were to be restored every year to the enjoyment of full interest, and as many more to be bought in by the sinking fund. This plan has hitherto been very successful. By the gradual liquidation of the redemption and anticipation certificates, their amount was diminished, June 30, 1825, to 149,320,813 guilders (a guilder is about forty cents); and, June 30, 1828, the amount in circulation in Austria was only 78 million guilders. The metalliques have therefore come into the market in all the principal commercial cities of Europe. In the year 1821, the whole amount of the new debt contracted since 1815, or the five per cent. metalliques, was estimated at 207,960,290 guilders, and the proportion of the sinking fund to the debt at one fiftyseventh--the same ratio which the sinking fund in England bears to the public debt. The credit of these metalliques has risen very much. They stood, in 1817, at fortyeight, but had risen, in the beginning of 1823, to eighty-six, and even during the war between Turkey and Russia, they were at ninety-five. Besides these metalliques, the before-mentioned Rothschild lotteries are well known in the money markets. The Austrian government, in 1820, negotiated, through a company formed by Messrs. Parish and Rothschild, a lottery loan of 20,800,000 guilders, and soon after a second of 37,000,000 guilders, convention money. The shareholders in the first loan were to receive back their capitals, and, instead of interest, premiums at the time of the repayment of the capitals, which was to take place in the course of the next twenty years. The smallest sum which an advance of 100 guilders can yield, is 120 guilders, and the largest 120,000. In the most unfavorable event, a man must wait twenty years for his capital and premium. The second loan was opened July 28, 1820, at four per cent.; and the government bound itself, within twenty-one years, to pay off the capital, with interest and premiums, by means of fourteen lottery drawings. The proprietors received certificates, dated January 15, 1821, each for 250 guilders. Whether a share in such a lottery can produce more than four per cent. interest, depends wholly on the time of drawing, and the premium which chance may allot. The price of the tickets of the first loan varies between 118 and 120, and of the second between 98 and 102. On an average, the premiums of the first and the interest and premiums of the second loan are equivalent to an interest of five and four fifths per cent. This new order

of things was accompanied, in 1817 and 1818, by an improved organization of the national bank. The shares, which at first stood at scarcely 500 guilders in convention money, have now reached nearly 1000, and are in great demand, for they yield an annual interest of sixty guilders. The bank is, at present, wholly independent of the government.

IV. Prussian Stocks. Prussia had no public debt till 1787, but, on the contrary, had a considerable treasure in specie, and, even under the reign of Frederic William II, till 1806, owed only thirty million dollars, which were to be paid off at fixed periods. But the unhappy French war of 1806, and the more successful one of 1812-15, augmented the public debt of Prussia; and, after it had been reduced to order, her stocks came into the market in the principal cities of Europe, like the English, French, Austrian, and other public stocks. From the statement of February 17, 1820, it appears that the capital of the debts bearing interest then amounted to something more than 180 million Prussian dollars (about 123 million Spanish), and the yearly interest, or rente, to 7,637,177 Prussian dollars. Several millions have since been extinguished by the sinking fund. At present, the following Prussian stocks are in the market:-1. the proper national stocks, which comprehend the greatest part of the public debt, and the proceeds of which, in 1820, were 4,780,000 Prussian dollars (about 3,250,400 Spanish). They consist in obligations, which bear four per cent. interest, and are to be completely discharged within five years. The interest is paid January 1 and July 1 of every year, both in Berlin and in the provinces. Provision has likewise been made for their payment in specified places in foreign countries. The certificates promise that the capital shall be paid back by the annual extinguishment of one million at par; but this regulation has been modified by a later one, ordaining that the stocks shall be diminished by being repurchased, at the current price, till they stand at par, and then the repayment shall commence. The market value of these notes varied, in 1820-23, between sixty-seven and seventy-five per cent., and, still later, rose to nearly ninety; in 1828, it was at ninety-three. Of a portion of these obligations, premium lotteries were formed, thirty millions being sold, accompanied with premium certificates, at their full value in Prussian currency. The hope of receiving a great premium on the drawing of these lotteries (ten drawings were to

