The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-16 00:00:00

UNITED STATES BANK.

In the National Gazette of the 10th ult.,
part of a file of Philadelphia papers just received,
we find the annexed defence of the Bank of the
United States against the charges of the Presi-
dent and the Secretary to the Treasury, relative
to the redemption of the debt. It appears by
this that the 3 per Cent. stock of the United
States held in Europe is of larger amount than
was supposed, being between 8,000,000 and
9,000,000 of dollars. Though the article is
not avowedly official, it is obviously derived
from an official source, and may be fairly as-
sumed, therefore, as the defence of the directors
themselves, who have an unquestionable right to
be heard in an affair of so much importance to
European as well as to American interests.
That the Government ran no risk on the score
of the deposits appears, by the premises here laid
down, to be established ; and the chief imputa-
tion which will remain against the Bank is, their
not having communicated to the Treasury the
operation proposed to be entered into in regard
to that portion of the debt held in Europe.
The following is the material portion of the
article referred to :

" The most extraordinary and objectionable part
of the report is that which relates to the Bank of the
United States. We say what we sincerely believe, or
positively know, when we affirm that the Secretary
has here much surprised and scandalized a multitude
of sensible and patriotic citizens, who are free from
all party or pecuniary influences. The injury is
enormous which his statements and ultra-insinuations
were calculated to produce, not merely to the insti-
tution apart, but to the general prosperity and con-
venience of the country, the interests of a large
number of unoffending stockholders, and the national
treasury itself; and this without any correspondent
or perceptible benefit to be termed lawful and pub-
lic. As the story of the 3 per Cents. upon which
he dwells, has been variously given in the Adminis-
tration papers, with more or less misrepresentation
and injustice, we have made inquiry at the proper
source for correct details, and received an authentic
account. The whole matter, then, is simply this:—
" On the 19th of July last the Secretary of the
Treasury wrote to the President of the Bank as fol-
lows :

" Treasury Department, July 19, 1832.
" Sir,—lt was not until to-day that I have been
able to ascertain the amount of the appropriations
made at the last session of Congress, and therefore
I have not been able to decide before now upon the
amount of the 3 per Cents, to be redeemed on the
Ist. of October. I find, as was supposed when you
were here, that we shall be able to pay off about two-
thirds at that time. A notice will accordingly be given
in to-morrow's paper for the payment of that amount
o►► the Ist of October, and the remaining third on
the Ist of January. This has been adopted with
the understanding had between us, that if it should
happen that the public moneys are insufficient to com-
plete those payments, the Bank will delay the pre-
sentation of any certificates of which it may have
he control until the funds are sufficient to meet
them ; the interest to be paid by the United States
during the interval.
" You will be pleased to indicate such transfers
of funds as may be desirable preparatory to the pro-
posed payments.
" I am, Sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" LOUIS 111‘LANE,
"'Secretary of the Treasury.
" ' N. Biddle, Esq., President of the Bank of
the United States.'
"To this letter the following answer was given :
" Bank of the United States, July 26.
" Sir,—l have had the honour of receiving your
letter of the 19th inst., apprising me of your inten-
tion to reimburse two-thirds of the 3 per Cents.
on the Ist of October, and the remaining third on
the Ist of January next. You further state this
course has been adopted with the understanding had
between us, that if it should happen that the public
moneys are insufficient to complete those payments,
the Bank will delay the presentation of any certifi-
cates of which it may have the control until the
funds are sufficient to meet them ; the interest to
he paid by the United States during the interval.
" The Bank has taken the necessary steps to
obtain the control of a considerable portion of those
certificates, and will very cheerfully employ it in
such a manner as may best suit the convenience of

•
the Government.
" I have the honour to be, very respectfully yours,
" N. BIDDLE, President.
" Hon. Louis APLane, Secretary of the Treasury,
Washington, D.C.'

" From these letters it appears that the Secretary,
not being sure of being able to pay all the three per
cents., requested the Bank to withhold the certifi-
cate., and that the Bank promised to do so.
" What the Secretary anticipated will actually
happen,—that is, on the Ist of January next, the
Government %%611 not have funds of its own suffi-
cient to pay the 3 per cents. This is evident from
the Secretary's own report.
• • • * • • •

" But the state of the case in July was this:—
" The Government had engaged to pay
15,000,000 dollars, of which between 8,000,000
dollars and 9,000,000 dollars were payable to Euro-
peans, and, being uncertain whether it would have
the means of paying, requested the Bank to with-
hold a portion of the claims upon it. This deter-
mination to pay, without the certainty of being able
to pay, was made at the moment when the cholera
was in New Yolk and Philadelphia, and threatened
the total prostration of the business of the country,
involving of course great hazard to the revenue, of
which 12,000,000 or 13,000,000 dollars were pay-

able between July and January. But the Bank of
the United States, from its intimate connexion with
the foreign and domestic commerce of the country,
has always endeavoured with particular solicitude
o accomplish the great objects of protecting mer-
cantile credit and securing the payment of the re-
venue.

