At one end of the note is the portrait of an Indian chief in a head-dress of cock's feathers and a necklace of shells; at the other. Just ce with her scales, and Plenty, with her horn, are on each side of the American eagle. What could be more emblematic of the past and the present? I have before me a New Hampshire note, which shows in the center a beautifully engraved representation of a railway train passing beside neat cottages and plowed fields. On one side, the head of Palinurus; on the other, a Plenty, with cornucopia, plow, and wheatsheaf; a well-engraved Durham ox is at the bottom. Here, again, is evidence of the tastes. and aims of the community. I have before me a note of a Maryland bank. Here, also, is a remarkably well-executed center engraving, showing a group of Indians -mother and child-at rest on one side; European children studying school books and the globes on the other; both groups overshadowed by the broad shield, charged with the stripes and stars. At one end is Justice, standing beside shipping and merchandize, and holding a sword, olive branch, and scales; on the other is a noble figure representing Architecture and her tools, with a portacoed building in the background; and at the bottom is a steam-engine in full work. Here, too, we have emblems of the idle past and of the busy present. Let me add that the ornamental scroll-work about all these notes is very beautiful. I have before me a note of the midland district of Canada, chartered by act of Parliament." In the center is the ill-drawn figure of a great awkward Indian woman stepping from out her canoe amid swamps and forests. At one end is a simpering face of Prince Albert, in stars and uniform; at the other the portrait of her gracious Majesty, with crown on head-both being very bad likenesses, very badly engraved; underneath are the arms of England, with lion and unicorn. These are emblems of the past, unchanged except by the dominion of England. No evidence of commerce, of agriculture, of arts, of science: North America, such as she was, but with England watching over her. I do not say that it is a true representation of the state of the country; I know that it is not so. But why is such an one given? Why cannot we, as well as the United States, avail ourselves of the means which the circulation of a "five shilling" note gives us to impart a lesson of hope, of energy, of improvement? Cannot we find as good artists to engrave our emblem? Cannot we, like them, tell our people to be industrious, to look to the future as well as to the past?

IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT IN ENGLAND.

A return has been laid before the British Parliament of persons confined for debt or contempt of court in the prisons of England and Wales.. It is a long and sad list, occupying some 40 pages. The "contempt" consists generally in not having means to come before the Insolvent Debtors' Court.. A man aged 70 has been incarcerated in the Chester County Gaol nearly five years for the paltry debt of £41 4s. 6d. and £17 14s. 8d. costs; and two others, aged 77 and 75, are immured in the same gaol for debts of £27 and £80. At Lancaster Castle, two persons have been detained for six and seven years. One debtor, aged 86, is confined in Monmouth Gaol for a debt of £180, plus £100 costs, and has been starving on the county allowance" for two years, though it is believed the detaining creditors have already been paid what is really due from the proceeds of his estate. A prisoner in York Castle, committed at the suit of the Attorney-General for contempt, refused to put in an appearance, and "had apparently no desire to leave the gaol." This person is 70 years of age, and has been deprived of his liberty for seven years and a half. In France, septuagenarians are exempted from arrest for debt.

SWAN'S BANK NOTE LIST AND DETECTOR.

This semi-monthly journal is published by SAMUEL SWAN, at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 1st and 15th of every month. Besides some 40 quarto pages devoted to a list of all the banks in the United States, description of counterfeit bills, and par value of the different banks, we have a variety of other information of great value to merchants and bankers. It is one of the best publications of the kind in the Union. The agent for the work in New York is Mr. ANDREW WIND.

STATISTICS OF TRADE AND COMMERCE.

COMMERCE OF MILWAUKIE.

We should esteem it a favor if some gentleman connected with the Milwaukie Board of Trade would send us a correct copy of its Annual Report. The following extracts are from the Report of the Milwaukie and Missisissippi Railroad Company, relative to the favorable effect of that road upon the internal resources of the State of Wisconsin :---

In no quarter of the world is the influence of railroads so perceptible as in the neighboring State of Illinois, which in the last five years has added 450,000 to the population. This remarkable increase is mainly owing to her extended system of railroads. The same cause will produce the same results for Wisconsin, which, being a newer State, has as yet but in a slight degree been affected by her railroad system. This State, which twenty years ago contained less than 10,000 souls, has now a population of over 600,000, and this road, passing through a region of country, then an unpeopled waste, shows for the past year a revenue of nearly $700,000. If such have been the results of a road extending but half across the State, through a country but thinly peopled, with but a small portion of the territory in cultivation, what may not be anticipated when it shall be extended to her extreme borders, and come in direct communication with more than 600 miles of the navigable waters of the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries? Still, what more may not be anticipated, when Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Northern Iowa shall contain the vast population they are capable of sustaining, and pour upon this road the products of their fertile soils?

