the most disastrous money revulsions of modern times. Since that time prices, of neither cotton nor cloths, have recovered themselves to anything like the prices they previously held, but manufacturers have, by reducing expenses, made low prices profitable; and fair cotton was 1 cent per lb. less in January, 1847, than January, 1839. The situation of the crop, as regards England, is now as follows:

..1,574,400...1,697,200...1,585,900...1,780,100..1,106,900..*1,296,900

.135,000.

..1,036,900.

.1,855,700..

Supply..

.2,892,600..

Export....

... 122,800..

.194,200.

Consumed..

The reduction of the stock in 1846, after an import of 25 per cent. more breadstuffs into England than in 1839, was 50 per cent. For 1847, we have estimated that England will receive from the United States the same quantity as last year, and 50 per cent. more from other sources. It results then, that the consumption of Great Britain must be reduced 480,000 bales, or 35 per cent. to maintain the same stock. The high prices of this year may draw out stocks of cotton which were held back from the low prices of last year, and the apparent crop thus exceed the estimates. In this we have not alluded to the continent, where the stock of cotton is 70,000 bales against 156,000 bales last year. Europe took last year 700,000 bales, the United States 425,000, and Great Britain say 1,000,000 bales, these make 2,125,000 bales, and the stock being reduced 525,000 bales of American, makes a consumption of 2,650,000 bales American. If the crop is 2,000,000 bales, the whole stock must be exhausted to supply a consumption equal to that of last year. Consumption has evidently outrun production. Very high prices of cotton must be required to bring consumption again within production. It is further to be remembered that the goods do not rise in the same proportion as the raw material, inasmuch as that the latter by no means constitutes the whole cost of production. The prices of cotton and wheat and the bullion in bank have thus far been as follows:

Comparing these figures with those for 1839, in the above table, we observed a wide margin before similar results could be produced.

The purchases of produce which England must make from the United States will, to a considerable extent, be paid for in specie, and in so far, will increase the abundance of money in this country. It is also the case, that there is now no considerable class either of bankers or dealers in this country dependant on English credits, which might wither under a revulsion. In 1839, the late National Bank depended for its existence upon English loans, and very large interests, as well as the solvency of nine sovereign states of the Union, hung upon the disposition and ability of London capitalists to buy their securities: nothing of all that now exists. The United States, thanks to the Independent Treasury, are independent of England. Commercially we owe nothing, and that which they buy is not at speculative prices; it is at rates established by the effective demand for actual consumption, and the only influence which a money restriction could produce would be, to send to the United States larger quantities of the products of British industry in payment for farm produce and less specie. This is not a disadvantage; on the other hand, it will be favorable to the perpetuity of the export trade, because it will confirm an interchange of the produce of the two countries, and of specie we have already enough. The revenue of the government will be improved by it and our commerce benefited.

The present tariff of the United States united with the warehouse system, is eminently calculated to promote both the external and internal commerce generally, through the export trade of this country. The entry of all goods at the customhouse, and the deposites in warehouse without expense, must afford facilities for the revival of that carrying trade for the whole American continent that has fallen into decay in the last twelve years. A most important feature has also been added to it in the issue of "ware-house certificates." An importer who enters an invoice of goods, may take out a “withdrawal entry" for the whole or any portion, not less than a single package. These certificates being presented to the Register, who, for New-York, is D. P. Barhydt, Esq., obtains a certificate at a few minute's notice, of the number and mark of the package, with the vessel in which it was imported, and its assessed dutiable value. The return of that certificate being necessary to the release of the package from warehouse, it becomes the best possible security for all descriptions of loans, and it so completely represents the goods, that nothing farther is necessary to effect sales than the transfer of the certificate. It is at once perceived, that the capital of small importers is greatly enhanced by this process. Their goods are available to them at any moment, and no demand is made for cash duties, which the purchaser of the goods may be required to pay. This regulation, simple as it is, is equivalent to the addition of $10,000,000 to our commercial capital.

The holder of the certificate wishing to withdraw the goods, makes out his three copies of withdrawal entries, and takes them with the certificate to the Register's office. The Register cancels the certificate, and the merchant proceeds with it and the entries to the entry-clerks, and the usual forms and steps follow.

If part of the goods stated in the certificate are to be withdrawn, the same steps are taken, and the Register, in cancelling the old certificate. gives a new one for the portion not to be withdrawn, and not specified in the withdrawal entry.

