state. In those mines, the coal strata alternate with limestone, fire clay, and iron stone, in layers. Here are destined to be great iron works, upon which we must mainly rely for our supply of that great necessary

of life.

The demand for iron is daily increasing, and that so rapidly as to make it difficult to say from what quarter the demand can be supplied.

In 1740, the amount of iron made in England and Wales was but 17,000 tons. In 1796, it had increased to 125,000 tons; and when, in 1820, it had increased to 400,000, and in 1830 to 700,000 tons, some doubt began to be expressed whether the sources of this enormous supply might not be exhausted. What must be the apprehension of these doubters when they find the annual consumption more than doubled, it having last year come up to the enormous amount of 1,512,000 tons! In France, it amounted to 600,000 tons, and the total amount made in Europe is 3,000,000 tons. In the United States, the amount now made annually is about 250,000 tons; but it is fast increasing.

It is in reference to iron that the consideration of this topic becomes extremely interesting in a national point of view. The yearly importation of iron into the United States, in bars or pigs, or in massive articles, amounts to near $5,000,000, and the manufactured articles on that material, to a much larger sum. Nearly $400,000 are required for our railroads, and the demand from that quarter must increase. But our attention is scarcely directed to that subject. We have been too much occupied with commerce and agriculture. We have just begun to inquire into our mineral wealth, and already a process has been discovered by which anthracite coal is used in smelting iron, and its cost of production is reduced 40 per cent; and we are enabled to use pig iron of greater weight as a substitute for bar iron for railroads.

Those acquainted with the subject assert that in the Cumberland district the facilities for manufacturing iron with bituminous coal are so great, that it can be afforded for from $12 to $15 per ton, or much less than the price of iron in Europe.

The bituminous coal in the United States, except the Virginia and Ohio, is much heavier than that of Europe. The Blosburg, the Pennsylvania, and the Tennessee coal, all exceed in weight a ton to the cubic yard; and that in Bedford county (Penn.) exceeds it by 629 lbs.

None of the European coals weigh a ton. The anthracite, too, are all heavier than those of Europe.

With coal of so excellent a quality, and so abundant in quantity, a new feature is developed in the character and resources of the United States.

also 100 coal cars, each carrying 3 tons. Already 230 tons have been delivered in one day, and the force employed there is constantly increasing. The weight of the Blosburg coal is as follows;

Imagination can scarcely grasp the extent of power and prosperity to which this republic is destined to advance.

When we consider how much has been achieved by England, by the agency of coal upon iron and steam, when we reflect that machinery equivalent to the labor of nearly 400,000,000 men is now moved in that country by this substance, that by and through that labor she maintained her fleets and armies, and was enabled for a quarter of a century to withstand the united energies of revolutionary France, backed by her dependent continental allies, and directed by the genius of Napoleon, and finally to plant the red cross in triumph upon the walls of Paris, and to dictate the terms of peace to Europe-when we look at the importance of that little island among civilized powers, at the influence she has exerted and is exerting upon the world, and perceive how much of that power is owing to the wealth created by the combined force of coal, iron, and steam, we are amazed at its influence upon the fortunes and destinies of mankind.

In this country that influence is beginning to exert itself; and we have ill read the signs of the times if it is not destined to exert a mighty force upon the fortunes of the United States. The internal improvement of the country, the providing the means of bringing its produce to market, and of intercommunication between different portions of the Union, the advancement of the manufacturing arts, the development of its resources, all depend upon the combined influence of these important agents; and if we would promote the permanent improvement of our species, no better mode can be devised than to encourage, by all proper means, the working of our coal and iron mines. Under a judicious and economical system, we may then see the great channels of intercommunication between the states furnished with the improved modes of intercourse; the distant parts of the Union really made one country, by bringing them within a few days' travel; the arts and sciences of the old world transported to the new; our machinery increased and perfected until its power is equivalent to that of England; and the country rich and prosperous, and, under the guidance of patriotism and intelligence, moving onward in that career of glory and greatness which is marked out as it were by the finger of divine Providence.

