COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW.

COMMERCIAL EMBARRASSMENTS-THE GATHERING AND BURSTING OF THE STORM THE BANK PANIC-CONDition of the BANKS IN NEW YORK, BOSTON, AND MASSACHUSETTS—ILLEGITIMATE BANKS AND BANKING-DEPOSITS AND COINAGE AT THE PHILADELPHIA AND NEW ORLEANS MINTS FOR OCTOBER, AND AT ALL THE MINTS FOR THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF THE YEAR, AND SINCE THE DATE OF THEIR ORGANIZATION-RECEIPTS FOR CASH DUTIES AT NEW YORK AND PHILADEL PHIA-IMPORTS AT NEW YORK FOR OCTOBER AND SINCE JANUARY FIRST-IMPORTS OF DRY GOODSEXPORTS FROM NEW YORK TO FOREIGN PORTS FOR OCTOBER AND SINCE JANUARY FIRST-SHIP MENTS OF SPECIE-COMPARATIVE EXPORTS OF DOMESTIC PRODUCE-QUARTERLY STATEMENT OF EXPORTS FROM NEW ORLEANS, ETC.

The commercial embarrassments noticed in our last have continued, and in many sections of the country the pressure has increased, until credit is shaken everywhere, and all classes are made to realize the insecurity of worldly possessions. The causes which led to this have been a long time at work. The prosperity which prevailed almost universally up to the middle of last year had made our business men so confident in their own strength, that all classes had expanded their engagements far beyond the protection of their own resources, and were exposed to the storm which began to gather on every side. The first great shock to credit was the discovery of the Schuyler fraud, which brought to a stand nearly all those works of internal improvement for whose successful completion a large share of public confidence was so necessary. From that moment sacrifices began, and the Railroad interest will never wholly recover from the blow. The war in Europe created more or less money pressure abroad, and capitalists there were less liberal in their investments here, at a time when their assistance would have been most acceptable. Goods which had accumulated abroad where the demand has almost ceased, were crowded upon our shores, at whatever advance could be obtained, thus aggravating the evil. At that moment, instead of liberal shipments of breadstuffs to cover this new drain upon our resources, the exports fell off, owing to the high prices of cereals in the interior, and the great scarcity at the seaboard. The failure in the harvests here had been greatly exaggerated, and farmers were led to hoard their products. The cotton crop, part of which might have been relied upon in this emergency, was kept back by the dreadful ravages of the epidemic which prevailed in the vicinity of Southern ports. From New York, those who had contracted large foreign debts were obliged to send the specie, and this rapidly increased the evil. While this was going on at the seaboard, a worse panic began in the interior, and especially in the West and Northwest. In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, and to some extent in the States on the south of the Ohio, a large circulation of bank notes, mostly of the free banks, had been obtained through expenditures for railroad purposes, and the general expansion of business. When the contraction began, this circulation came in rapidly, and found the banks wholly unprepared to meet it. As the difficulty became known, the excitement increased, and every effort made for relief only hightened the panic. All the banks which had balances at the East drew for them, and borrowed to the extent of their credit besides, while between twenty and thirty, perhaps more, of institutions which were really solvent, were compelled to suspend payment. A large number of private bankers were carried down in the

crash, and the distress became general. The public mind is now less excited, but the difficulty is not removed, and cannot well be until there be a revival of business, by large shipments of the produce now hoarded. At the South the evil has not, as yet, been so seriously felt. The planters have not been for many years in so secure a position, and if the crop of cotton now making shall sell briskly in Europe, they will escape to a great extent the panie which has elsewhere prevailed. During all this severe pressure in the money market, and general disturbance of public confidence, it is a cause for congratulation, that the mercantile community have stood the trial so nobly. Very few merchants previously in good credit have been obliged to suspend payments, and even among the weaker houses the failures have not been as numerous as might have been expected. The reason of this may be found in the increased supply of metallic currency remaining in the country. Over one hundred million dollars in gold coin have been added to the circulation of the United States, since the discovery of gold in California. Thus although the rates of interest have been high for nearly eighteen months, there has been no such scarcity of money as has been felt in former periods of commercial embarrassment. The impression now prevails that the convulsion has reached its hight, and that having passed the crisis affairs must now gradually mend.

