neither by affection nor principle to their cause, and seeking only in the shipwreck of parties to make his own fortune, he was eminently qualified to act as a spy upon his former friends. He perceived at this critical juncture that the ascendant of the revolutionists was on the wane, and having raised himself to eminence by their passions, he now resolved to attach himself to that conservative party who were striving to reconstruct the elements of society, and establish regular authority by their subversion." The reader can readily put his finger on many men among us, to whom this description applies as accurately as to Fouché. If we substitute New England abolition societies for the Jacobin clubs, we see many men, now getting into notice, as amis du noirs, who, if disunion, civil war, bloodshed and anarchy are to afflict the Union, will run the same course as did Fouché, ending by betraying, for gold, some military despot, to whose power they will cringe, after having sold to him their country. It is a mistake to suppose that those horrors are of a past age, and cannot be renewed. No man who looks around him, and sees the bad passions which, by the malign agency of such men as Messrs. Seward and Van Buren, have been excited in men's minds, can doubt the possibility of strife; and, a blow once struck, will be the signal for a train of horrors, for which even the French Revolution can afford no parallel. Three millions of raging blacks, guided and officered by such monsters as now urge them to strife and supply them with arms, and lured by the wealth of northern cities, loom up in the horizon as a terrible tragedy, to which the experience of St. Domingo is but a prelude. The men who now agitate the North are those who coolly contemplate the probabilities of such a state of affairs, and of their position in relation to it. Whether our free Union sinks in anarchy and strife, amid the jeers of foreign despots, only to rise in bloodstained fragments under barbarous chiefs, whose occupation is war and whose will is law, or whether it retains its place among the nations of the earth, leading the march of popular progress, followed by all nations and species of men, is matter of indifference to the brawling demagogues, if they can have no share in the control of affairs. These men have betrayed their colors, but the agitation they have created has brought out the pure patriots and true statesmen. These, like Douglas at Chicago, Webster in Boston, Dickinson in New-York, Cass in Michigan, Buchanan in Pennsylvania, Foote in Mississippi, Cobb in Georgia, Downs and Soulé in Louisiana, and a host of other great men, rallied for the Union, and although, for the moment, they may be borne down by the storm which sweeps by, they have the benefit of the returning reason of the people, whose veneration, love, and respect will cling to them, as to the good and great, long after contempt for the foiled demagogues shall have subsided into forgetfulness. Senator Hunter, of Virginia, stands prominently among those gentlemen who have so nobly distinguished themselves for that nationality of character which comprehensively grasps the future and the present-which divests itself of local and sectional prejudices-sees, in a prosperous whole, the true welfare of all the parts-comprehends the position which the country holds among the nations of the earth-feels an American pride in the lead it assumes and justly estimates the true means of enlarging and promoting its influence, with the view not only to the permanence of our institu tions, but for the proportionate improvement of each section of the Union, and the advancement of every race of men within its expansive borders. It is, therefore, matter of congratulation, that a large body of our most patriotic citizens have sought to express the estimation in which they hold his services, as in the following correspondence: City of New-York, 10th May, 1851. Hon. R. M. T. HUNTER, Chairman Finance Committee, Senate United States. Dear Sir,-We, your fellow-citizens of New-York, feeling a lively sense of your active intelligence and unsectional spirit as Chairman of the Committee of Finance, and particularly as regards your liberal advocacy of the establishment of a branch mint in our city, so important to the financial and commercial interests of the country at large, trust that you will allow us to express our sentiments to you more freely in person, by uniting with us in a social dinner in our city, on the 26th June, or at such other time as you may prefer. With a high appreciation of your abilities as a statesman, and your qualities as a man, we shall anxiously await your coming. A C Kingsland WF Havemeyer Alex T Stewart & Co. FS Lathrop Alsop & Chauncey C W Lawrence Phelps, Dodge & Co. Boorman, Johnston & Co. Fred G Foster Jno S Gilbert Benj F Camp Carpenter & Vermilyea W Mead JS Coddington George Law Jacob Little & Co. CA Secor & Co. Drew, Robinson & Co PR Van Rensselaer Hugh Maxwell A Hard Wm Smith & Son Westervelt & Mackey Oscar W Sturtevant Caleb O Halsted BR Winthrop Amos F Hatfield Wadsworth & Sheldon M Morgan Thos C Fields EM Brown Smith & Dimond Freeman Hitcox Stillman, Allen & Co. Daniel D Westervelt JR Whiting BH Lurdam A W Craven Sam'l De La Mater R Diedericks Sam'l G Cornell & Co. Jno L O'Sullivan Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & W W Woodworth Chauncey D Hurd E W Clark, Dodge & Co. LOYDS, ESSEX Co., Va., May 28, 1851. Gentlemen-I had the honor to receive by the last mail; a letter of invitation to a dinner tendered to me by yourselves and others, on the 26th of next June. No personal compliment could be more acceptable to me, than the honor you have offered me, upon such considerations as you were pleased to assign, in your letter of invitation. I should be especially gratified to believe that I had contributed, in any degree, to promote the great interests of the country, and I regret to be constrained to say, that the estimate you have placed upon my poor services is greater than they deserve. to me. If I supposed it to be necessary, in order to testify my grateful sense of your kindness, I would lay aside almost any occupation to meet you when you propose; but as I believe you will give me full credit for sincerity in my grateful acknowledgments, and as I have pressing engagements at home, I am constrained to beg most respectfully to be excused from attending the dinner to which you have invited me. I feel the more free to do this, because the loss will be mine, not yours. It would have given me the greatest pleasure to have availed myself of such an opportunity to extend my personal acquaintance in your city, and to study, from actual observation, the operation of the machinery of commerce in the great emporium of American trade. Whatever is connected with the marvels of your progress hitherto, and whatever concerns the future developement of your great commercial resources, are matters of deep interest You do me no more than justice in attributing to me a desire to promote, as far as I can, the prosperity of all the great interests of the country. I believe if you touch one, you affect them all, and that all are concerned in the prosperity of each. Especially do I hold it to be a matter of duty, as it ought to be of pride with the American States, to afford New-York all proper facilities to win the place which she is probably destined to hold as the great centre of the commerce of the world. It is, perhaps, not extravagant to say, that the tendencies of nations are changing, and their contests are destined hereafter to consist more in the rivalries of the arts, than in opposition of arms. Certainly there has been no period in human history, when commercial affairs occupied so large a portion of the attention of mankind, and none in which commercial men played so important and prominent a part. Great Britain, with that shrewdness of interest which characterizes her conduct towards other nations, seems to have given early evidence of her sense of the change which was taking place in the Theatre of human rivalry and strife. She is preparing, if not already prepared, for the conflict. She has thrown down the glove in open and manly defiance to the rest of the world, and challenged the nations of the earth to a contest for the empire of trade, and the supremacy of the seas. To all appearance, never were fairer terms of combat proposed; she has laid aside the whole panoply of her defensive armor, and stripped her productive interests of everything which they have hitherto worn, by way of defence or protection. She has provided her manufacturer with cheap material upon which to operate, and cheap food to consume; she has given her ship owner cheap timber with which to build; and in opposition even to some of the oldest usages of her colonial policy, has relieved the producer from the pressure of heavy taxation, whenever it was practicable to do so." She has shown, too, the utmost skill and anxiety in making the machinery of her commerce work smoothly and easily. If a screw was loose it has been adjusted; if a spring gave evidence of a loss of elasticity from undue pressure, the burthen, if possible, was diminished or removed; and, having done all this, she has thrown down the walls which were built to guard her commerce, and invited the rest of the world to participate in the struggle for its prize, The challenge which has thus been given will, as I trust, be accepted; and I suppose I may say, without having imputed to me an undue share of national vanity, that if any body is able to take up John Bull's glove, in such a contest as this, it is his Brother Jonathan. Nor