ART. V.-IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

WE purpose briefly in this article to state the present condition of the law of arrest in the state of New York. Our attention has been recently called to the subject by the presentment, by a grand jury, of the city prison; and our sympathies excited by the fact that some thirty persons are said to be now confined there for debt, herding with accused and convicted felons. The law of imprisonment for debt has few advocates at the present time; few, at least, among those professing to be friends of justice or humanity. In the third volume of Bancroft's "History of the United States," will be found the following beautiful tribute to James Oglethorpe, the founder of the colony of Georgia, and we would beg leave to call the attention of the people of that state to it, if the barbarous law of imprisonment for debt still stands upon her statute book unrepealed. It

is a slight departure from the narrow compass of our article, but the beauty of the extract will, we think, justify us with the reader.

"In the days when protection of property was avowed to be the end of government, the gallows was set up as the penalty for a petty theft; and each year, in Great Britain, at least four thousand unhappy men were immured in prison for the misfortunes of poverty. A small debt exposed to a perpetuity of imprisonment; one indiscreet contract doomed the miserable dupe to life-long confinement. The subject won the attention of James Oglethorpe, a member of the British parliament, a man of an heroic mind, and a merciful disposition; hardly thirty years of age, and yet full of experience; who had been disciplined alike in the schools of learning and action; an hereditary loyalist; in his boyhood, commissioned during the power of Bolingbroke; a pupil of the university of Oxford; a volunteer in the family of Prince Eugene; present at the siege of Belgrade, and in the brilliant campaign against the Turks, on the Danube. To him, in the annals of legislative philanthropy, the honor is due of having first resolved to redress the griefs that had so long been immured and locked up from the public gaze; to lighten the lot of debtors. Touched with the sorrows which the walls of a prison could not hide from his merciful eye, he searched into the gloomy horrors of jails,—

'Where sickness pines, where thirst and hunger burn,
And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice.'

"In 1728, he invoked the interference of the English parliament, and, as a commissioner for inquiring into the state of the jails of the kingdom, his benevolent zeal persevered till, from extreme misery, he restored to light and freedom multitudes who, by long confinement for debt, were strangers and helpless in the country of their birth. He did more. For them and for persecuted Protestants, he planned an asylum and a new destiny in America, where former poverty would be no reproach, and where the simplicity of piety could indulge the spirit of devotion without fear of persecution from men who hated the rebuke of its example."

Such was the founder of the colony of Georgia; such the first distinguished advocate of that great cause of humanity—the abolishing of imprisonment for debt. How would his brow have been clouded with sorrow, could he have extended his vision into futurity; could he have looked along down the line of more than a hundred years, and seen during all that time imprisonment for debt enforced in the land which he might almost be said to have aided in creating; could he have heard the lamentations and groaning of the crushed and broken-hearted debtors and their suffering families, whose misfortunes were their only crime, which, during that century, have been uttered, and the account of which has been recorded in the high chancery of heaven!

But, thanks be to God, we have fallen on better times. If the evil has not been entirely removed, it has, at least, been greatly modified; and we trust that, ere long, in this state, it will forever cease. In 1831, an act was passed by the legislature, abolishing imprisonment for debt, where citizens of this state were the debtors, except in cases of fraud. Under that law, citizens of other states could still be arrested in New York, unless they came into the state for the purpose of becoming citizens, and had been, at the time of service of process, residents in the state for at least thirty days. For this law we are chiefly indebted to our philan

thropic fellow-citizen, Silas M. Stillwell, Esq. But there was still a difficulty. In the United States courts, imprisonment for debt was allowed, and citizens who were unfortunate enough to owe debts of five hundred dollars and upwards to citizens of other states, were still liable to arrest, by process issuing out of the courts of the United States. In 1839, a law was passed by congress, first introduced into the United States senate by the Hon. N. P. Talmadge, making the proceedings and process of the the United States courts, in relation to imprisonment for debt, conform to the then existing laws of the separate states; that is, allowing imprisonment in those cases where the laws of the states in which the United States courts were held allowed it, and abolishing where abolished by states. During the last session of the legislature of New York, the exception of non-resident debtors was stricken out; and the empire state erased from her statute book the remnant of that law which is at once a

relic and a memento of a barbarous age. A jubilee was proclaimed, and it was fondly hoped that misfortune and crime would be no longer punished alike, at least, in our glorious state. Many strangers, who had been deterred by the fear of imprisonment, came to visit us; and some, who came to settle their affairs with their creditors, found themselves, soon after their arrival, immured within the walls of a prison. The barbed iron still clings to the body politic, as if rusted there by the use of ages. The law of the United States conformed to the law of the state, as it existed in 1839, when the arrest of non-resident debtors was allowed; and, as many of the debtors to New York, residing in other states, are indebted in sums exceeding five hundred dollars, they are still liable to arrest, upon process issuing out of the United States court.

