THE PURCHASE OF SILVER BY THE UNITED STATES MINT. The Director of the United States Mint at Philadelphia has issued the following circular touching the plan of purchasing silver:-- MINT OF THE UNITED STATES, The Director of the Mint gives notice, that from and after the 15th day of August next, payments for silver purchased for the Mint at Philadelphia, and at the Branch Mint, New Orleans, will be made three-fourths in silver coin of the new emission, and one-fourth in gold. In accordance with existing arrangements the whole price will be advanced in the first instance in gold, and as the new coin is ready for issue it will be paid out, in the proportions specified, in exchange for gold returned by the parties selling silver, and in the order of their priority of sales. At the New Orleans Branch Mint an option is reserved to substitute, partially or entirely, drafts on the Assistant Treasurer at New York, for the gold otherwise payable for silver purchased. The present prices of silver, which will be continued until further notice, are as follows: For dollars of Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and Spain; for francs, and for silver coin of the United States, other than the three cents,-$1 21 an ounce. For thalers of Sweden, and of the Northern States of Germany, $1 01 an ounce gross. For silver in bars, for mixed coins, and for other silver coins not herein specified, $1 21 for each ounce at standard fineness (nine-tenths) as determined on assay at the Mint. JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, Director. CONDITION OF THE PLANTERS' BANK OF Tennessee. O. EWING, Esq., the Cashier of this Bank, has forwarded to the Editor of this Magazine the subjoined official statement of the condition of the Bank and branches, on the 1st of July, 1853, as follows:-- CONDITION OF THE BANKS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. We give below a summary statement of the liabilities and resources of the Banks of the City of New York, in September of each year, from 1850 to 1852 inclusive, also for June 1853: Total resources.. $92,678,516 $95,526,177 $123,497,235 $144,180,309 In September 1850, the banking capital, it appears from the above, was $27,440,070, and June, 1853, $44,196,793: showing an increase from September, 1850, to June, 1853, of $16,759,723. CONDITION OF THE BANK OF CHARLESTON IN 1853. We have received from a correspondent the "Proceedings at the Annual Meeting of the Stockholders of the Bank of Charleston, South Carolina, held at the Banking House, July 6th, 1853." From the report of the President, A. G. ROSE, Esq., we learn that the net profits of the year, after deducting current expenses, amount to $318,643. Out of this sum have been declared two semi annual dividends of 5 per cent each, amounting to $316,080, leaving to the credit of reserved profits $2,563. The following abstract from the cashier's statement of the general condition of the Bank on the 30th of June, may serve to illustrate the actual position of the Bank at that time, as to its immediate liabilities and resources :— Bank notes in circulation..... $2,111,054 | Gold and silver coin...... Due to city banks Due to distant banks.. Unclaimed dividends Due to depositors.... 31.972 Notes of city and country 750,576 banks.... $562,238 98,897 ... 11,044 Due by city banks 50,893 Showing an excess of resources over liabilities, of $1,430,239. The total amount lying over under protest in bank, on the 1st of July, 1853, was $10,080. The quarterly examination of the cash assets of the Bank, shows that everything in that important department is correct and satisfactory. The stock of the Bank is held by 1,075 proprietors, who are classed as follows:By individuals in their own right $1,932,200; by guardians, executors, trustees, &c., $220,400; banks and other corporate bodies $1,008,200; total capital $3,160,800. The President says: The "The business of the year has generally been safe and regular. With but few exceptions, all obligations held by the bank have been punctually paid at their maturity. In the foreign exchange and discount departments, not a bill or note lies over. exchanges this year have generally yielded but small returns of profit on the amount of capital employed in them; which may mainly be attributed to the very great competition and consequent equalization of values in the different markets, where we are accustomed to deal." A summary furnishes some idea of the various transactions of the bank, and to what extent it has offered facilities to its customers and the community, in supplying the current demands of trade during the year. From this summary we learn that the bills and notes discounted amounted to $14,077,144; amount of domestic exchange purchased $11,859,436; amount of foreign exchange purchased $3,305,249; making a total of $29,241,829. The amount of exchanges sold in checks and credits on the North and elsewhere was $11,973,983; and in bills on England and France $2,903,107, showing a total amount of business transacted of $44,118,909. We subjoin a list of the present officers and directors of the Bank, viz:— A. G. Rose, President: J. K. Sass, Cashier; John Cheesborough, Assistant Cashier; H. Gourdin, Ker Boyce, L. M. Wiley, G. A. Trenholm, Win. Bull Pringle, Wm. II. Gilliland, Alexander Robertson, J. S. Bowie, Charles T. Lowndes, T. L. Wragg, W. C. Courtney, J. K. Sass, Directors. SUPPLEMENTAL BANKING LAW OF ILLINOIS. We give below the several sections of " An act supplemental to, and explanatory of an act entitled An act to establish a general system of banking, and to prevent the issuing and circulating of illegal currency." SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the act to which this is supplementary shall be so construed, that no person or persons shall become incorporated under said act until he, she, or they, shall first