" If the Bank could have disregarded these great
interests, nothing was easier than to make its debtors
pay their loans, however inconvenient to them. But at
a moment of general distress such a measure could not
fail to be extensively ruinous. It is easy for the
Government, when it has 15,000,000 of revenue
scattered over the ►hole country to direct that on
a given day so many millions shall be paid at a
given place; but as in our moneyed system these mil-
lions are not accumulated in the Bank, but lent out

to be used by the citizens until they are wanted,
the detail of thus withdrawing them from business
requires the greatest precaution, or infinite injury
may be done to the community. It was with
this view, and with this view exclusively, that
the Bank, in order to weaken the pressure
of so exhausting a drain upon the country at a pe-
riod of general dismay, thought it would be useful
to obtain the control of from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000

. .
held in Europe, of most of which the Bank was
the agent, until the business of the country should
have time to resume its usual course, and the com-

munity might recover from its confusion. As the
Ist of October was so near at hand, the matter

did not admit of protracted correspondence, and
therefore one of the directors of the Bank was re-

quested to manage it in person. He did so, and the
arrangement was as follows:—A certain amount of
the stock was purchased and held subject to the
control of the Bank—another part was postponed
till next October. As soon as this arrangement
was known to be in progress the Bank immediately
extended relief wherever needed, particularly at
New Yolk, where great uneasiness existed, on ac-
count of the engagements of the community for the
month of October, and at some of the western
branches. When at length the arrangement itself
reached this country, finding that the cholera had
passed, the Bank requested its agents to postpone
the debt no longer, to reimburse themselves out of
funds which the Bank actually had in their hands,

.o collect all the certificates, and transmit them to

the United States, in order to close immediately
the whole transaction : and, in fact, these certi-
ficates will probably return sooner, in consequence
of being thus collected, than if they had been la,
to find their way home in each individual case,

" This i 3 the whole history of the 3 per Cents,
about which there has been so preposterous an out
cry."

NOVEL MODE OF CONSTRUCTING
ARCHES AND HYDRAULIC WORKS.

Yesterday a number of scientific and professional Gen
tlemen assembled in the grounds near the Thames Tunnel
for the purpose of inspecting an arch constructed upon a
new plan by Mr. Brunel. The object of the inventor
has been to demonstrate that arches of the most ex-
tensive span yet known, not excepting those of cast iron,
can be constructed with brick or rubble without the use
of centering, and may even be left for any period of time
unsupported before the key-stone is fixed.
The model exhibited by Mr. Brunel on a full scale con-
sists of two semi arches, four feet wide, springing from
the same pier. One is made for an arch of 100 feet, and
the other for one of about 80 feet span. The longest
side may he viewed as the flattest portion of an arch of
150 feet span; it stands out entirely unsupported, lat.
lanced by the opposite one, and so strong is the brick-
work at the crown of the semi-circle that it has, to show
its strength, fixed to it at the extreme end, a sort of scale,
which is loaded with 25,600 cwt. of iron, without a
single blick being di••placed or thrown down.
The materials used are chiefly brick and Roman cement;
but as these substances have no cohesive property ade-
quate to the object Mr. Brunel has introduced a system
which he styles the warp of the structure, which unites
the whole and constitutes it into one mass.
Several substances, Mr. Brunel stated, were available to
complete the warp, such as iron in small slips, laths one-
twelfth of an inch thick. Hemp, and any strong fibrous
substance would answer, after a previous preparation, by
which adhesion is unbroken. The joints are just the
same as in common structures, and ordinary bricklayers
may construct the work. From the facilities displayed
in the new plan it is anticipated that arches may be made
with as great expedition as a common wall. Mr. Brunel
stated that it was well known that brick and rubble have
been used for ages in the formation of our bridges. He
instanced the most admired bridge in Italy, that of the St.
Trinida at Florence, which is of rubble coated with mar-
ble ; but this bridge, which was built 269 years ago, was
not used for neatly 240 years for carriages, which is jaw-
bably the cause. The same system, though extremely eco-
nomical, has not been followed. The structure at Bother-
'tithe not only supports itself, but is loaded with greater
weights than could possibly pass over it. This invention
will afford a source for the further use of that inva-
luable mortar Roman cement. When far the first time it
was suggested to make a bridge of iron, the idea was re-
ceived with laughter in Parliament as a visionary pro.
ject. Mr. Brunel expressed his opinion by the new eye-
tern arches even longer than those of Southwark-bridge,
could be easily and cheaply formed, and faced with stone,
4s many of the most admired monuments of antiquity
are, and even St. Paul's, or with fine brick facing similar
to new St. Dustan's Church. It was the opinion of the
projector that the centering of an arch of one hundred or
one hundred and twenty feet spin costs more tha❑ the
arch itself would amount to, if erected on the new plan.
Bridges or railways can be carried over streams, swamps,
&c., at almost any oblique angle.
The model and invention called forth frequent marks o;
approbation.

111 r. Brunel subsequently proceeded with the scientific
persons present to the extreme end of the Thames Tun-
nel. The work continues to evince increasing solidity,
and the drainage of water from land springs is now so
trifling that the steam-engine is only required to work for
a short period, once a day, to clear out the water collected
in the reservoir. Hopes are entertained that Government
will soon sanction some plan for raising funds to complete
the work.