potato sugar at Stratford, in Essex, and other places, we understand that the "fruit of the earth" (potato) will be taken in any quantity, and at a fair price. We have no doubt, says an English paper, that the juice of the cane is superior to the meal of the potato, but we have positive proof that the potato can make up in quantity what is deficient in quality, and as no one can question the nutriment in the potato, we do not see why potato sugar should not be as advantageous to the tea or coffee table as the potato is to the dinner table; be this as it may, we have it on good authority that three tons of the raw material will produce one ton of the manufactured article, and consequently the British manufacturer can successfully compete with the foreign and colonial producer, and pay the same duty as that which is levied on the sugar imported from the colonies. AMERICAN MANUFACTURES IN RUSSIA. We learn from the Miner's Journal, that there is now in full operation at St. Petersburg perhaps the most extraordinary, as well as gigantic, commercial establishments which can be found in the history of the world, ancient or modern. Messrs. Eastwick and Harrison, the famous locomotive engine and boiler-makers of Philadelphia, having succeeded in obtaining the great contracts for the construction of the locomotive requirements for the system of railroads about to be carried out in Russia, have located themselves there-built a manufactory of immense extent, in which three thousand five hundred men are constantly employed, and in the conducting of which there are some curious features. To keep good order among such a congregation-exceeding the whole population of a good sized town, and consisting of English, American, Scotch, Irish, German, and Russian-a company of soldiers is kept on duty at the works, and a perfect police force, whose duties are confined to the establishment. Refractory men of every nation are discharged for irregular conduct, excepting Russians, and these are, for all the slightest offences, immediately tied up to the triangles, soundly flogged, and sent again to their work. It is but justice to Messrs. Eastwick and Harrison to say, that they have strongly appealed against this treatment, so peculiar to this semi-barbarous nation, but without effect. The plan of paying this enormous multitude is ingenious; on being engaged, the man's name is, we believe, not even asked, but he is presented with a medal, numbered; in the pay-house are three thousand five hundred wooden boxes, and on presenting himself on Saturday night for his pay, the clerk hands him his money, takes his medal as a receipt, which is dropped in the box of its number, and gives him another medal, as a pledge of engagement for the following week. FRENCH GOBELIN MANUFACTORY. The Paris correspondent of the Newark Advertiser gives an account of a recent visit to the famous Gobelin manufactory in Paris, where, under the direction of the government, carpets and tapestry of unrivalled beauty are fabricated. On entering the buildings, of which there are about half a dozen, he was struck with what seemed to be very splendid paintings, but which proved to be pieces of tapestry wrought in the manufactory. Paintings, both old and new, are copied with the greatest exactness, the greatest animation being given to the features of the figures, and fruit of all kinds being represented with the utmost perfection. One which particularly struck his attention was a porcelain dish of various fruits placed upon the corner of a table of variegated marble. By its side lay a handkerchief with a lace border. So finely was the worsted wrought, that the figures on the dish, the stains in the marble, and even the delicate "work," and each thread of the lace, were distinctly visible. The workman stands at the back of the canvass, this position being necessary, because all the cuttings, &c., are executed on that side. He states that a period of from two to six years is requisite for the completion of each piece, and the cost often amounts to thirty-five hundred dollars. But even at this rate, the workmen are very meagrely paid; the best of them receiving but three hundred and sixty dollars per year. The establishment employs about one hundred and thirty persons, and none of their productions are sold, all being either used in the royal palaces, or distributed as presents by the king. The manufacture derives its name from John Gobelin, who commenced it in 1450. LEAD MINES OF ILLINOIS. There are three furnaces now in successful operation at the lead mines in Hardin county, in the southern section of Illinois. The lead produced is of the best quality, and the ore inexhaustible. But a little while will elapse, says the Alton Telegraph, before Southern Illinois will compete successfully with the north, in the production and sale of this article of commerce. |