A law has recently been introduced, and, we trust, will soon be passed by congress, amending the law of 1839, and making it conform to the present state laws, and to future state legislation. When that law shall have passed, then, indeed, may we rejoice here; and when, to crown all, a general bankrupt law shall be passed, then shall we rejoice seven-fold more; then the year of jubilee will have come; then the ransomed will go free, and shouts of thanksgiving and of joy will ascend from a million of lips!

ART. VI.-LAWS RELATIVE TO DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.

NUMBER VII.

NEW YORK.

PROCESS-PROVISIONS.

In this state process is commenced by summons or original writ against corporations, by capias ad respondendum against persons not privileged from arrest, and by declaration. By a recent law, no person can be imprisoned on any civil process issued out of a court of law, or on any execution issued out of a court of equity, on any suit instituted for the recovery of a sum of money, on any suit instituted upon any judgment or decree founded on contract, or for the non-performance of any contract, excepting in cases of proceedings for contempt, to enforce civil remedies or action for fines and penalties. Actions ex delicto are bailable; and trover, trespass, and replevin, are bailable, as of course. Trespass for injuries

to the person, and trespass on the case, are bailable, by a special order. Certain persons are privileged from arrest, although the cause of action is bailable. Among these are ambassadors, public ministers, except consuls and their domestic servants, non-commissioned officers, privates, seamen, musicians, and marines, in the service of the United States. Persons sued in autre droit, or their representative character, as heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, and trustees, unless they have incurred a personal obligation to pay the debt or demand. Married women, in actions ex delicto. All females in action ex contractu. All persons sued on recognizances of bail, or on bail and replevin bonds, or on any other bond in which a surety shall have been joined, taken in the course of judicial proceedings, or by virtue of any statute. Corporations in their corporate character. Persons discharged under any insolvent law, upon any cause of action accruing previous to the execution of an assessment of their estate under such law. Defendants who have before been holden to bail for the same cause of action, unless the first arrest has not been available to the plaintiff, and it can be made to appear that the second suit is not vexatious. Persons who possess temporary privileges from arrest, are senators and representatives in congress, during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same, except in cases of treason, felony, and breach of the peace. Officers of both houses of the legislature, while in actual attendance thereon. Attorneys, counsellors, and solicitors, during their actual and necessary attendance on the courts. All other officers of courts of record, during the actual sitting of the courts of which they are officers, except when sued with other persons. Witnesses. Persons belonging to the militia, while in service. Electors entitled to vote at election, during the pendency of such election.

PROPERTY EXEMPT FROM EXECUTION.

One

The following property, when owned by any person being a householder, is exempt from levy and sale under an execution; and such articles thereof as are moveable shall continue so exempt while the family of such person, or any of them, may be removing from one place of residence to another. All spinning. wheels, weaving looms, and stoves, put up or kept for use, in any dwelling-house. The family bible, family pictures, and school-books used in the family of such person, and books not exceeding the value of fifty dollars, which are kept and used as a part of the family library. A seat or pew occupied by such person or his family in any house of public worship. All sheep, to the number of ten, with their fleeces, and the yarn or cloth manufactured from the same. cow, two swine, and the necessary food for them. All necessary pork, beef, fish, flour, and vegetables, actually provided for family use, and necessary for the use of the family for sixty days. All necessary wearing apparel, beds, bedsteads, and bedding, for such person and his family. Arms and accoutrements, required by law to be kept by such person. Necessary cooking utensils, one table, six chairs, six knives and forks, six plates, six tea-cups and saucers, one sugar-dish, one milk-pot, one tea-pot and six spoons, one crane and its appendages, one pair of andirons and a shovel and tongs, the tools and implements of any mechanic necessary to the carrying on of his trade, not exceeding twentyfive dollars in value.