amount of silver remaining in our vaults for coinage, is, in round numbers, $475,000; no part of which was deposited earlier than the 20th November. The amount of silver coined within the past year, it is satisfactory to state, has exceeded by about a quarter of a million the silver coinage of any previous year; while the gold coinage has exceeded the aggregate coinage of gold during the nine preceding years, from 1825 to 1833, inclusive. The influx of silver during the past year having very considerably exceeded the amount contemplated in the estimates for the year, occasioned during a large portion of that period, an unusual retardation in the delivery of coins; and the amount of deposites has no donbt been restrained to some extent, by this consideration. The estimate for the current year, it is believed, will cover the power required to meet the whole demand for coinage, in a due proportion of the several denominations of coin. Annexed is a table exhibiting the amount of gold received from the gold region of the United States, annually, from the year 1824, inclusive. It will be observed that the progressive increase in the amount received from that quarter is less conspicuous within the last year. This results, it is believed, in a very material degree, from the attention which has, during that period, been directed to arrangements for working the veins from whence have been derived those superficial deposites of gold, which, being most obvious, have heretofore attracted the principal regard. Nothing has occurred to weaken the impression before entertained as to the extent and richness of the gold mines of the United States, but much to confirm the confidence before expressed, not merely in their increasing productiveness, but in their permanency. Virginia. N. Carolina. S. Carolina. Georgia. Tenn. Alabama. Total. 140,000 466,000 1,000 1,000 520,000 1,000 3,500 1829 2,500 134,000 ASSAYS OF FOREIGN COINS. 1,000 3,679,000 The following are the results of the assays made at the mint of the foreign gold and silver coins, which by the acts of Congress, of the 25th and 28th of June, 1834, have been made a legal tender. Gold Coins. From the assayer's report, it appears that the gold coins of Great Britain are of the fineness of 21 carats 3 7 8 grains; those of Portugal and Brazil, 21 carats 3 13-16 grains; those of France, 21 carats 2 14-43 grains; those of Spain, 20 carats 3 3-8 grains; and those of Mexico and Colombia, 20 carats 3 grains. The value per dwt. of the gold coins of Great Britain, according to the above assays, is 94 69 100 cents; that of the gold coins of Portugal and Brazil, 94 62-100 cents; of the gold coins of France, 93 2 100 cents; of the gold coins of Spain, 89 84 100 cents; and of the gold coins of Mexico and Colombia, 89 43 100 cents. The greatly increased amount of the deposites of gold, under the ratio of gold and silver established by the act of June 28th, has enabled the assayer to determine the average fineness of the several classes of gold coins above mentioned, with a precision not previously attainable The result indicates that in the valuation thereof, in the act making them a legal tender, they have been estimated above the rates respectively due to their actual fineness. Some loss has thence been incurred on deposites at the mint, when those coins had been taken by the depositor at the legal valuation per dwt., and this loss has occasionally, on large sums, been of very sensible amount; the difference being on the gold coins of Great Britain, Portugal, and Brazil, about the eighth, and on those of France about the tenth of one per cent. The gold coins of Great Britain, Portugal, and Brazil, the standard of which, by mint regulations, is the same, should be valued at 94 6-10 cents per dwt. The value of the gold coins of France may be properly estimated at 93 cents per dwt., and those of Spain, Mexico, and Colombia, at 89 4-10 cents. The gold coins of Spain and the Spanish American States, especially the former, will rarely be brought to the mint in large deposites, since the special demand for those coins in commerce gives them a current value, by tale, very sensibly beyond the intrinsic value due to their fineness. Silver Coins Spanish dollars, together with those of the Spanish American States enumerated in the act of the 25th June, viz: those of Mexico. Peru, Chili, and Central America, as also those restamped in Brazil, according to frequent trials thereof, may be regarded as of the weight and fineness contemplated in the act, viz. of not less weight than four hundred and fifteen grains, and of not less fineness than ten ounces fifteen pennyweights and twelve grains of pure silver in twelve ounces of standard silver. The tendency of the Mexican dollars of the more recent issues to deviate from their proper standard, which has been noticed in the reports on foreign coins within the last two years, appears equally conspicuous in some of the latest dates. This, however, seems to be almost exclusively confined to the issues of the Provincial mints, and is not in any material degree observable in the coinage executed at the city of Mexico The irregularity referred to affects very sensibly the interest of the depositor of those coins at the mint, by rendering a less productive return; their intrinsic value, however, with rare exceptions, is still equal, and slightly superior, to that of the dollar of the United States. No suggestion is therefore, considered necessary, in regard to the limitations under which the several classes of dollars enumerated in the act are made a legal tender, by tale, at 100 cents the dollar. The silver coins of France maintain, by the latest assays, their regular standard of ten ounces sixteen pennyweights of pure silver in twelve ounces of standard silver; their weight also is conformable to that contemplated in the provisions under which they are made a legal tender, by tale, at the rate of 93 cents each. An Act regulating the value of certain foreign gold coins within the United States. [SEC 1] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the thirty-first day of July next, the following gold coins shall pass as current as money within the United States, and be receivable in all payments, by weight, for the payment of all debts and demands, at the rates following, that is to say: the gold coins of Great Britain, Portugal, and Brazil, of not less than twenty-two carats fine, at the rate of ninety-four cents and eight-tenths of a cent per penny weight; the gold coins of France nine-tenths fine, at the rate of ninety-three cents and one-tenth of a cent per pennyweight; and the gold coins of Spain, Mexico, and Colombia, of the fineness of twenty carats three grains and seven sixteenths of a grain, at the rate of eighty-nine cents and nine-tenths of a cent per penny weight. SEC 2 And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to cause assays of the aforesaid gold coins, made current by this act, to be had at the mint of the United States, at least once in every year, and to make a report of the result thereof to Congress. [Approved, June 28th, 1834] An act regulating the value of certain foreign silver coins within the United States. [SEC. 1] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, the following silver coins shall be of the legal value, and shall pass current as money within the United States, by tale, for the payment of all debts and demands, at the rate of one hundred cents the dollar, that is to say: the dollars of Mexico, Peru, Chili, and Central America, of not less weight than four hundred and fifteen grains each, and those re-stamped in Brazil, of the like weight, of not less fineness than ten ounces fifteen pennyweights of pure silver, in the troy pound of twelve ounces of standard silver; and the five franc pieces of France, when of not less fineness than ten ounces and sixteen pennyweights in twelve ounces troy weight of standard silver, and weighing not less than three hundred and eighty-four grains each at the rate of ninety three cents each. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to cause assays of the aforesaid silver coins, made current by this act, to be had at the mint of the United States at least once in every year, and to make report of the result thereof to Congress. [Approved, June 25th, 1834.] An Act concerning the gold coins of the United States, and for other purposes. [SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the gold coins of the United States shall contain the following quantities of metal, that is to say: each eagle shall contain two hundred and thirty two grains of pure gold, and two hundred and fifty-eight grains of standard gold; each half eagle one hundred and sixteen grains of pure gold, and oue hundred and twenty-nine grains of standard gold; each quarter eagle shall contain fifty eight grains of pure gold, and sixty-four and a half grains of standard gold; every such eagle shall be of the value of ten dollars; every such half eagle shall be of the value of five dollars; and every such quarter eagle shall be of the value of two dollars and fifty cents; and the said gold coins shall be receivable in all payments, when of full weight, according to their respective values; and when of less than full weight, at less values, proportioned to their actual weights. SFC 2 And be it further enacted, That all standard gold or silver deposited for coinage after the thirty-first day of July next, shall be paid for in coin under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, within five days from the making of such deposite, deducting from the amount of said deposite of gold and silver one half of one per centum: Provided, That no deduction shall be made unless said advance be required by such depositor within forty days. SEC 3. And be it further enacted, That all gold coins of the United States minted anterior to the thirty-first day of July next, shall be receivable in all payments at the rate of ninety-four and eight-tenths of a cent per penny weight. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the better to secure a conformity of the said gold coins to their respective standards as aforesaid, from every separate mass of standard gold which shall be made into coins at the said mint, there shall be taken, set apart by the Treasurer and reserved in his custody, a certain number of pieces, not less than three, and that once in every year the pieces so set apart and reserved shall be assayed under the inspection of the officers, and at the time, and in the manner now provided by law, and, if it shall be found that the gold so assayed, shall not be inferior to the said standard herein before declared, more than one part in three hundred and eighty-four in fineness, and one part in five hundred in weight, the officer or officers of the said mint whom it may concern, shall be held excusable; but if any greater inferiority shall appear, it shall be certified to the President of the United States, and if he shall so decide, the said officer or officers shall be thereafter disqualified to hold their respective offices: Provided, That, if in making any delivery of coin at the mint in payment of a deposite, the weight thereof shall be found defective, the officer concerned shall be responsible to the owner for the full weight, it clained at the time of delivery. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after the thirty-first day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four. Approved, June 28th, 1834.] PUBLIC LANDS. List of United States Land Districts, showing the dates of the laws under which they were established. Note.-Those marked * were in operation under the system of Credit sales.-Those withput the asterisk commenced operations under the Cash system of sales. Ohio. *Marietta Land District, established by the act of...... May 10, 1800 *Zanesville....do............do..........do....... March 3, 1803 Steubenville..do............do..........do............ May 10, 1800 hillicothe....do................................ do..........................do............ May 10, 1800 *Cincinnati....do. ..........do............................do.................... May 10, 1800 *Wooster, originally Canton.................................do.................... March 3, 1807 Wapaukonnetta, formerly Piqua..........................do.. March 3, 1819 Bucyrus, formerly Tiffin, originally Delaware.......... March 3, 1819 Indiana. ......... *Jeffersonville Land District, established by the act of March 3, 1807 *Vincennes.....do................................do..........do.......... March 26, 1804 Indianapolis, originally Brookville..... ...do.......................... March 3, 1819 Crawfordsville, originally Terre Haute....do.......... March 3, 1819 Fort Wayne...........do............................do..................... ....do................ May 8, 1822 La Porte..........do..........................do............................do............................ March 2, 1833 Illinois. *Shawneetown Land District, established by the act of Feb. 21, 1812 Kaskaskia.......do..........do.............. ...do ......... March 26, 1804 *Edwardsville....do..........do.............. ...do.......... April 29, 1816 Vandalia..........du............................do..........................do.......... May 11, 1820 Palestine................do......................... do............................do.......... May 11, 1820 Springfield............do............................do...................... .do..... .. May 8, 1822 Danville.... ..... ...do......................do............................do.................... Feb. 19, 1831 Quincy.. N. W. District........do..........do........ ... Feb. 19, 1831 N. E. District..........do................ .......do.................. June 26, 1334] Missouri. *St. Louis Land District, established by the act of..... March 3, 18111 ...... Louisiana. Ouchita, Northern District, established by the act of... March 3, 1811 *Opelousas, South Western District........do........ March 3, 1811) New Orleans, South Eastern District......do.......................... March 3, 1811 St. Helena Court House, District West of Pearl river, and East of the Island of New Orleans-District organized by act of 25th April, 1812-Land Office established by the act of........................................................................... March 3, 1819) Mississippi. *Washington, District West of Pearl river, established by the act of............ ........ March 3, 1803 |