have deposited with the auditor United States stocks or State stocks, as re quired by said act, so that the capital stock of said incorporation shall amount, in such United States stocks or State stocks, at the rate and value fixed by said act, to the sum of fifty thousand dollars; and at no period during the existence of said bank shall the said capital stock of the same, in stocks deposited as aforesaid, be less than the sum of fifty thousand dollars. SEC. 2. No bank, banking association, corporation, broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, or other person, shall emit, issue, utter, pay out, pass, or receive in payment or on deposit, any bill of credit, bond, promissory note, bill of exchange, order, draft, certificate of depost, written instrument, or in-trument partly written and partly printed, to be used as a general circulating medium, as or in lieu of money, or other currency, or intended by the makers thereof to be so used, other than the bills or notes of banks of this State, countersigned in the auditor's office, according to the provisions of the act to establish a general system of banking, or the notes or bills, (of a denomination not less than five dollars,) of specie-paying banks, created by an express authority of law, in either of the United States, Territories, the District of Columbia, or Canada. Every bank, banking association, corporation, broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, or other person, who shall violate the provisions of this section, shall forfeit and pay to any person or per sons, who may sue for the same, the sum of fifty dollars for each and every bill of credit, bond, promissory note, bill of exchange, order, draft, certificate of deposit, or other instrument, so issued, uttered, paid out, passed, or received, contrary to the provisions of this section, to be recovered in an action of debt before any justice, magistrate, or court, having jurisdiction to the amount claimed in any such suit. SEC. 3. In addition to the penalties in the foregoing section, every broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, and every officer, agent, or employee, of any bank, banking association, corporation, broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, who shall offend against the provisions of this act, shall, for every bill, bond, note, order, certificate of deposit, or other instrument or piece of paper emitted, issued, uttered, paid out, passed or received, contrary to the provisions of this act, be liable to be indicted, and, on conviction, shall be imprisoned in the county jail not more than one year. It shall not be necessary in any indictment, suit, or prosecution, under the provisions of this act, to specify or particularize any particular bill, note, bond, order, certificate of deposit, or other instrument, but it shall be sufficient to allege generally that the defendant or defendants have been guilty of violating the provisions of this act by uttering, emitting, paying out, passing or receiving, as the case may be, any such bill, note, bond, order, certificate of deposit, or other instrument, of the character or description which by this act are forbidden or prohibited to be issued, passed, or received, and proof of such general nature shall be sufficient to sustain such indictment, suit, or prosecution. SEC. 4. Whenever it shall be represented to any one of the bank commissioners, upon the oath or affirmation of any creditable person, setting forth the facts, or whenever, from any information, any one of the said commissioners shall have reason to believe that any bank, corporation, broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, or any officer, clerk, agent, or other employee, of any such bank, corporation, broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, shall have been guilty of any violation of the provisions of this act, it shall be the duty of such commissioner forthwith to proceed to the said bank, or place of business of such bank, corporation, broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, officer, clerk, agent, or employee, and then and there to inquire, by the oaths of the said broker, banker, dealer, officer, clerk, agent, or employee, or other testimony, whether the said bank, corporation, banker, broker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, officer, clerk, agent, or employee, have been guilty of any violation of this act. The said bank commissioner shall have full power and authority to issue subpoenas and attachments, to compel the attendance of witnesses before him, from any part of the State, and shall also have power and authority to administer all oaths and affirmations to parties, witnesses, or others, required to be administered or taken by this act. He shall reduce the said evidence and answers to writing, and report to the other bank commissioners, and also to the State's attorney for the judicial circuit in which the said bank or other corporation, or the place of business of any such broker, banker, dealer, officer, clerk, agent, or other employee, may be situated, and if the said commissioner shall be of opinion that any such banker, broker, dealer, officer, agent, or employee, has been guilty of any violation of the provisions of this act, he shall make complaint before some judge, justice of the peace, or other proper officer, and the said judge, justice of the peace, or other officer, shall proceed against the person or persons named in said complaints, in all respects, as provided by the eighteenth division of chapter thirty of Revised Statutes, entitled "Criminal Jurispru dence;" and, for the purpose of compelling the attendance of witnesses, may issue subpoenas and attachments to any part of the State: provided, that no answer made by any broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, officer, clerk, agent, or