wuboac6 1 C‘ ON THE LALE IMPORTANT MERCANTILE EMBARRASS=- MENTS IN HAMBURG,

CT EE diſaſters experienced by the great mercantile city of G Hamburgh, from the failures in the year 1799, which ſur- palled all expectation, proceeded from the immenſe advance in price on ſuch articles as were moſt in demand, which encouraged icveral young men to eſtabliſh themſelves during the laſt flouriſh- ing years. Until laſt year, the prices of goods had been con- tinually upon the riſe, and ſearcely, till then, had any ſpeculation proved unſucceſsſul. But that this riſe muſt have its limits, and that an end to all ſpeculation could be at no great diſtance, was a circumſtance which none ſeemed aware of. In addition to this, other misfortunes were incurred by the ſale of goods, conſigned to them upon commifſlion, which exceeded their capital, if, according to cuſtom, two-thirds of the amount were to be paid in advance; meanwhile the prices of the commodities were on the decline.‘The conſideration, that the gain of a merchant conſiſts Teſs in the amount, than in a frequent return of his capital, was quite overlooked. Another cauſe was the ſpeculation to diſtant parts, viz. to the Weſt Indies, North America, the Iſle of Bourbon, Java, Manillas, and Bengal, whither formerly no dire& trade had been carried on from Hamburg. Ali theſe cauſes con- tributed to overſtock the market with goods; the ſelliag prices of the differént cargoes, diſpatched to theſe parts, fell, and the com- modities returned, enhanced in coff. The ſtock already on hand received’an additional increaſe in the ſpring of the year 1799, by the arrival of a fleet from the Brazils, the goods of which ſtood them in I5 per cent. lower than they had been hitherto drawn from England. The cauſes of the fudden fall dépended further on the interrupted exportation of goods from Hamburgh towards the Rhine, and to Swiſſerland, France, and Italy. Thus the Hamburg Merchant was compelled to ſend his goods upon com- miſſion to Holland, and draw for two-thirds of their amount. No attention had been paid to the circumſtance, that án increaſed price of goods diminiſhes the conſumption; beſides, Succory cofee ſupplanted foreign cofee; attempts were made to ſubſtitute a ſugar, extraccd from a ſpecies of-beet-roots, for that from the Indies; which, however, from obvious reaſons, muſt ceaſe for the preſent to be an obje of conſideration; for it will be impoſ- ſible ever to extra ſugar from a German vegetable at the rate of four grotes per pound,+ for which, at preſent, moiſt ſugars,

# Profeſſor Buſch, aman diſtinguiſhed for his knowledge in the hiſtory of commerce and its various branches, who died at Hamburgh laſt ſummer, wrote, ſhortly before his end, a pamphlet, containing the reſults of his deep reſearches into the moſt recent ſtoppages at Hamburgh, under the title, « Geſchichtliche Beurthcilung der am Ende des 18ten ahrhunderts Jentſtan-

denen groſſen Handelſverwirrungen.” from which book the‘following. \ remarks are chiefly ſele@ed.

+T One groot is equal to one kalfpenny Engliſh coin-

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