STATEMENT showing the Quantity, Price, and Value of the Cotton grown in the United States, from 1819 to 1840.

The quantity of cotton received at the port of Boston, from October, 1839, to October, 1840, was,

80,709 bales.

Estimate for 1841

Since January 1st, 1841, there were received to this, the 26th of May, less than five months, 93,057 bales, and the quantity received this year will probably be 150,000 bales.-Boston Atlas.

1825

10,876,475

1826

1820 8,690,539 1827 8,189,496 1821 6,867,515 1828 6,508,570 1822 7,136,366 1829 8,134,676 1823 6,671,998 1830 7,580,821 1837 1824 7,833,713 1831 6,528,605 1838 1832 7,685,833 1839 10,318,822 7,468,966 1833 8,337,512 1840 10,036,769

1834 11,119,565

1835 11,224,298

1836

13,482,757

11,138,992

11,017,391

55,545,572

52,965,513

78,338,594

Gain in last seven years, 25,373,081.

SPEECH

On the Loan Bill, delivered in the Senate, April 12th,

1842.

MR. CALHOUN said: That it was not his object, in rising at this late stage of the question, to discuss the provisions of this bill. This had been done so fully and ably by those who had preceded in the debate on the same side, that he had nothing to add. But, in order to have a full and clear understanding of the bearing of this measure on the finances of the Government, we must look beyond the provisions of the bill. It was not a lone measure, unconnected with those which preceded, or would succeed it,-but quite the reverse. It was a link in the system of policy commenced at the special session,-and which had hitherto been perseveringly followed up; and, if he was not greatly deceived, would be persisted in so long as those who now have the control held power. Already has the system contributed greatly to depress the credit of the Government; and it is to be feared, if it be not arrested, that it will sink it far below its present level. What he proposed, in the remarks which he was about to offer, was to trace the consequences of the system in its bearings on the finances and credit of the Go

vernment.

That the credit of the Government is greatly impaired of late, will not be denied. It is but a short time since the very committee which reported this loan bill reported another for about the same amount, which became a law. At that time, so high did the credit of the Government stand, that it was expressly provided that not more than six per cent. interest should be allowed, and that the loan should be redeemable in three years. As short as was the period, it was confidently predicted that it would be taken at five per cent.;

and the Secretary of the Treasury commenced his negotiations for the loan with that expectation, and actually obtained a considerable portion of it under six per cent. The bill passed late in July last; and in the period of nine short months, the very same committee reported this bill, which proposes to send the public credit into the market to be sold for what it will bring; and this, too, for twenty years,-a period nearly seven times longer than the term prescribed in the former bill.

The conditions offered for a loan may fairly be regarded as indicating the value which the Government stamps on its own credit; and we may be assured that the keen-sighted race who have money to lend will rarely affix a higher value than what the stamp indicates. Judged by this standard, the credit of the Government has never before been as low; no, not in the late war with England,—a war with one of the greatest, if not the greatest power on earth,-commenced with a remnant of an old debt of more than forty millions of dollars, and at the very beginning of which there was a universal suspension of payments by all the banks south of New England. Even in that great struggle, under all its embarrassments, no Secretary of the Treasury or committee ever dared to put the credit of the Government into market under such disadvantageous terms as is proposed in this bill. The longest period for the redemption of any loan contracted during the war, if his memory served him, was but twelve years—a period not much exceeding half the time allowed by this bill. Such and so great has been the decay of the public credit in the short space of a few months! And here the question is presented, What has caused this unexampled and rapid decay of the credit of the Government in a period of peace, when the resources of the country are more than doubled, and with a public debt comparatively so small?

The Chairman of the Finance Committee felt the force of this question; and, if we are to believe him, the extra

ordinary offer which the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to make for this loan is to be explained, not on the ground that the credit of the Government is impaired, but from the scarcity of money. He says that there is an extraordinary demand for money, and that a higher interest, in consequence must be paid for its use; and that the Government, like individuals, can get it only by giving its market value. Unfortunately for him, the fact does not accord with his explanation. Interest is now lower in the general market of the world than when the former loan bill passed. The best index of that market is the rate of interest at which the Bank of England discounts. Judging by this, there has been a very great reduction of interest within the last few months-from five to four per cent. Even in our own country, where confidence is imperfect, interest is far from being high. It was but the other day stated by a Senator in a debate on this bill, that the stocks of the State of Maine and the city of Philadelphia, bearing six per cent. interest, are at par; and that of his own State, in its own market, is, he is informed, something above par. But the Senator himself may be quoted against his own explanation. Forgetful of the ground that he had taken, he mentioned it as a remarkable fact, that exchange with England at this time is very low-several per cent. below par. From this he inferred that money was plenty-not, indeed, from increase of quantity, but from the diminution of business. Like every thing else,

its price (if he might use the expression as applied to money) followed the great law of demand and supply; and it might be lowered, as well by diminishing the demand as by increasing the supply; and, in either case, a favorable state of the market would exist for the negotiation of loans on good terms, where the credit of the borrower was above suspicion.

The Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Simmons), taking a more correct view of the fact, admitted that the difficulty of negotiating a loan on favorable terms was the loss of cre