creditor, let the act be done when the obligation is incurred; after a man is insolvent, we hold that he has no claim to the assets in his hands, and has no moral right to divide them among his creditors according to his own interest or caprice.

During the recent pressure the railroad interest has been very much affected, and the whole fabric of internal improvements has been shaken to its foundations. The panic has partially subsided, but there is still a great want of confidence in most of these enterprises, and it will be a long time before they will recover the standing they have lost. A similar depression occurred a few years since in England, and both were the result of the same cause; the whole system was managed by a few individuals, chiefly for their own benefit, without any attempt on the part of those who contributed the means to control or direct their expenditure so as to secure a resulting benefit to the only lawful interest. Here and there, we find an exception to this, and the corporations which have been managed honestly for the highest good of all interested, have been very little disturbed by the storm, unless their credit may have been crippled by the general distrust.

The sad calamity by which several hundred lives have been lost, and one of the noblest specimens of naval architecture buried in the depths of the ocean, has excited the sympathies of all classes of the community, but has cast an especial gloom over commercial circles. The loss of the Arctic has been the crowning misfortune of a long series of marine disasters, which will make the current year unenviably famous in nautical records. The value of the ship and cargo probably exceeded one million of dollars. The marine insurance companies have lost within the last fifteen months far more than their aggregate profits, and were the business of the year to be taken by itself as a basis for a fair estimate of the risk of underwriting, the rates would have to be still more largely increased.

The Bank panic to which allusion was made in our last, has continued, and a number of the banks throughout the country have been obliged to suspend. In New York city, the Eighth Avenue, the Knickerbocker, and the Suffolk, were forced to suspend, and will probably go into liquidation. The circulation of the last two is abundantly secured. In regard to the first, the security is less positive, owing to the deposit, as part of it, of $30,000 bonds and mortgages, which are not so available at a moment's warning as State or Government stocks, even if honestly represented at the time of deposit. We are more than ever satisfied that specie, or the highest class of stocks form the only reliable basis of bank circulation. The former is the only legitimate security for paper money, but as it is so easily spirited away, stocks may to some extent be substituted. Bonds and mortgages are not convertible with sufficient ease, even if genuine; and their genuineness cannot be ascertained with sufficient certainty to place them in the first rank as securities to be deposited with a public officer who has no pecuniary interest at stake.

The specie in the banks has fluctuated some during the month, but has generally been lessened. The following is a continuation of the comparative statement of the weekly averages of the New York city banks. In the last the Knickerbocker and Suffolk are not included:

:

We also annex a comparative statement of the Boston city banks, continued

from our last issue:

Oct. 16.

92,102,013 12,042,244
91,380,525 10,630,517
88,618,936 11,130,377

8,712,136

71,795,423

$31,775,650

Loans and discounts..

50,987,543

50,175,005

49,706,004

50,080,406

The following is a monthly statement of the condition of the banks in Massachusetts out of Boston, including a number of new banks which have recently gone into operation. Six banks have neglected to make returns:

The new banks are the Brighton Market, the City, (Worcester) the Conway, the Grafton, the Miller's River, and the Townsend. The North Bridgewater has increased its capital $10,823.

We continue our statement of the deposits and coinage at the Philadelphia and New Orleans mints; but this will no longer contain the same relative proportion of the production of the precious metals, as part of the receipts from San Francisco are in coin from the mint there and pass directly into circulation here, and part are retained for use in California :

DEPOSITS AND COINAGE AT PHILADELPHIA AND NEW ORLEANS MINTS.

We also annex a comparative statement of the deposits of gold at the Philadelphia mint, since January 1st:

$32,051,942 $36,299,258 $40,864,048 $31,136,579

The falling off in deposits does not indicate any decrease in the production in California, a large amount being now shipped without being deposited at the mint. This difference will be greatly increased from henceforth, as the new Assay Office in New York is now in operation, and all of the gold intended for shipment will be deposited there in exchange for bars, which will be always on hand. We annex a statement of the deposits and coinage at the mint in San Francisco for the month of August, which did not reach us in time for our last number::-

DEPOSITS AND COINAGE AT SAN FRANCISCO MINT FOR AUGUST.

The following will show the receipts for cash duties at New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, since the date of our last:-

CASH DUTIES RECEIVED AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK.

The receipts for duties at the custom-house, Philadelphia, for the month of September, amounted to $325,077, against $521,811 in the corresponding month last year. The following is a comparative statement of the receipts for nine months in the present and past two years:

RECEIPTS AT THE BOSTON CUSTOM-HOUSE FOR THE MONTH AND QUARTER ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, AS COMPARED WITH THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR.

The foreign imports have fallen off at nearly all of our ports during the month of September. The total at New York for the month is $3,025,816 less than for September, 1853; compared with former years, however, there has been an increase, the total for the same month being $1,646,669 greater than for September, 1852, and $4,536,097 greater than for September, 1851.

IMPORTS OF FOREIGN MERCHANDISE AT NEW YORK FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER.

Total entered at the port..... $9,730,791 $12,620,219 $17,292,704 $14,266,888 Withdrawn from warehouse... 1,669,304 1,254,358 1,709,052 3,181,316

It will be seen that the warehousing business has largely increased, while the direct entries for consumption have diminished. The imports for the current year at New York down to the close of August, as shown in our previous report, were about the same as for the corresponding eight months of last year; hence it follows, that the difference, as shown above, is about the same as for the expired portion of the year. Thus, the total imports at New York since January, are $3,008,762 less than for the first nine months of 1853. They show, however, a gain of $50,225,955 over the same period of 1852, and of $42,304,618 over the first nine months of 1851, as will appear from the following summary:

IMPORTS OF FOREIGN MERCHANDISE AT NEW YORK FOR NINE MONTHE, FROM

Total entered at the port...... 110,088,128 102,166,791 155,401,508 152,892,746 Withdrawn from warehouse... 9,801,534 12,206,926 11,682,018 17,537,217 Taking the comparison by quarters, we find that the first quarter of the year was the only one which showed any decline in comparison with the corresponding period of last year:-

QUARTERLY STATEMENT OF FOREIGN IMPORTS.

Jan. 1st to Sept. 30.... $110,088,128 $102,166,791 $155,401,508 $152,392,746

The following will show what portion of the September imports consisted of dry goods. It will be seen that they show a greater falling off than the total imports:-

IMPORTS OF FOREIGN DRY GOODS AT NEW YORK FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER.