AET. CONTENTS OF NO. II., VOL. XXXVI. ARTICLES. PAGE. I. MEMOIR OF ELIAS HASKET DERBY, MERCHANT, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS. Early Commercial History of Salem-Mr. Derby's Ancestors-His Early Life -Enters the Mercantile Profession-Losses by Privateers-Indignant Letters on the subject-The Revolutionary War-Privateering-Prizes-Captain Haraden-His successful Cruises-Private armed Ships fitted out from Salem-Tonnage of Salem-Mr. Derby's success during the War-Trade with the Cape of Good Hope-Trade with the Isle of France, India, and China-With Batavia and Canton-Duties-Petitions Congress-First dawn of the Warehousing System-His success-Fleet of Ships-The Frigate Essex-War with France-The Ketch John-Voyage of the Mount VernonIts success-Mr. Derby's Death-His Will, etc., etc. By E. II. DERBY, Esq., Counselorat-law, of Massachusetts.... 147 II. EUROPEAN COMMERCIAL CORRESPONDENCE. No. 1. By GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN, Esq. 188 III. THE PRODUCTION OF SILK: ITS MANUFACTURES AND EXPORTS FROM ITALY. By L. W. FINELLI, Esq., of New York 198 IV. SHORT METHOD OF CALCULATING INTEREST. By HENRY B. AUCHINOLOSS, of New York 196 V. WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF THE CENTER OF POPULATION, AND OF INDUSTRIAL POWER OF NORTH AMERICA. By J. W. SCOTT, Esq., of New York, 198 JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW. Charter Party-Custom-Arbitration COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW: 203 EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRA TED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS: The opening Trade-The Money Market-The Usury Laws-Restrictions upon Trade irrational and oppressive-Marine Insurance as illustrative of this Tru h-Freedom of Action necessary to Self-reliance-The Tariff-The Canal Loan-Business at the Assay Office and United States Mint-The Bank Movement-Debt of California-Trade and Commerce of New York for 1856, with comparative Tables of Prices, etc., etc. ...... 204-215 New York Cotton Market. By CHARLES W. FREDERICKSON, Broker, of New York........... 215 VOL. XXXVI.-NO. II. 10 JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE. Condition of the Banks of the United States. Property and Taxation of New Orleans in 1856.. The Cost of War..... State and City Stocks, Railroad Bonds and Shares. Rate of Taxation in San Francisco.-Finances and Debt of Illinois. Property of the Bank of Ireland.. Financial Condition of Alabama.-A Transaction on the Paris Bourse.. JOURNAL OF INSURANCE. .... PAGE. Sailing of Mail Steamers between the United States and Europe.... 233 235 Light-Vessel of the Sazalnitzk Spit-Sea of Azof.-Lighthouse near Santa Barbara, California. 238 Lighthouse at Entrance of Humbolt Bay, California 233 Lighthouse near Crescent City, California.-Faulkner's Island Lighthouse, Long Island Sound. 239 COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. Commercial Intercourse between the U. States and Two Sicilies...... STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c. Census of the State of New York..... Effects of Civilization on Heathen Population.-Population and Progress of Iowa.. 289 246 247 Dinsmore's American Railroad Guide.-Railway Shareholders in England Iron and Coal in New South Wales.-Knitting Machine-Important Case.. Patterns for Iron Castings.-Machine for Sawing Marble to a Taper Form.. 255 256 257 258 258 MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES. Commerce of Russia.... The Watch: Iron more Useful than Gold.-The Time Bargain System.... The Dirty Shilling.-The Hudson's Bay Company... The Terms "Ship" and "Merchant."-American Enterprise Abroad How Coal is Bought and Sold in London...... THE BOOK TRADE. Notices of New Books, or New Editions.... 259 960 261 262 263 .... 26 264 265-272 HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. FEBRUARY, 1857. Art. I.