as we know, the damages in such a case are twenty per cent. Large amounts of bills drawn and endorsed in Virginia, are sent to this market for sale; but if a Philadelphia merchant put his name on it, he may be made to pay twenty per cent damages, and yet can receive from the Virginia drawer or endorsers but half the amount. It is said that in 1837, very large amounts of foreign bills returned under protest, were settled by Virginia drawers or endorsers at ten per cent, when just before, the Pennsylvania endorsers had taken them up at twenty. These are but two cases out of very many; and the injury to commerce caused by the discrepancies on these subjects, between the several states, can scarcely be estimated. Bills of exchange may be called the life-blood of commerce; and whatever disturbs, disorders, or checks their natural circulation, touches the vitality of the system. Yet it is true, that, what with the original discrepancies on the subject, and the attempts of state legislatures to protect their own citizens by modifying their laws so as to tally with the laws of states with which they principally deal, the system is full of discord, perplexity, and injustice. Between some of the states, there is a variation of as much as fifteen per cent. A bill is sometimes endorsed in two or three states. The last endorser takes it up, paying what the law of his state requires. He may then select a prior endorser, residing in a state where heavy damages are given on protested bills, and make a clear profit of from seven to twelve per cent. The maker finally takes it up, and when he comes upon the acceptor, the primal cause of all the difficulty, he can recover but a half, or may be a third, of what, on account of that acceptor's breach of contract, he has been obliged to pay. The effect of such a system is to check commercial intercourse, by restraining the drawing or endorsing of drafts, unless the whole subject is confined to a single state. A Natchez merchant, for example, would not draw a bill on Pennsylvania, nor would a Philadel phia merchant endorse a Virginia drawn bill, if either party knew to what risk he exposed himself. The French law is much more equitable than ours. It is there laid down, as a general principle, that the acceptor of a bill of exchange, by his acceptance, fixes upon himself a unity of interest and obligation with the other parties, and he is bound to pay principal, interest, incidental expenses, and damages, in the same manner that the drawer is bound to pay them. It is certainly an anomaly, that in a country like ours, bound together in its every part and to its very extremities, by a unity of commercial interest and pursuit, this main instrument of commerce should be one so dangerous to handle-sometimes striking one way-sometimes another. The subject should be brought again before congress. The constitution, having had its own origin in the commercial discords and embarrassments of the country, meant to provide for all times against their long continuance, and therefore gives congress power in broad terms, to regulate commerce "among the several states." Next to the great subject of a uniform system of bankruptcy, none concerns more intimately the commerce of the whole country, or is a fitter subject for action and regulation by the federal legislature. COMMISSION MERCHANTS. In the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the case of Frederick A. Jennings vs. Joseph Leavett, which was concluded November 14, 1840, was an action brought to recover about $140 of the defendant, for advances made the latter on goods consigned to the plaintiff. It appeared that the defendant, who is a manufacturer of candlesticks, consigned a lot of them at three different times to the plaintiff, and drew on him for three fourths of the amount. Nothing was said expressly as to the price at which the plaintiff was to sell the goods; and after keeping a part of them on hand for a considerable time, he closed the consignment at a sale below the invoiced prices, and not receiving sufficient to reimburse himself for the money he had advanced, he brought this action to recover the balance. The defence was placed on the grounds, that the plaintiff had no right to sell below the invoiced prices, that he had not rendered a regular account, and that he was liable to the defendant for any loss on the goods by a sale below the prices fixed by the defendant. In the course of the trial, it was in evidence by hardware dealers, that they always supposed that when goods were consigned, and nothing was said as to the prices at which they were to be sold, the consignee was limited to the prices in the invoice. There was also evidence of an opposite character. At a former trial of this case in April last, the jury were unable to agree. At the present trial, a verdict was returned for the defendant. ACTION OF TROVER. In the Superior Court of the State of New York, Judge Talmadge presiding, an action of trover was brought by Amos Sweetzer vs. Austin Watson, to recover back a quantity of moss, or its value, put on board a vessel of which tho defendant was captain, to bring from Boston to New York, in the year 1838. The A person named Benajah Thompson had shipped the moss from Natchez and consigned it for sale to a man named Flag, at Boston. Flag sold the moss to the plaintiff, and shortly after he did so, Thompson came to Boston, and was dissatisfied at the terms on which the moss was disposed of. plaintiff then agreed to return the moss to Thompson on being paid the expenses he had