employee, or any other person, upon any examination made by or before any bank commissioner, judge, or justice of the peace, or other officer, touching any violation of this act, shall be given in evidence against him, her, or them, on the trial of any indictment, suit, or prosecution, for the recovery of any penalty or forfeiture imposed or provided for by this act, or in any other writ or legal proceeding what ever. SEC. 5. In case the bank commissioners, or a majority of them, shall be satisfied that any bank, corporation, broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, or such officer, agent, clerk, or employee, has been guilty of any violation of the provisions of this act, they shall immediately apply to some judge of a circuit or supreme court for a writ of injunction against such bank, corporation, broker, banker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, such officer, clerk, agent, or employee, forbidding or restraining him or them from violating any of the provis ions of this act; and such judge, after reasonable notice given to such bank, corporation, banker, broker, dealer in money, produce, or foreign merchandise, such officer, clerk, agent, or employee, shall proceed without delay to investigate the questions involved in such application, and shall have power to compel the production of all books, papers, vouchers, and documents, in the possession of the defendant or defendants, or to cause and require answers, on oath, from such defendant or defendants, which answers shall not be evidence on the trial of any other action or suit in law or equity; and if, upon such examination, he shall be of opinion that any of the provisions of this act have been violated, he shall issue such writ or injunction and enforce the same, in case it shall be disregarded, according to the practice of the courts of chancery; and such further proceedings shall be had upon such application, in the circuit court of the county where the office or place of business of such bank, corporation, broker, banker, dealer, officer, clerk, agent, or employee, may be situated, as may be necessary to enforce the provisions of this act. And if it shall be finally determined by the judge or court that any of the provisions of this act have been violated, it shall, by the order of the judge or court, be certified to the auditor, which shall be sufficient authority to him, and he shall proceed to put the said bank into liquidation, in the matter contemplated by this act and the act to which this is a supplement. SEC. 6. The bank commissioners to be appointed under the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement, before entering upon the duties of their office, shall take and subscribe on oath or affirmation, faithfully and impartially to perform all the duties enjoined upon and required to be performed by them under the provisions of this act, and the act to which this is a supplement; which said oath or affirmation shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. SEC. 7. Every payment made, in whole or in part, in any bill, note, bond, order, draft, certificate of deposit, or other instrument or paper, the passing, uttering, emitting, or use of which is prohibited by this act, shall be utterly null and void, and the persons or corporation to whom any such payment may have been made therein, may sue or recover upon the original contract or cause of action, in the same manner and with like effect as if no such payment had been made. SEC. 8. No action shall be maintained in any court of this State upon any contract, expressed or implied, the consideration of which, in whole or in part, shall be any note, check, draft, or other instrument or paper, the use, receipt, or emission of which is prohibited by this act, but the same shall be adjudged to be utterly null and void. SEC. 9. In all prosecutions and suits for the recovery of the penalties imposed for any violation of the provisions of this act, the person sueing for the same, (notwithstanding he may be liable for, or may have given bond for the costs of such suit, or may be entitled to the said penalties when recovered), and the defendant or defendants shall be competent witnesses. SEC. 10. This act to be in force and take effect from and after the first day of August, 1853. GOLD-ITS INCREASE AND ITS EFFECT. The Boston Atlas, (now edited by the Hon. CHARLES HUDSON, late naval officer at the port of Boston,) gives an able article on the increase of gold and the effect upon the Commerce and condition of the world. The editor says that since the working of the mines in California there has been a rapid increase of gold. Up to 1852, it has been estimated that the gold from California alone would amount to $153,000,000. The total coined at the United States Mints in 1852 was $52,240,000; and though a small portion of this may have been obtained from North Carolina and Georgia, and another small portion may have been a recoinage of foreign gold, yet it is believed that as large a quantity of California gold has been used in manufactures as all the coinage of foreign gold, added to what has been obtained from Carolina and Georgia. We will, however, drop the odd numbers, and set down the amount at $52,000,000. The quantity of gold dust sent from California to Great Britain and other foreign countries during the same years, must have amounted to at least $12,000,000-making the product of California for 1852, $64,000,000. Some have estimated it much higher. From present appearances the quantity from California the present year will be increased rather than diminished. We will set it down at $66,000,000. We will also suppose that Australia and Siberia will yield $44,000,000 more; we shall then have an annual production of $110,000,000 of gold, over and above the ordinary product from other parts of the world. |