take place, one each six months) produced such a demand for this species of stocks, that they rose to 120-130 dollars and upwards. 2. The shares in the English loan which was negotiated with Rothschild, in London, in April, 1818. The nominal amount is five million pounds sterling, at five per cent., and to be repaid within twenty-eight years, a certain amount annually, by repurchasing the notes, or redeeming them at par, if they are worth it. The certificates are expressed in English money, and the interest is payable in London. The unfavorable conditions, under which this loan was obtained, are to be attributed to the emergencies of the period. Though the interest is five per cent., only seventy-one per cent. of the nominal amount of the loan was received; and the government took the risk of the fluctuation of exchange in the payment of interest and principal. In London itself, before the certificates were issued, they had risen to eighty per cent. Besides these, there are the obligations of the Electoral Mark, which are of an early date, and the Hypothekscheine, secured on mortgages of the public domains, which were not created till after 1806. Both yield four per cent.. and form together a capital of nearly nine million Prussian dollars (above six million Spanish), which, like the interest, is paid according to the original engagement. There are also the stocks of the provinces and principal cities. The mortgage stocks (Pfandbriefe) form a capital of perhaps fifty or eighty millions, the shares of which are bought and sold, and yield a secure income. These are created thus: The landed proprietors, under the authority of the government, have formed associations in several of the Prussian provinces, which borrow money on the security of their estates collectively, and make loans to the individual proprietors, in consideration of mortgages of their separate estates. There are five of these provincial associations in Prussia. To the Prussian stocks belongs, also, the bank paper, which is transferable. The circulation of these notes, indeed, is somewhat difficult, for they are generally made payable to the particular individual to whom they are issued, and cannot be transferred without legal formalities. The royal bank receives money at two or three per cent. a year, and repays the money deposited, small sums on demand, and larger ones at fourteen days, or four weeks' notice. Hence it is filled with deposits, trust money, orphans' money; and many capitalists invest in it their unem

ployed funds. The violent measures of Napoleon's administration rendered it necessary for the bank to stop payment, in consequence of the loss of all its resources. The old system has been long resumed in regard to all moneys deposited since 1808; but the pressure of circumstances has hitherto made it impossible for the bank to fulfil its obligations in regard to the old capitals. The government has promised, however, that this debt shall be cancel led.

V. Russian Stocks. Previous to 1810, Russia had no debt on which interest was paid, and of which the stocks were in the market, except 83,000,000 guilders due in Holland; and the paper was hardly found in the commercial world out of Amster dam. For many years, this stock stood at par. In 1810, a loan of twenty millions was opened in assignats at six per cent, for which the government pledged ten million silver roubles, with six per cent. interest, to be paid in five years to those who should not prefer perpetual annuities in assignats, or silver roubles. The design was to diminish the immense quantity of assignats. It was intended to have many series of these loans following one another, to destroy the paper roubles which might be brought in by their means, and thus to raise the paper money gradually to par, or perhaps to put it wholly out of circulation, and substitute silver money in its place. Although these loans never arcomplished the desired object, and seemed to be founded on mistaken principles, yet they helped to confirm the credit of the government, because every stipulation was punctually fulfilled, and a regular financial system was forming in regard to the public debts. The interest of the first loan in silver was regularly paid; and the capital, too, was repaid in the way stipulated, notwithstanding the distress to which the kingdom was reduced by the war of 1812 The credit which the government thus acquired was, perhaps, worth the sacrifice of some millions; for the state had hardly any other advantage from this loan. These stocks, during their five years' continuance, were in great demand, and their price speedily rose above their par value in assignats; but this was not strange, for paper roubles were not worth in the market one third of silver, and, by the terms of the loan, a silver rouble was paid for every two paper roubles advanced. Only a few of these obligations are now in circulation, for, in 1815, they were nearly all cancelled. This system, however, was continued under better conditions as re