incurred in relation to it, and delivered it to Thompson on those conditions. But on the other hand it appeared, from a deposition of Thompson, that those expenses were not to be paid immediately on the delivery of the moss, but out of the proceeds of it after it would be sold. The court charged the jury. The question was, were the expenses to be paid before the title to the goods should be invested in Thompson? The jury were too well acquainted with business not to understand that men sometimes part with their goods as if it was a cash sale, and in such case the title to them does not pass until they are paid for. An auctioneer, for instance, sometimes sells goods for cash, but they must be sent to the pur. chaser to examine them before he pays for them, and in such case the mere delivery of the goods does not vest the title in the purchaser. And if the auc tioneer sends for a note or cash, as the case may be, and the purchaser refuses to give it, the auctioneer can say he has not parted with his goods, and they are still his property. In the present case there was conflicting testimony as to the terms of the agreement, but if the jury thought Sweetzer did not surrender the goods but on condition of being paid the expenses when he delivered them, then he had a right to follow them and repossess himself of them. Verdict for plaintiff $115, being the amount claimed. BANK CHECKS. In the Superior Court of the State of New York, October 12, 1840, a suit was brought by Joseph D. Beers, president of the North American Trust Company, vs. Adolphus Waphaus and Theodore Ripke, defendants, to recover from them money which the bank paid to them on the check of a man who had no account with or any money in the bank. The defendants received the check, which was post dated, from a man named Power, and some time after they received it, Power offered to pay it to them in uncurrent bills. In consequence of this offer, the defendants sent their clerk to the bank to inquire did Power keep an account there, and the teller told their messenger that Power did keep an account there. The defendants, on learning this, refused to take the uncurrent bills, and when the check became due, they sent it to the bank, and it was paid. It was shortly after discovered that the Power who drew the check, kept no account in that bank, but another person of the same name had money in it, which led to the mistake on the part of the bank. The defendants refused to pay back the money. The court now decided that, as the money had been paid with a knowledge, or the means of obtaining a knowledge, of whether Power had or had not an account in their bank, and no means had been used to coerce or practice deception on the bank, it must be considered a voluntary payment, or resulting from their own negligence, and precluded a recovery from the party who got the money; the court therefore award judgment for the defendants. THE BOOK TRADE. 1. A Dictionary of Commerce and Commercial Navigation. By J. R. MCCULLOCH, Esq. Edited by Henry Vethake, LL. D., one of the professors in the University of Pennsylvania, member of the American Philosophical Society, author of a Treatise on Political Economy, &c. Philadelphia: Thomas Wardle. New York: J. P. Giffing. 1 vol. 8vo. 1840. Ir appears by the preface to the first English edition, that the earliest commercial dictionary undertaken in modern Europe, was the French work of the Messrs. Savary, published in 1723. The Abbe Morellet proposed, in 1769, to publish a work of the same description, and made much progress in it, but subsequently abandoned the undertaking. A commercial dictionary, being part of the Encyclopedie Methodique, was published in Paris in 1783; a large portion of it, as admitted by the author, was taken from the work of Savary. The first of the English commercial dictionaries was that of Postlewaight; the edition of 1774 is in two large folios; it is nearly a translation of Savary. In 1761, Richard Rolt published his dictionary in one folio; the preface was from the pen of Dr. Johnson. The work is substantially an abridgment of Postlewaight. In 1776, Thomas Mortimer published a work of about the same merit as that of Postlewaight; in 1810, he published another. As the preceding publications were based upon the work of Savary, which was imperfect as a commercial dictionary, Mr. McCulloch concluded that a new work, accurately and judiciously arranged, would be favorably received by the public; in this he was not mistaken, for the first edition of his book, consisting of 2000 copies, was disposed of in less than nine months. There have been two editions since then published in England; from the more recent one, the American has been prepared. The object of the work will be best understood by giving, in a condensei form, the plan marked out by Mr. McCulloch in his preface; he proposed that it should contain an account of 1st. The articles which form the subject matter of commercial transactions: these are described, and their synonyms given in various languages; 2d. An account explanatory of commerce, its nature, &c.; 3d. Articles which refer to commercial navigation, as average, salvage, &c.; 4th. The principles and practice of commercial arithmetic and accounts: these are unfolded in articles upon bookkeeping, exchange, &c.; 5th. Descriptions of the various means of extending commerce, as banks, canals, with notices of lighthouses, buoys, &c.; 6th. Mining, water, gas, and insurance com. panies; 7th. Customs, excise, smuggling, &c.; 8th. Miscellaneous descriptions, such as aliens, bankruptcy, &c.; 9th. Accounts of principal seaports, &c. The field was comprehensive; the task, though formidable, was accom. plished by the author in a masterly manner. The American edition is rendered valuable by the important additions made by its learned editor, in which are embraced articles upon banks, cotton, the tariff, and many others. We hope to announce before long the publication of the second volume ; meanwhile, we cordially recommend the first to the patronage of the public. 