The banks have been severely tried, but those in our large cities (with the exceptions before noticed,) have mostly stood the shock unmoved. In New York the deposits have been drawn down by country institutions, and thus the loans on call, reserved for such an emergency, have been called in, reducing the total under that head. The discounts have also been contracted to meet the drain of specie for export. We annex a continuation of the weekly averages of the New York city banks :

WEEKLY AVERAGES OF NEW YORK CITY BANKS.

We also annex a continuation of the weekly statement of the condition of the

The following will show the latest returns of the banks of Massachusetts, not including the Boston banks noted above:

How far the present excitement will go before it is permanently checked, it is now impossible to predict; but the people will ere long discover that they are the worst sufferers, and that any blows aimed at sound banks can but fall on the heads of the business community. While, therefore, all who have the gift of reason should exercise patience and forbearance toward the banks at such a crisis, the banks themselves should derive a useful lesson from the excitement.

Nearly all of the new banks which have been started in the West and Northwest within the last two years, have been originated by speculators and not by capitalists, and a great many of them have been managed in a way little calculated to inspire confidence. They have pushed out their circulation as far from home as possible, and some have tried various dodges, in the way of inaccessible locations and inconvenient coins, to evade or delay the redemption of their isBanks without capital can flourish only in prosperous times. They are, in fact, borrowers of money, and when the people ask them to pay up, they find the settlement exceedingly inconvenient. If banks, which are lenders of money, become so expanded as to risk their existence, what dependence can be placed upon banks which have no capital to lend? The recent shaking up of these institutions will sift out some of the weakest, and entitle those which sustain themselves to greater confidence.

sues.

Now that the Assay Office at New York is in full operation, the deposits at the Philadelphia mint have, of course, largely decreased; but the receipts from California have been augmented by the arrangement for weekly steamers.

DEPOSITS AND COINAGE AT PHILADELPHIA AND NEW ORLEANS MINTS.

We annex a summary of the items of coinage at the mint and all the branches down to the close of September:

SUMMARY OF COINAGE EXECUTED AT THE MINT OF THE UNITED STATES AND ITS BRANCHES, FROM JANUARY 1ST TO SEPTEMBER 30TH, 1854.

The total amount of coinage at the Mint and Branch Mints of the
United States since the organization in 1793 to 30th Sept., 1854.
Of this sum there was in gold..

Of the gold coined at the Mint and Branches since the discovery of gold in California, the amount is ..

Of the latter sum, the Georgia and Carolina gold mines have produced, from 1849 to 1853, both inclusive

$424,876,420 02 328,234,597 06 95,090,529 00 1,551,293 09

251,654,291 56

3,560,635 50

The receipts for cash duties at the port of New York correspond with the value of dutiable goods entered for consumption and withdrawn from warehouse. For the month of October, as well as during each previous quarter of the year, the total shows a comparative decline.

CASH DUTIES RECEIVED AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK.

Total 10 months. $28,014,179 07 $26,923,612 48 $37,486,128 97 $34,839,943 91

The following will show the comparative receipts, for duties, at Philadelphia

The imports from foreign ports continue to decline, both in quantity and value. At New York the receipts for October were $1,151,887 less than for October last year, but $2,383,165 greater than for October, 1852, and $2,453,364 greater than for October, 1851. The falling off in dutiable goods is still greater, but the receipts of free goods have largely increased, and will be still greater when the Reciprocity Treaty with the British Provinces is carried into effect. We annex a carefully prepared summary:

FOREIGN IMPORTS AT NEW YORK FOR OCTOBER.

Total entered at the port..... $8,577,674 $8,647,873 $12,182,925 $11,031,038 Withdrawn from warehouse......

1,602,486 1,256,570 1,188,983 2,070,544