All subsequent obligations were required to be presented, and for an advance of six per cent. in specie, were changed into new obligations, of which all were fixed at two and a half per cent.; in such a way, however, that two thirds of the new notes were assigned to the dead debt, which paid no interest, and only one third of the amount was transferred to the new debt, bearing interest from 1815. Charitable institutions, holders of life annuities, and some other classes, however, had some particular privileges. But the debts contracted during the French administration were put under less favorable conditions. These obligations, frequently increased by new loans, formed the Dutch stocks found in the money market, of which those that yielded an actual income, were sold before the Belgic revolution for fortysix to forty-seven per cent. Shares in the nominal debt are regarded like shares in a lottery, and stand at one quarter per cent., or even still lower (five eighths); this is sufficient evidence, how little the purchasers think of soon obtaining any income from them. In 1819, seventeen million guilders interest were to be paid. The sinking fund was fixed, in 1821, at 2,500,000 guilders annually. Besides these debts, which include those of Belgium, the government of Holland assumed the responsibility of paying a portion of the Russian-Dutch debt (of eighty-three million guilders), and 1,443,750 guilders were devoted every year to the discharge of the interest and gradual liquidation of the capital. These obligations belong to the unfunded debt, as does also the Austrian-Belgic debt of about six million guilders, and other obligations little known out of the country.

VII. Neapolitan Stocks. The Neapolitan finances, on the whole, have been subject to no little disorder; but, at the close of the last reign, measures were adopted for the punctual payment of the stipulated interest and rentes, even though fresh loans should be required. The occupation of the kingdom by Austrian troops added to the national debt upwards of mine million ducats (about 7,200,000 dollars). The French system of managing the public debt has been taken, to a considerable degree, as a pattern, the shares of the creditors being registered, and bought and sold in the same manner as in France. The yearly amount of income from the debt was estimated, January 1st, 1821, at 3,882,000 Neapolitan ducats (about 2,928,000 dollars). This income is five per cent. The Neapolitan stocks

have hitherto found purchasers in the European markets at low rates.

VIII. Spanish Stocks. The history of the old debt of Spain is a chaos of confusion. It has been always loaded with arrears and unpaid interest. According to the statement of November 29th, 1820, only a part of the Spanish debt bears interest. The part which does not bear interest consists of unpaid pensions, amuities, and many other unpaid and floating debts, but principally of paper money. These were estimated in the above mentioned year at 7205 million reals, or about 345,840,000 dollars. The public obliga tions bearing interest, which consist partly of old debts, new loans, &c., amount to 6,814,780,363 reals, or about 327,109,457 million dollars, of which the yearly interest is estimated at 235,966,630 reals, or 11,326,390 dollars. A plan was adopted, during the constitutional government, for paying off a portion of the debt by the sale of the estates of monasteries, the property of the inquisition, and the public lands; but the restoration of the atlute monarchy in 1823, put a stop to its execution, and the loans made by the cortes were declared to be invalid. Great deficits have since taken place every year, and t this day new loans have been utterly insufficient to cover them. The stocks which are most commonly found in the market at present are:-I. The DutchSpanish obligations of 1807, created by means of the house of Hope & Co., each of which is for 1000 Dutch guilders with interest, payable annually. The interes of this loan of thirty million guilders, al of several of the other debts, has never been paid since the French invasion of 1808. 2. The stocks of the Laffitte loan of fifteen million dollars, which was neg tiated in Paris. Each certificate is r one hundred dollars. A lottery ticket » connected with every one, by which the certificate gains a greater or less premium (from 18 dollars to 20,000) whenever is number is drawn. The obligations ar to be paid within twenty years from 1825 agreeably to the regulations for the annuz extinction of a portion, with the premi ums belonging to them. 3. The cer tificates of the loan of 1821, negotiate by the house of Ardouin, Hubbard & Co., fixed at different sums in dolla and with interest payable semi-annual in Paris and London. 4. The cert cates of the national loan of 1821, whic is connected with the last, or rather forms a part of it. Every certificate is f 150 dollars in specie, but the old oblig

tions of the governments, as well as shares in stocks No. 1 and 3, and premium certificates, are received by the government in return for these new stocks, according to their market value. These new certificates were to bear five per cent. interest, paid annually at Madrid, Paris, or London, at the option of the holder.