2. A Treatise on Currency and Banking. By CONDY RAGUET, LL. D. Second edition. Philadelphia: Gregg & Elliott. 12mo. pp. 328. The first edition of this valuable work was published in April, 1839, and the second in June, of the present year. The call for a new impression of this treatise in so short a time, is evidence of the favorable consideration with which it is regarded by the public. The author has been engaged for a long series of years in the study of the science which is the subject of his work, and his opinions on that account, as well as for the candid spirit in which they are put forth, are entitled to respectful attention, even when they may not accord with the preconceived opinions of the reader. The volume is divided into four books, the titles of which are appropriate and judicious. The first treats of the laws which regulate a currency composed entirely of the precious metals; the second, of those which regulate a currency composed of coin and convertible paper united; the third, of those which regulate an inconvertible paper currency; the fourth consists of miscellaneous matters. There is also an appendix, which includes several valuable statements. The following favorable notice of the work before us is translated from the Paris Constitutionel of March 7th: At a period when the Chambers are occupied with the renewal of the privileges of the Bank of France, information in relation to institutions for dispensing credit acquires high importance, and every thing that can throw light upon this momentous question ought to be readily received. The Treatise on Banking, by CONDY RAGUET, translated from the English by M. Lemaitre, is one of those documents which furnish the most clear and the most exact solutions of the problem so much debated, of credit and currency. The author has during twenty years witnessed all the vicissitudes of the American banks, their fictitious success, as well as their rapid decline. He has investigated, with extraordinary acuteness, all the phenomena connected with his subject; and, in short, has embodied the fruits of his reflections and of his experience in the work before us. * ** * * * Mr. Condy Raguet successfully overthrows hypotheses in presenting the character and the functions of banks under their true aspect, and in pointing out the abuses which have caused these establishments for some time to maintain their existence in America. The treatise of Mr. Condy Raguet is the most complete work upon institutions of credit which has appeared up to this day; it is much above the works of Gilbert, which nevertheless have merit. It explains perfectly the laws which govern different currencies, metallic, mixed, and inconvertible paper. His reflections upon commercial crises, and their causes, are strikingly just, and none of the various phenomena connected with banks has escaped his sagacity. The translation of M. Lemaitre is terse and accurate; and appears to be executed with a perfect understanding of the subject. The translator's preface shows his entire familiarity with the principles and the practice of credit. This preface, moreover, contains an excellent account of the last American money crisis, of its origin, and its consequences as regards that country and the states of Europe. We therefore recommend THE TREATISE ON BANKS to those public men who are called upon to discuss the extension of the privileges of the Bank of France. 3. Bacchus. An essay on the nature, causes, effects, and cure of intemperance. By RALPH BARNES GRINDROD. First American, from the third English edition. Edited by Charles A. Lee, A. M., M. D. New York: J. & H. G. Langley. 8vo. pp. 512. 1840. Intemperance in the use of intoxicating liquors is a subject which, in our own day, has called forth distinguished powers of the philanthropic portion of the world, and it is undoubtedly a matter of very great concernment Those who have reflected upon the amount of moral and physical evil springing from it, must be convinced that the individuals who have given their time, wealth, and talents, to prevent it, deserve the deep gratitude of the community. The partaking of a glass of wine may not, perhaps, be considered a vice; but the excess which gradually steals upon the habits of men, produces the evil; and it is a question, whether a greater good may not follow to the community, so far as example is concerned, by total abstinence, than by using that which oftentimes leads to undue indulgence, if not to settled habits of intoxication. Notwithstanding the great importance of the object, there has been probably a great deal of intellectual intemperance exhausted upon the cause. Denunciation, violence, compulsory laws, do not seem to be the weapons best calculated to overthrow this evil. Motives should be urged that appeal to the higher principles of human conduct; and which may lead men, by reflecting upon its multiform evil consequences, to avoid their cause. Nor can our own age claim the merit of first establishing those associations which are designed to suppress it, for they were |