The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-21 00:00:00

AN ADVENTURE WITH BRIGAND&

AMERICA.

The following (which we find in the Wolver-
THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.
hampton Chronicle) is extracted from a letter from
LIVERPO; )L, SUNDAY.
Mrs. Harper, the lady mentioned as being, with I The Royal Mail steamship Africa, Capt. Shannon,
her husband, of the party of travellers who were
_ _ _ has arrived.

lately pillaged by brigands while on their way
from Civita, Vecchia to Rome :
Rome, Dec. 1, 1857.
"Well, we reached Civita Vecchia from Leghorn ;
and now as we are approaching the Holy City, we may
naturally expect good government and some honesty

under an ecClesasiical prince ; but now commences our
tale of trouble.
" While on board the steamer we had received much
good kindness from an Irishman, who helped us with his
Italian, explained the Roman money, quarrelled for us
with the boatmen (1 most rascally set), and, in shore,
did us no end of little kindnesses. He proved to be an
American Roman Catholic bishop ; with him were Dr.
Whitehead, Vice-President of the Maynooth College,
and two other Irish-American priests—a youth coming
to Rome for education to enter into priest's orders, end
a young man named Blake, cousin to Dr. Whitehead,
and grandson of Lord French, a fine spirited fe'dow.
This party and ourselves landed and passed through the
Customs together ; and what a scene of extortion that is
from beginning to end—it is a perfect robbery. Here
again the bishop helped us, and when we could not get
places in the diligence, was so good-natured as to let us
join them in a large vetterino, which was only intended
to hold Fever), but with the addition of ourselves it was
forced to contain eight. You will remember the party
whom I have severally named.
" We had four horses, and had to go 56 Roman miles,
each of which is a furlong less than an English mile. The
driver (an Italian) promised to go into Rome at 7 o'clock ;-
we left at noon, but he let everything pass us, walked
up hill, and walked down, and no talking would make
him go faster. At last, about 4.30 o'clock, he drove up
to the half-way house, took out the horses without per-
mission, and stayed until about 6.15. Thus we had only
accomplished half our journey by daylight. We had not
left this place more than half an hour before we were
sprung upon by 6 or 7 brigands • each man had a blud-
geon, a pistol, and a dagger. One was stationed a few
yards distant on a bank, with his blunderbuss levelled at
the carriage the wholeof the time, so that had resistance
been made be could have riddled us through and through.
Blake, who was by the driver, showed fight, but was
immediately struck down by a bludgeon, and left for
dead; Henry (Mr. Harper, the writer's husband) and
one of the priests sat outside behind the driver ; a wretch
began striking . him until he threw him his purse, and
got down to have his watch and chain torn off, with a
dagger at his throat. The other wretches had got hold
of the bishop, and, with two daggers and a pistol at his
head, he had to give up his ring of office, gold cross and
chain, watch and chain, bag of 100 sovereigns—every--
thing ; and Dr. Whitehead and the youth shared the
same treatment. Two horrid fellows came to me in the
carriage (I never got out), tore open my shawl, felt my
fingers for rings, and would have taken my wedding
ring and guard, only I bad on a tight-fitting glove. I
cried out C'est tons, c'est tons,' and they nut knowing
perhaps but what the others may have stripped me, left
me, finding only my purse. My watch, chain, and
cameo brooch I had (half in joke), at the roadside inn,
put into my secret pecker, which I carry under all my
clothes, and so they are saved. The brutality of these
villains can only be imagined by those who saw it ; bad
there been any resistance they would have shot us down
like so many dogs, or more likely, because more quietly,
have stabbed or otherwise murdered us ; but not one of
us had any means of defence, and so we gave up all
willingly for our lives. They carried away 3001. in gold,
and 1501. more in watches, chains, and jewellery. Our
loss happily is not considerable, as Henry, at the inn,
bad secreted his money in bia boots, as a precautionary
measure, leaving only about 30s, in value in his purse ,
but not believing for a moment that we should be at-
tacked. We all had perfect presence of wind at the time,
and it seems wonderful to me when reviewing the
whole scene—a scene of horror—the real sang froid that
I felt. The terror came afterwards, when they were
fairly gone ; and the poor youth was placed in my arms
in the carriage. Thank God, it preyed that he was
only stunned by the blow of a bludgeon upon the left
temple ; he was not dead. I poured some brandy and
water into his mouth ; at last some went down, and
after a while he showed signs of returning consciousness.
It was affecting to see Dr. Whitehead's joy over the
poor lad, and sorrow, too, for his arm was useless, and
we feared a ball had entered his left shoulder. He is
heir, as I understand, to 12,0001. a-year, and Dr. White-
head bad taken charge of him on this his first tour
abroad.