The exports from Milwaukie during the season of lake navigation, in each of the past four years, show with what rapidity the commerce of that port has increased :

COMMERCE OF MILWAUKIE-ANNUAL EXPORTS.

The completion of the Wisconsin Lake Shore Railroad has opened an outlet for Milwaukie, during the suspension of lake navigation, via Chicago, and by the various lines of railroad diverging from that point to the Atlantic ports, securing a communication with all the rest of mankind during the entire year. As an exporting port, Milwaukie must rapidly increase in importance. Its growth will not be so extraordinary as Chicago, but it will soon be the second, in extent of tonnage, on all the Western lakes.

COMPARATIVE VIEW of the COMMERCE OF LONDON AND LIVERPOOL.

A Parliamentary return of shipping for the year 1855 has just been completed, and from the subjoined table, compiled by the commercial editor of the Liverpool Albion, it will be perceived that the foreign trade of Liverpool still keeps its ascendancy over London, and all the ports of the kingdom, though in the colonial and coasting trades London stands at the head of the list :

The return also gives the tonnage of vessels built and registered in the United Kingdom, of which 214,990 tons were of wood, and 108,210 of iron. The table of vessels wrecked-or rather, we presume, of vessels wrecked the registers of which were canceled in 1855, shows, though we believe fallaciously, that the tonnage of the wrecks is not equal to one-third of.that built and registered, the wrecks only reaching 95,817 tons.

THE COMMERCE OF TRIESTE IN 1855.

The movement in shipping for 1855 shows a decline as compared with 1854. The total arrivals and departures of vessels in 1855 amounted to 10,172, with an aggregate tonnage of 753,865 tons, against 13,262 vessels, with 862,703 tons in 1854. This decrease must be attributed to the closing of the Euxine and the Sea of Azoff. The exports largely exceed those of any previous year, the armies in the East having been supplied from Trieste with grain, flour, hay, boards, and timber. Business generally was dull, the cholera having greatly interfered with mercantile operations of any magnitude. In October the first signs of activity were noted; in November an unusual animation revived business; but this prosperous state soon disappeared, and gave way to a perfect stagnation in nearly all branches.

The transactions in cotton were naturally less than in 1854, the sales having reached only 79,289 bales, against 99,139 the previous year, including in 1855

22,498 bales American, and 45,881 bales Maco, against 38,749 bales American and 38,680 bales Maco, in 1854. The re-exports amounted to 88,373 bales in 1855, against 95,419 bales in 1854, and the stock at the close of the year 6,821 bales, against 15,896 bales at the close of 1854. The falling off in the business in coffee is not less remarkable, although the arrivals were large and the stock well assorted. The sales for consumption amounted to 190,267 cwts., against 210,850 cwts. in 1854; the receipts of the year were 210,877 cwts., against 164,775 cwts. in 1854, thus increasing the stock at the close of the year to 102,340 cwts., against 34,667 cwts., December 31, 1853.

The sugar trade shows an increase in the consumption. The sales amounted to 545,337 cwts., against 467,118 cwts. in 1854; while the aggregate imports were only 445,790 cwts., against 477,770 cwts, in 1854. Stock at the close of 1855, 27,204 cwts., against 34,667 at the close of 1854.

For reasons mentioned above, and in consequence of the prolfibition of exports from Turkey and the Romagna, the trade in breadstuffs was also less extensive than the year previous. The following table exhibits the imports and exports during the last two years, and the stock on hand at the close of each year :—

The fluctuations of the value of silver coin were less than in 1854. The highest premium in May was 28 per cent; during the last three months the premium varied between 10 and 184 per cent. The average rate of discount was 10 per cent, and the tightness of money has had a very unfavorable influence upon trade.

AMERICAN LAKE FISHERIES.