No trouble is incurred by the merchant, except walking into the Register's office, on the occasions of getting his certificate and withdrawing goods.

A. warehouses his goods and receives his certificate; endorses his certificate over to B., who, in turn, sells them to C., and endorses the certificate to him. C. without further trouble than A. would have had, can withdraw the goods from warehouse.

The revenue of the government thus far under the new tariff, has exceeded that in the same period last year, and the prospect is, that as the year progresses, any stringency in the money markets of Europe that may reduce the prices of manufactured goods will accelerate their export to this country, when the influx of coin that has taken place will make money plenty. By such means, the revenue will improve and the means of the government be enhanced. During the month, the department has obtained the loan of $23,000,000, authorized by the act of January, (to which we alluded in our last number,) making $33,000,000 of debt contracted for the war. The notes issued bear 6 per cent. semi-annual interest, redeemable after two years, convertible at any time into a 6 per cent. stock, redeemable after 1867. The authority to issue notes in lieu of those cancelled, is to come six months after peace with Mexico. The proceeds of the public lands, after 1847, are pledged for the payment of the interest and redemption of the debt. Out of any excess of the land revenues over the annual interest, the security is authorized to purchase stock at par.

The receipts from lands last year were near $3,000,000, and the interest on the present debt is near the same sum. It may be inferred however, from the prospective prosperity, that the settlement of the public lands will proceed more rapidly than for the last few years. At the Green Bay land-office, as an instance, the sales of land for the last quarter of 1846, were 75,604 acres against 48,748 acres in the same quarter of the previous year. In all sections, farm produce is becoming valuable, and therefore farms and farm labor. The state of Indiana has passed a law which will make her great canal valuable, and bring into requisition the vast tracts of fertile land in her interior. The great Illinois canal will be open in the spring of 1848, and will open 100 miles of a most fertile country. Wisconsin, under its condition, is progressing most rapidly, and its new constitution, if adapted, will add to its increase. In all directions there are indications of improved land revenues and general prosperity.

GOSSIP OF THE MONTH,

February 20.

MY DEAR EDITOR :-There is a valley in the moon, Ariosto tells us, which St. John visited, so the place is select, you see, where all things lost upon earth are preserved in phials, labelled and arranged in rows, as in an apothecary's shop. This valley is, in fact, the rag-bag of our globe. You ought to have some such sack of fragments for your journal, to hold bits, scraps, odds and ends, which you cannot very consistently place in the midst of your elaborate patch-work. Nothings, you know, were current even before Adam. Immortale nihil, some old fellow says-suppose you accept us as your chiffonier for the present: there is much to be found in the streets, if one only rakes for it in the right place. In Chambers-street there is the Italian Opera, never before so successful in this city-crowded houses and fashionable houses; not only plenty of dollars, but plenty of scented sweet-smelling dollars. We never agreed with Vespasian that money had no odor, and that it made no difference whence it came. Linda was well received, and Lucia rapturously applauded. Rows of upright and indefatigable young men lined Palmo's walls, which bristled with double-barreled opera glasses, as the bastions of Vera Cruz with cannon. Nightly they laughed at Benetti's Dov'é Lucia, and shrieked Bravo at Benedetti's Bel'alma inamorata. Bouquets were hurled by fair ladies at the fascinating tenor, who did not know how to take them; au moral, we mean, for he generally stuck them in his belt beside the fatal dagger, and the master of Ravenswood died like a Roman Roué, covered with flowers. Ravenswood consulted Palmo's lawyer to know what course to adopt; in Italy, it seems, there is but one. The learned gentleman explained that a projected bouquet was only a bravissimo in action, and read extracts from Blackstone on marriage, and from Reeve on the domestic relations. A trifling quarrel behind the scenes increased the rush of the music mad. An extra representation was found necessary to accommodate the outsiders; when lo! a new opera was announced and played, and Mrs. Margaret Armitage might have found room enough, when two nights before the late Dr. Edson could not have been squeezed in:-Nina pazza per amore, by Coppola, revised and corrected by Barilla, translated by Attenelli. By the way, why, in the calls so constantly made for the various artists, does not some one vociferate for Attenelli, the pains and snuff-taking box-keeper, the accomplished author of the libretto before us? The only amusing thing about Nina is the English version of the libretto. Hear Count Rodolpho describe his anguish !

"The fire which consumes my heart,
Extends its influence to my visage."