-MEMOIR OF ELIAS HASKET DERBY, MERCHANT OF SALEM, MASS. EARLY COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF SALEM-ME. DERBY'S ANCESTORS-HIS EARLY LIFE-ENTERS THE MERCANTILE PROFESSION-LOSSES BY PRIVATEERS-INDIGNANT LETTERS ON THE SUBJECT THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-PRIVATEERING-PRIZES-CAPTAIN HARADEN-HIS SUCCESSFUL CRUISES--LIST OF PRIVATE ARMED SHIPS FITTED OUT FROM SALEM-TONNAGE OF SALEM-MR. DERBY'S SUOCESS DURING the war-TRADE WITH THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE-TRADE WITH THE ISLE OF FRANCE, INDIA, AND CHINA-WITH BATAVIA AND CANTON-DUTIES-PETITIONS CONGRESS-FIRST DAWN OF THE WAREHOUSING SYSTEM-HIS SUCCESS-FLEET OF SHIPS-THE FRIGATE ESSEX-WAR WITH FRANCE THE KETCH JOHN-VOYAGE OF THE MOUNT VERNON-ITS SUCCESS-MR. DERBY'S DEATHHIS WILL, ETC., ETC. SALEM, fifteen miles east of Boston, is one of the most ancient settlements in the State, and, before the Revolution, was distinguished for its enterprise and commercial spirit. Embarking early in the fisheries, and coastwise trade; building at first boats, sloops, and schooners, it gradually increased the size of its vessels, and sent them to the West Indies, Madeira, and the Mediterranean. Fish-oil, lumber, and provisions, were exchanged for sugar, coffee, rum, and molasses, and these again were bartered for wine, fruit, silk, and iron, or bills of exchange on London. When the war of the Revolution checked the foreign trade, new models were adopted, and, in place of a navy, private armed ships were sent forth to encounter the British on the deep. Many of these met with brilliant success, in their conflicts on the ocean. At the close of the Revolution, some of these were converted into Indiamen, and the ships of Salem were among the first to bear our flag to the Cape of Good Hope, the Isles of France, Bourbon, Surat, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Batavia, and Canton; and the fame of Salem was widely diffused through the great marts of Europe and Asia. When the port of Boston was closed, before the Revolution, Great Britain, in her anger, proposed to transfer its trade to Salem, and make it the entrepot and capital of the State. But Salem declined the boon. It would not profit by oppression, although it had a fine harbor, and could have extended its piers to water deep enough to float ships which could not enter the harbor of Boston. Its wharves were then accessible to small vessels only, and its citizens were more alive to the wrongs of their country, than to their private advantage. When our volunteers had expelled the British army from Boston, it again became the seat of government. Its ruined piers and edifices were rebuilt; capital returned to it; a navyyard and fortresses were constructed; canals and railways were made, to connect it with the interior, and Salem, which had begun to rival it in commerce, upon the death of its leading merchants, was gradually overshadowed, and almost absorbed by the growth of the metropolis. It is still, however, distinguished for wealth, enterprise, and refinement, and still holds in reverence the memory of those merchants, who, in the last century, laid the foundations of its prosperity. Among them, no one is remembered with greater respect than Elias Hasket Derby. None have surpassed him in enterprise, or contributed more to improve the shipping, or extend the commerce of the country. No one has done more to rear up masters and merchants for its guidance. Living at a period when banks were unknown-having few early advantages, he carved out, by his own genius, the way to wealth, and while achieving one of the largest fortunes made in America, during the eighteenth century, he had the satisfaction to build up with it the fortunes of his native town, so that when he died, in 1799, although he had studiously avoided public life-rarely, if ever, held an office-his loss was mourned as a public misfortune. The subject of this memoir was of English extraction. His ancestor, Roger Derby, born in 1643, emigrated to America in 1671, from Topsham, near Exeter, in the south of England. He was a member of the society of Friends, and left home to enjoy religious freedom. He settled first in Ipswich, but being fined once or twice for non-conformity, he removed to Salem, where he met with more liberality. Here he embarked in trade, reared a large family, and acquired a respectable property. At his decease, in 1698, it appears, by his inventory, that he possessed a house, wharf, and warehouse; a stock of goods, some specie, and a silver tankard, which probably accompanied him from England, and, by his will, he settled his real estate upon his sons, Samuel and Richard. His son Richard, born 1679, engaged in maritime affairs, but dying in 1715, at the early age of thirty-five, has left no record behind him, except that of his marriage, in 1702, with Martha, the daughter of Elias Hasket of Salem. With respect to this somewhat peculiar name, the following entry appears upon the records of the General Court of Massachusetts: DECEMBER 4th, 1703. Col. Elias, son of Capt. Stephen Hasket, of Salem, has lately removed to Boston, from this town. He had been for some time governor of Providence. His station must have been at Providence, in the Bahamas; for it is a tradition in the family, that Elias Hasket, the subject of our memoir, was named for a governor of the Bahamas, who presented him, at his baptism, with a silver-headed cane. A large head of such a cane, inscribed J. K. to E. H., has descended, with the name, from the infant to his grandson. Richard Derby, at his decease, left a widow and several children, among them a son Richard, born in 1712, who was the father of Elias Hasket Derby. Losing his own father in his infancy, he was reared by an energetic mother, and soon gave proof of intrepidity, for we find him as early as 1736, in his twenty-fourth year, master of the sloop Ranger, about to sail from Salem for Cadiz and Malaga. At a period when the mother country tried to repress the enterprise of the colonists, and confine their trade to British possessions; when the straits were infested by corsairs, from Tripoli, Morocco, and Algiers, we find this young man venturing to cross the ocean in a craft which would be deemed now scarcely safe to run from Salem to New York. Among the shippers upon this voyage was James Lindall, of Salem, whose invoice and letter of instructions are still extant. In the letter, he directs Captain Derby to invest the proceeds of his fish in oil, fruit, and handkerchiefs, or in any other articles his good judgment may determine, and wishes him a prosperous voyage. A letter from Capt. Derby, when about to sail, refers to a previous voyage to the Island of St. Martins. The Ranger appears to have made a good voyage, for we again find him, in 1739, about to sail in her for St. Martins, and, in 1742, he appears as master, and part owner, of the Volant, bound for Barbadoes and the French Islands. His letter of instructions for this voyage gives a vivid picture of the difficulties which attended a voyage to Guadaloupe or Martinique. In 1757 Capt. Derby appears to have retired from the sea, and to have relinquished his vessels to his sons John and Richard, and became a merchant of Salem; for we find among his papers the following letter from his eldest son, which is a good specimen of the mercantile correspondence of the day, and gives us some insight into the trade which he had cultivated between Salem and Spain : GIBRALTAR, 14th December, 1758. WORTHY SIR. These I hope you will receive per your brigantine Lydia & Betsey, Capt. Lambert. I wrote you the 1st instant by way of Cadiz and Lisbon; since which I have landed my white sugar, and sold it for $174 per cwt., and my tar I have sold at $8 per bbl. I have not as yet sold any of my fish, nor at present does there appear to be any buyer for it; but as it is in very good order, and no fear of its spoiling, I intend to keep it a little longer. I am in hopes that this Levanter will bring down a buyer for it. I hope to get $12 for my brown sugar. We have this day had the Sally delivered up to us, and intend to sell her for the most she will fetch; as to sending her to the West Indies, I am sure if she was loaded for St. Eustatia, she would be seized by the privateers before she got out of the road, and having no papers but a pass, would be sufficient to condemn her in the West Indies, if she should be taken by an English cruiser. I have bought 140 casks of claret, at $10 per cask, which I intend to bring home with me. I have written to Alicant for 500 dozen handkerchiefs, if they can be delivered for $4 current per dozen. My cargo for home I intend shall be, 140 casks of claret, 20 butts of Mercill wine, 500 casks of raisins, some soap, and all the small handkerchiefs I can get. I have written to Mr. Lane that I shall remit him £250 or £200. As to anything else, Capt. Lambert can inform |