do I disparage the just claim of other cities, when I say, that in this conflict we must look to New-York for the lead. She herself is already giving evidence that she accepts her destiny, and is preparing for the conflict. Her lines of magnificent steamers, if they do not girdle the earth, at least spangle the ocean in more directions than one; her commercial enterprise and ambition are world-wide in their extent. In such an undertaking as this, may all good omens attend, and all success reward her. In such a struggle, she has a right to expect the aid of every American legislator. She may justly demand all proper facilities for commerce, the whole machinery of trade, a mint within her limits, a warehousing system adjusted to her wants, and whatever legis lation may be necessary to enable her to maintain a free commercial competition with the rest of the world. If human ambition should take this new direction, or rather take this old direction, with increased zeal, the world may well rejoice, for these are contests in which mankind is benefited, no matter who may win. To us, such a rivalry may bring a double blessing, for its triumphs may not only give us rich rewards abroad, but lead to harmony at home. If American ambition and energy can find full occupation abroad, it may fairly be hoped that the fires of sectional strife will burn less fiercely at home. The development of moral and physical resources which such an occupation' must give, and the progress of truth, would perhaps remove some of the old antagonisms, and discover new harmonies in our system. The very creation of such a commercial emporium as your city must then become, would be eminently conservative of peace abroad, and harmony at home; for all its vast interests would be staked to some extent on the peace of the world, and wholly upon concord at home. With these views, gentlemen, you may well suppose, that I feel a deep interest in the prosperity of your city, and an earnest desire to promote its growth as far as I can. To understand the wants of your commerce, I hold to be one of the proper cares of the American statesman; for around that centre revolve to a great extent the commercial interests of our Union. But my letter has grown with the theme, until I have become tedious, and I conclude with assurances of my high respect and profound gratitude to those who have honored me with so public a mark of their approbation. To Messrs. A. C. Kingsland, W. F. Havemeyer, Very Respectfully, Your obedient servant, R. M. T. HUNTER. To Messrs. Phelps, Dodge & Co., Boorman, Johnston & Co., Aymar & Co., R. C. Wetmore & Co., N. L. & G. Grsswold & Co., J. I. Coddington, Jacob Little & Co., E. B. Hart, George Briggs, C. A. Secor & Co., P. R. Van Rensselaer, FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. MONEY continues to be very abundant in New-York, as well as in most cities of the Atlantic, and is loaned freely at 4 a 5 per cent. The amount of money in bank continues to accumulate, notwithstanding that circumstances continue to influence a large exportation of gold, which, however, flows back again from the ports of Europe into the pockets of immigrants. The exports of coin from this port from April 5th to June 21st inclusive, were as follows: EXPORTS OF GOLD FROM THE PORT OF NEW-YORK, APRIL 5TH TO JUNE 21ST. 201 569,627 dust.. 1,986. silver.1,428,000. Mexican coin..... gold... 202,795. Doubloons.... Total........ 82,832. 38,000 43,450. 22,000 30,608 541,288. .$1.240,014.... $4,683,440.......$7,471,201.... $13,394,679 The shipment of the new gold coins forms the most material feature, but the mint continues to supply considerable sums, as follows: COINAGE AT NEW-ORLEANS AND PHILADELPHIA. The total coinage for the five months is $20,367,018, against $9,067,632 in the same months last year. But the New-Orleans mint continues to supply much larger sums. The arrivals of specie there are $7,321,000, against $3,131,000 same period last year, and the coinage has reached nearly $5,000,000. It is necessarily the case, that as the channels of circulation have become filled with gold and silver coins, in addition to the large supplies of bank paper which are coming upon the market, the surplus coins will flow off to other countries, as cotton and tobacco, with other products, which are produced in excess of the home demand for consumption. This is the case with the precious metals to a greater degree than other products of industry, because, comparatively, they are not consumable. It is true, that the channels of circulation, by a proper exercise of the coining power, can be made to hold a much larger quantity when the pieces struck are adapted to the wants of business. To do this, however, mints at the proper places are requisite. The extraordinary flow of the precious metals to Europe produced the |