" Just conceive your feelings in having yet 20 miles
to go, through the most cut-throat country possible,
totally uninhabited ' the chance of being attacked by
another party, and having nothing left to give. My
specific I need not say was prayer ; most earnestly I
prayed to be spared another attack that night, and I felt
an answer of peace and grew more calm. I veritably
believe that the sight of another man at the carriage
door would have killed me, and not me only, for our
nerves were so utterly unstrung. Dear Henry sat by
the driver, and I inside, so that we could not communi-
cate. He has a sad bruise on one arm, and two on one
leg, otherwise he is well. I verily believe that the shock
has done him good. I have been on the dither all day
with nervous excitement, as, it was on this time last
night we wero attacked. To-morrow I dare say will
find me all right.
" This morning the bishop went to Cardinal Auto-
nelli, Secretary of State, and gave information of the
affair. One of the judges took down his deposition, and
all has been laid already before the Pope. This is the
fourth robbery on that spot this month, butnow a bishop
having been robbed has made a stir. It was a grand
thing having him with us. We expect to have to appear
to-morrow to give separate eviience. The driver is in
prison as an accomplice, as it appears that he has before
been engaged in a similar thing. . . .
"One does not know how to go to Naples, for the
direct road from Rome to Naples is infested as mush as
to Civita Vecchia. _ _ .

She left New York on the. 9th inst., Nii± ~-;t; pas-
sengers and .Lbove two million dollars in specie.
The chief intelligence of interest is thc. Pre;;-
dent's Ale sage, which was delivered on the Bth, at
Washington. It is as follows :

FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND. ROUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES,—
In obelieuce to the command of tho constitu-
tion it has now become my duty to g!ve to Con-
gress information of the state of the Union, and re-
commend to their consideration such measures as I
judge to be necessary and expedient ; but, first, and
above all, our thanks are due to Almighty God for
the numerous benefits which He has bestowed upon
this people, and our united prayers ought to ascend
to Him that He would continue to bless our great
republic in time to come as He has blessed it in
time past.
THE MONETARY CRISIS.
Since the adjournment of the last Congress our
constituents have enjoyed an unusual degree of
health. The earth has yielded her fruits abund-
antly, and has bountifully rewarded the toil of the
husbandman. Our great staples have commanded
high prices ; and up till within a brief period our
manufacturing, mineral, and mechanical occupa-
tions have largely partaken of the general pro-
sperity. We have possessed all the elements of
material wealth in rich abundance, and yet, not-
withstanding all these advantages, our country in
its monetary interests is at the present moment in
a deplorable condition. In the midst of unsurpassed
plenty of all the productions of agriculture, and all
the elements of national wealth, we find our manu-
factories suspended, our public works retarded, our
private enterprises of different kinds abandoned,
and thousand of skilful labourers thrown out of
employment and reduced to want.
The revenue of the Government, which is chiefly
derived from duties on imparts from abroad, has
been greatly reduced, whilst the appropriations
made by Congress at its last session for the current
fiscal year are very large in amount. Under these
circumstances a loan may be required before the
close of your present session ; but this, although
deeply to be regretted, would prove to be only a
slight misfortune, when compared withthe suffering
and distress prevailing among the people. With
this the government cannot fail deeply to sympa- '
thise, though it may be without the power to extend
relief. It is our duty to inquire what has produced
such unfortunate results, and whether their recur-
rence can be prevented.
In all former revulsions the blame might have
been fairly attributed to operating causes, but not
so upon the present occasion. It is apparent that
our existing misfortunes have proceeded solely from
our extravagant and vicious system of paper cur-
reucyand bank credit exciting the people to will spe-
culations and gambling in stocks. These revulsious
must continue to recur at successive intervals so
long as the amount of the paper currency and bank
loans and discounts of the country shall be left to
the discretion of 1,400 irresponsible banking insti-
tutions, whichfrom the very law of their nature wdl
consult the interest of their stockholders lather
than the public welfare.
The framers of the constitution, when they gave
Congress the power to coin money, and to regulate
the value thereof, and pro!linited the States non;
coining money, emitting bills of credit, or making
anything but gold and silver coin a tender in pay-
ment of deb,s, supposed they had protected the
people against the evils of an excessive and irre-
deemable paper currency. They are not responsi-
ble for the existing anom ly that a governme t en-
dowed with the sovereign atti ieute of coining
money, and regulating the value thereof, should
have no power to prevent others from driving this
coin out of the country, and filling up the channels
of circulation with paper which es not represent
gold and silver.
It is one of the greatest and most responsible

"I must close now. This letter seems incoherent,
but I write under much excitement. It is quite a new
episode in our lives : brigands, bishop, and Pope."