St. Anthony's fire evidently. His gifted daughter says to her Eurico,

"Remember thou when, with bouncing heart,
Thou revealed unto me thy love?"

Timid and tender Eurico, with a heart like an Indian-rubber ball! Such an acquaintance with the music and literature of Italy is cheap at one dollar. The decorations of Nina are very simple; the plot equally so. A girl has lost her lover, killed as she supposes by a rival, "spotted with his blood." She becomes crazy, despises her paternal parent, lets her back-hair down, and runs about in a nightgown. Why do crazy women in operas always let their back-hair down? Linda, Lucia, Nina, all lose their combs and their consciousness at the same time. It is a rather remarkable coincidence, that Mr. Pickwick's presence of mind forsook him when the lady in the yellow curl papers loosened her occipital locks. At last, the lover returns, whole; sings that song, (the old story); the lady revives; a duet ensues, a good thing in the opera, and the curtain drops amid the usual shouts :

sposo! padre! amor! givia! We must do the ladies of the chorus, as hearty and buxom a set of dames as ever appeared on any stage, the justice to mention, that the skirts of the yellow dresses they wore at Miss Ashton's wedding, looked quite as good as new below the black velvet boddices at Nina's nuptials. We would also direct your attention to the animated and gracious manner with which the prima donna of the chorus does the honors of the stage to that part of the audience which she faces. You know how uncomfortably hard the seats are at Palmo's. It is bad enough that it should be so: but is it not the very summit and apex of impudence for the Impressario to take advantage of his own omissions, and hang up a notice on the operatic walls, announcing, that cushions can be had on application at the office, and on payment of 183 cents for a single one and 37 for a double one? Whether double alludes to the thickness or wideness of the desired substratum, is left in uncertainty. Rossini's new opera of Robert Bruce has met with great success at the Academie. Madame Stolz, the prima, was hissed on the first night by an envious clique, but her magnificent talent soon annihilated all signs of dissatisfaction. Rossini is "the only one" after all. In Scharfenberg's window, in Broadway, there is a caricature, "Le Pantheon" musical, a collection of all the divinities of the orchestra. The great Mastro, (un)dressed as a river god, lies carelessly on an urn, from whence flows the stream of melody. On the banks of the river the other composers are refreshing and strengthening themselves: Balfe, drawing from the Puits d'amour"-Donizetti, turning out operas from a steam-engine-Auber, charging on his "Bronze Horse"-A. Adam," en postillion," et hoc genus omne.

66

I hope you were at the amateur concert at the Apollo? given for the benefit of the Catholic Half-Orphan Asylum by the first people in the city, not merely of the Upper Ten Thousand" but of the " Tip-Top Five Hundred ?" Was it not most beautiful and most successful in spite of the strictures of the ruling elder of the Journal of Commerce? The chorus of young ladies, brilliantly attired in white, looked through a reversed opera-glass like a group of the Viennoise children. It was enough to tempt a single man to turn half-orphan, if he could hope to supply his deficient moiety from that dazzling platform. There is some talk of Mrs. Butler's return to the stage; at least a correspondence between her and Alfred Bunn, the beloved of Punch, has been published. Bunn thinks Mrs. Butler too dear. If she should once more drive in the Thespian cart, we might boast of three of the best actresses living; for Mrs. Butler, if English by birth, belongs to America by marriage, and Miss Cushman and Mrs. Mason are all ours. The complimentary benefit offered to Mrs. Mason will be another great festival. The tickets are to be at two dollars throughout the house, and the pit and the boxes connected. Concerts are still given, and so are lectures delivered, but their day has passed. The opera kills the concert, and the twenty-five cent. edition the lecture. It requires a celebrity, some man known to fame, to fill a room. Herz crowded the Tabernacle, and Professor Agassiz will pack the Stuyvesant Institute, if he ever makes us his long-promised visit. While we are upon the amusements of the evening, we must not forget the Hegira, or flight of Mary Taylor to the Bowery! The B'hoys have succeeded in carrying off their darling, and she nows reigns supreme upon their favorite stage. And Christy can we omit thy Ethiop minstrels singing in Moorish halls ?-Especially him of the bones and shirt collars, the whites of whose eyes flash like heat lightning of a summer evening! You should see Bones in the rail-road overture. It begins with the slow chuck-chuck of the engine, and gradually increases in velocity, until the pace reaches forty-five miles in the hour, when the steam whistle screeches violently, and a frightful collision ensues. The fly-wheel niggers at either end are under too-much headway to stop. They keep on whizzing and whirling, until forcibly restrained by their surviving companions. Bones's "Is any body hurt?"-after he becomes a little composed, is delightful. Beside this, Bones dances the cachucha in a calico frock, pantalettes, and red shoes, as Fanny Elssler would, had she been bred in Timbuctoo. Bones is a diamond, a black swan, or very like one, nigro que simillimus cygno.- A large meeting of the bar was held at the City-Hall, to receive the report of the committee appointed to organize a plan for the judiciary of the city. When we saw so many attorneys together, we thought of Toler's guinea, and wished we could subscribe to a similar fund. Did you ever hear the story? A poor devil of an attorney died in Dublin. His brethren contributed a shilling each