IX. Danish Stocks. The obligations on account of the domestic loans, made for the sake of the liquidation and better regulation of the paper money, are scarcely found at all in foreign markets. But those that sprung from the loans of 1818 and 1819, in Hamburg, and from the English loan of 1821, have a wider circulation. The first loan of 1813 gave rise to obligations at five per cent. each, of the amount of 3000 marks, Hamburg banco (a mark banco is about 34 cents), which were sold at par, because they involved a premium, in which every certificate gained, at least, 400 marks banco, in stocks bearing six per cent. interest, and under the most favorable circumstances, 200,000. After the drawing of the premiums, the five per cent. obligations of this description stood at 78-83; the six per cent. at 91-96. The loans of 1818 and 1819, in Hamburg, were concluded under similar conditions. The English loan of 1821 amounted to three million pounds sterling, and the obligations vary in amount from 100 to 1000 pounds sterling. All these loans are entitled to interest semi-annually, till all the capital is paid, provision being made for cancelling a portion of this capital annually. No loan could well rest on a firmer basis than the Danish. In regard to the premium notes, it is left with the government to repay the capital at pleasure. All the rest are gradually paid in full, as their numbers are drawn, and all the stipulations have hitherto been punctually fulfilled.

X. Norwegian Stocks. They arise from the loan of 2,700,000 marks, concluded in 1819, in Hamburg and Berlin, by the king of Sweden and by the Norwegian states, and cousist of obligations, which vary from 3000 to 300 marks banco. The method adopted to repay the capital is, to re-purchase the certificates as long as they are below par. Another Norwegian loan at six per cent. was negotiated in 1822, at Hamburg. It amounted to 2,400,000 marks banco. It is to be entirely paid off in twenty-nine years, in semi-annual instalments. The payments have hitherto been regularly made; and this circumstance, together with the guarantee of the states, seems to have given to these loans

a high degree of credit, although the guarantee given by the states, of their associated kingdom, Sweden, to the stocks of the Frege loan, has not secured to the creditors a regular payment. For this reason, Swedish certificates are not found in the money markets.

XI. Stocks of the German Confederation. Nearly all the states in this body have public debts; their notes, however, are scarcely ever seen in the markets of London, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfort, and Berlin; they remain chiefly in the states where they originated, and are monopolized by the capitalists and institutions of those states. The certificates of the kingdom of Saxony enjoy the highest credit of all. Though the debts of this little territory amount to sixteen and a half million convention dollars (a Saxon dollar is about ninety-five and a half cents), the people believe the government to be so conscientious and trustworthy, that they dread rather than desire the repayment of their capital, which is in the hands of the state. From this cause the five per cents have risen to 110-111 per cent., and the three per cents to nearly 100; and the state has thus been enabled to exchange the former for four per cents. The new four per cents now stand at 104-105, and would stand still higher, if a small portion were not paid off semi-annually; the three per cents stand at 101, and the two per cents at 90. Next in credit to Saxony are the kingdoms of Würtemberg and Hanover, and the cities of Hamburg and Frankfort, whose four per cent. notes are all nearly at par, or even above it. Not far below these are the certificates of Bavaria, Baden, Mechlenburg and Hesse-Darmstadt; and it is a general rule that the credit of the German states' is greater, and their certificates stand higher, in proportion to the smallness of the states. These certificates, however, are not proper subjects of comparison with those of the larger governments. In the smaller states, almost all debts are contracted on condition of being repaid within a limited time, and the measures adopted afford the creditors good reason for believing that the promises will be fulfilled.

XII. United States Stocks. In 1775, when hostilities commenced between the United colonies and Great Britain, the Americans had no treasury, nor any organized system, to direct their resources. Congress authorized the issuing of a paper currency, and loans were obtained from foreigners, and from persons within the country. In 1783, the debts of the U.