A correspondent at Wyandotte, Wayne County, Michigan, gives some interesting facts and figures respecting the fisheries of the Northern Lakes. The number of barrels caught annually is stated as follows :

Lake Superior, 3,000; Michigan, 15,000; Huron, 14,000; Erie, 3,000; in round numbers, including 7,000 barrels in Detroit River of white fish, a total of 42,000 barrels.

These are sold at an average price of $11 per barrel-the aggregate amount of sales being $462,000, or nearly half a million dollars. Probably one-sixth of all the fish caught in Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior, are tront-the remainder being white fish. They are commonly caught by "gill nets," set some ten miles from the shore. Large quantities of fish are taken from the Detroit River, which they ascend, from Lake Erie, to spawn. On their return to the Lake, they are captured. The number of fisheries on the river is fifty.

In some of the rivers that flow into the lakes, enormous quantities of pickerel are caught. Not less than 1,000 barrels are taken annually from Fox River, Wisconsin; from Saganaw River, Michigan, 1,500 barrels ; St. Clair River, Michigan, 15,000 barrels; Maumee River, Ohio, 3.000 barrels, and an equal quantity of bass, mullet, &c.-making a total of 10,000 barrels, which are sold for $8 50 per barrel, or $85,000 in the aggregate. The annual product of the lakes and tributary rivers is thus shown:

The Lakes..
Detroit River..

Other rivers.

Total......

Value.

Barrels.

Our correspondent, who is a practical fisherman, says he finds that there are thirty-three varieties of fish in and about the lakes, and "that a larger number and variety of fresh-water fish ascend the Maumee River in the spring to spawn, than any other river on the globe." He expresses a hope that the people of the United States will give more attention to the artificial production of fish, of which he says there are many varieties that might be successfully propagated, and suggests that in making selections, particular care should be taken to reject such kinds as devour their own species.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

NOTICE TO MARINERS.

The Court of Directors of the East India Company have lately received from the government of Bengal the following notification, which is published for general information :

Houses of refuge for shipwrecked mariners thrown on shore on the sea face of the Sunderbunds, have been put up as follows:

No. 1.-PAINTED RED. Erected just to the northward of Jackson's Grove, on Seyers' Point, forming the eastern entrance to Channel Creek. It is on an extensive plain, covered with short grass, inside or to the eastward of some high sandhills that here line the shore.

No. 2.-PAINTED WHITE. Erected at the eastern entrance to the Subtermookey River, 400 yards to the northward of the point that forms from Bulcherry Iisland, and 200 yards from high-water mark. It is in the midst of thick low jungle.

No. 3.-PAINTED BLACK

Erected at the eastern entrance to the Jumera River, 400 yards to the north of the point that forms from the entrance of the Subtermookey River, and 200 yards from high-water mark.

In each house there is a supply of biscuit and water, which will be easily found by reading the instructions put up in each, which also give other directions that will be useful. A catamaran is attached to each house.

Persons cast away, reaching land to the east of Saugor, should make search for the houses of refuge; and it should be borne in mind, that when a vessel is lost with a pilot on board, the fact would soon become known at the pilot station and in Calcutta. - Parties, therefore, finding their way to the houses should remain there, and husband the means of subsistence, in the assurance that succor will speedily reach them; or, if compelled to leave, endeavor to get westward to Saugor Island, and travel along the beach until they arrive at the lighthouse; or make their way to a large fishing village, situated on the southeast side of Saugor Island, using the catamaran as far as practicable.

By order of the Superintendent of Marine,

JAS. SUTHERLAND, Officiating Secretary.

FORT WILLIAM, MARINE SUPD'T'S OFFICE, March 8, 1856.

Republished by order of the Lighthouse Board,

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE LIGHTHOUuse Board,
WASHINGTON, June 7, 1856.

THORNTON A. JENKINS, Secretary.

LIGHTHOUSES AT WINTER HARBOR AND KENNEBUNK RIVER, me. A lighthouse will be built during the present season on Mark Island, at the west side of the outer entrance of Winter Harbor, Goldsborough, Maine. The light shown will he a fixed white light, and its position in the list of lighthouses of 1856, will be next after No. 8, (Prospect Harbor Lighthouse.) The lighthouse will be a cylindrical brick tower, painted white, and attached to the dwelling