duties of government to ensure to the -people a
sound circulating medium, the amount of weich
ought to be adapted with the utmost possible wis-
dom and skill to the wants of internal trade and
foreign exchanges. If this should be greatly above,
or greatly below, the proper standard, the market-
able value of every man's property is increased or
diminished in the same proportion, and injustice
to individuals as well as incalculable evils to the
community are the consequence.
Unfortunately, under the construction of the
federal constitution, which has now prevailed too
long to be changed, this important and delicate
duty has been dissevered from the coining power,
and virtually transferred to more than 1,400 state
banks acting independently of each other, and re-
gulating their paper issues almost exclusively by a
regard to the present interest of their stockholders,
Government exercising their sovereign power of
providing a paper currency instead of coin for the
country.
The first duty which these banks owe to the pub-
lic is to keep in their vaults a sufficient amount of
gold and silver to ensure the convertibility of their
notes into coin at all times and under all circum-
stances. No bank ought ever to be chartered with-
out such restrictions on its business as to secure
',his result. All other restrictions are comparatively

vain. This is the only true touchstone—l-the only
efficient regulator of a paper currency, the only one
which can guard the public against over issues and
bank suspensions. As a collateral and eventual
security it is doubtless wise, and in all cases ought
to be required, that banks shall hold the amount
of United States and State debt equal to their notes
iu circulation, and pledged for their redemption.
This, however, furnishes no adequate security
against over issue ; on the contrary, it may be per-
verted to inflate the currency. Indeed, it is pos-
sible by this means to convert all the debts of the
United States and State Governments into bank
notes, without reference to the specie required to
redeem them. However valuable these securities
may be in themselves, they cannot be converted
into gold and silver at the moment of pressure, as
our experience teaches, in sufficient time to pre-
vent the bank suspensions and tiie depreciation of
bank notes.
In England, which is to a considerable extent a
paper-money country, though vastly behind our
own in this respect, it was deemed advisable, ante-
rior to the Act of Parliament of 1844, which wisely
separated the issue of notes from tine banking de-
partment, for the Bank of England always to k,ep
on hand gold and silver equal to uric-third of
combined circulation and deposits. If this pro-
portioa was no more than sufficient to secure the
convertibility of its notes with the whole of Great
Britain, and to some extent the continent of Eu-
rope, as a field for its circulation, rendering it
almost impossible that a sudden and immediate run
to a dangerous amount should be made upon it, the
same proportion would certainly be insufficient
under our banking system.
Each of our 1,400 banks has but a limited cir-
cumference for its circulation, and in the course of
a very few days the depositors and note-holders
might demand from such a bank a sufficient amount
in specie to compel it to suspend, even although it
had coin in its vaults equal to one-third of its im-
mediate liabilities ; and yet I am not aware, with
the exception of the banks of Louisiana, that any
State bank throughout the Union has been required
by its charter to keep this or any other proportion
of gold and silver, compared with the amount of its
combined circulation and deposits.
What has been the consequence ? In a recent'-
report made by the Treasury department on the
condition of the banks throughout the different
States, according to returns dated nearest to Jan.,
1857, the aggregate amount of actual specie in their
vaults is 58,349,838 dols. ; of their circulation,
214,778,822 dots.; andcf their deposits, 230,351,352
dole. Thus it appears these banks in the aggregate
have considerably less than one dollar in seven of
gold and silver compared with their circulation and
deposits. It was palpable, therefore, that the very
first pressure must drive them to suspension, and
deprive the people of a convertible currency, with
all its disastrous consequences. It is truly wonder-
ful that they should have so long continued to pre-
serve their credit, when a demand for the payment
of one-seventh of their immediate liabilities would
have driven them into insolvency. And this is the
condition of the banks, notwichstanding that 400
millions of gold from California have flowed in
upon us within the last eight years, and the tide
still continues to flow. Indeed, such has been the
extravagance of bank credits, that the banks now
hold a considerably less amount in specie, either in
proportion to their capital or to .the circulation
and deposits combined, than they did before the
discovery of gold in California. Whilst in the year
1838 their specie in proportion to their capital
was more than equal to 1 dol, for 6 dols. and 33
cents of their capital, in the year 1848 the specie
was equal within a very small fraction to 1 del. in
5 of their circulation and deposits; in 1857 it is not.
equal to 1 dol. in of their circulation and depo-
sits.
From this statement it is easy to account for our
financial history for the last 40 years. It has been
a history of extravagant expansion in the business
of the country followed by ruinous contractions.
Atsuccmesesinvehaivnetereeanlstetmheptbedestto
andpapercredit
their
uoisiltenter-
prising
exciting
ex-
cessive bank loans of mere
them to extravagant importations of foreign goods,
wild speculations, ruinous and demoralising stock
gambling. When the crisis arrives, the banks can
"tend lag relief to the people. in Tsai drliggiO

THE AUXILIARY LOCAL MILITIA.-A

CRUEL 110 AX.

A few days since an officer in one of the Yeo-
manry Cavalry regiments received an official-look-
ing envelope, with the important words upon it,
`On Her Majesty's Service," and bearing the
official seal of the War Office. Opening the enve-
lope, he found it to contain the following enclo-
sure :