to his funeral. When the list was brought to Toler, he said: "What, only a shilling to bury an attorney? Here, take a guinea, and bury one-and-twenty of them."--There must be but little food in Ireland now, even for mirth. So terrible a famine has not occurred since the introduction of the treacherous potatoe.— Our friends and neighbors have shown great readiness and zeal in contributing to alleviate some of this fearful misery. The churches have held collections, subscriptions have been made at clubs, the merchants have given liberally. There seems to be but one voice throughout the land:-Succor the Irish! It is gratifying to see the New World become the Providence of the Old. Nor are our own poor to be neglected. Several gentlemen-men who have for years devoted their leisure moments to benevolence, propose constructing, in a suitable place, comfortable dwellings for the poor. The houses will be four stories in height; each floor is divided by a hall, on each side of which are "living-rooms," " fifteen feet by eleven, and two bed-rooms, thirteen feet by seven. The necessary conveniences of fire and water will be introduced, and rent will be no higher than the prices paid for the damp, unwholesome hovels the lower class at present inhabit. How much the condition of civilized humanity might be improved, if the "godly" would apply to such purposes the immense donations now so completely thrown away upon Halte-là-we are treading on dangerous ground. We

will only quote from a letter from India, in a late English paper:

"I much question if I should even make as many converts as my friends, the missionaries here, who have, I believe, in the course of thirty years' labor, succeeded in turning out some eight or ten rather questionable Christians."

Have you seen the two novelties of the day? The advertising omnibus is one of those noisy accommodations parapetted with tin signs, of the same size and appearance as the legal shingle, bearing the names and wares of those who pay for them. At a short distance, the "six-on-a-seat" vehicle looks like a locomotive lawyer's office. The other novelty can be seen in Broadway, and is admirably suited to a new country, where the acres outnumber the arms. It is intended to facilitate population, and is called "The Patent Elastic Baby-Jumper, or Nurse's Assistant." It consists of a small hoop like a Washington chandelier, highly decorated, suspended by an elastic rope, whence depend four straps, which are secured to the dress of the olive branch, who is then made to ride a cock-horse, secundem artem. We saw a crowd gazing through a window at a fine fat responsibility on the full "patent elastic jump," who belongs, we imagine, to the stock in trade. The public are informed that the machine can be increased to accommodate twins. Electricity and Elasticity are the two great powers of the times.

MRS. MASON.

The re-appearance on the stage of this lady, and her decided success, have marked an era in the history of the American stage. Her genius is a source of the greatest delight to the lovers of the high and beautiful art of acting. Our national pride is gratified by having a native actress burst upon us, who is at the least equal to the greatest from other lands who have ever appeared before us.

Great acting may be divided into three classes: The first and greatest is where all appearances of acting is lost, where the character represented is alone seen and felt-where the power of abstraction is so intense that the actor is forgotten, and the actual Othello, or Lear, or Sir Giles is before us.

The second class is where, by the great study and art of the actor, we are led to appreciate the beauty of the author and the scope of his intentions. We do not feel strongly the presence of the actor and the character, but become deeply imbued with the poet.

The third and lowest, is where the peculiar characteristics of the actor are the most prominent features. While we feel slightly the beauty and object of the author, and are not insensible to the character, still we see the author and character as reflected through the actor. The actor stamps his own individuality on every thing he says and does.

We unhesitatingly place Mrs. Mason in the first and highest school. The distinguishing characteristic of her acting is intense abstraction; and this power belongs only to artists of profound genius. In her it is so powerful that she extends it to her audiences, drawing them gradually but effectually out of themselves-interesting them in the subject and feeling of the play, that they become silent and