Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-02-20

| rcSOntCeS. MS TO tue specie being CfiNSl
from the country by the extensive circuia-
ton TT bank paper, nothing is more falla-
cious. Commerce being IN a great degree
suspended by the war, the banks quickly
| experienced diminution of demand for
| their capital, and their business being les
sened, their circulation could not be kept
| up to what it was In tins s,ate OF things
they were induced to lend freely TO the go
| vernment tn It ca 2ital, fo: which commerce
| no longer afforded a demand, and expert
ence soon taught them what a SPACIOUS
| foresight shOu a have waraed them of, that
! 81 hough loans IL government might throw
their notes into circulation, vet that they
could NOT Ike 10 ms IN de upon mercantile
| IT, nsactiOns for shorl terms. keep up that
circul tion.--'ris the paying in and paying
out OF mercantile operations which must
keep up the circulation or the banks. But
the notes issued on loans to the government,
having performed their circuit and re turn
eel upon the banks for payment, there was
no ability to make new loans to set them "a
gain in motion. as the obligations upon
which they had before been drawn out re-
manned paid.
Connect with these considerations the
unfavourablc b,lance of trade produced
durn:S the war, from the suspension of our
exports, whist our imports were in some
degree Still kept up, and the whole mystic
ny is explained. The extent of the demand
Tor circulating medium is diminished; by
the loars to government more paper is
thrown out than can be occupied by this
demand, which consequently quickly re-
turns upon the banks and constitutes
claim upon them for specie, Which claim is
enforced from the value specie has acqui-
red as the only means of payment for our
war imports; the drain is thus kept up IN un
til experience convuceS them that to save
the pititu remnants of their treasure from
the vo tex which was swallowing it up, the
only alternative was to shut tn eir vaults
which already exhibited in most cas- IS but
begsarly account of empty boxes" 1t
was not, thercf IL, the extensive circula-
ton @! banll paper which drove the specie
from the country, but the effects of the
war, ami so TAR from the banks being the
means Of producing this result, it may BE-
attributed to their wants and bars. that
there was so much of il retained. Let not,
then, the evils of the times be charged up
on them-It is true, we have at pres mt, a
dis Nrdrred currency, but it may be resto-
red to health ami had our cir ulation becn
metallic one, it is presumable that we
should have fit still greater evils. in
asmucA as diSordered currency is yet
better than none at ail.-Senex attributes
TO the committee, the medical abaurdi,y of
attempting to cure the cholic, by adding
to it wind ;"even if this were true, as it is
not. i: would not be quite so fatal pre-
Scripton, as to depri re the patient of his
wind altogether. The report is next ch ar
ged with stating that 9Th, multiplication
of banks will be sufficiently restrained, by
exacting bonus of 90 per cent. ;" and if
it cannot b., " the committee can discover
no other mode Of restraining it." WI a
is here marked by Ssnex as quotation, is
not the language of the report, nor ,es it
convey its meaning. The doctrine of the
committee, is. that the eXaction of bonus
of 30 per cent. imposes " an ef1ectual Ii
nit to tie unnecessary multiplication of
banks" They do not say. in the language
Of despair, that they can discover no 9TH
CT mode Of restraining it." They rely
with confidence upon the efficacy of the Ii
imitation, as we'll they may for, can it be
believed that anv company Of Stockhol J.
ers woul paw 90 per cent. on the amount
of = large capital, for the license to carry
on the trade Of bankers, binding them
selves under heavy penalties, fIr the
PROMPT payment of their notes in specie,
and vet commence this trade in portion
81 the country, where there was not de-
m'nd for such an establishment.
This would be indeed, to attribute to
monied-nen, a blindness to their own in
tereSts, which docs not often exist" If"
SAYS Seek, " this he the cn'y ori eron Of
the number If banks wanting, why = fuse
it tn any b'rk Offering it 20 The report
d,ss NOT r+fu4e It ~ any bank ofFtli it.
1t anv respectable man core forward, &
firly offer this bonus upon compc ent
stock, and the committee would upon these
PRINCIPLES give them a charter. Nor. is
the writer Of tits capable of Icing the ab-
surditvwhich is 81 Literally attributed t. the
reDor', IL its recommend ltion of eff ual
measures 20 suppress the practice Of pri-
vatc banking, VIII lst it recommends, 1T
the sumo time, the cha -tcring of thoee
brnbs olren'v established. The recon
men alton is in perfect consistency with Z
principles If The report which have al
ready explained, and whilst it has due r.
gar tn the interests o. the State, in rea-
ton tothc bonus, il, at tie s1me tima,
world extend projection to the rights Of
the chartered banks. aC'ifSt u. icons d
! competitors. The next inconsistency which
| SeneX attempts 10 establish in the report,
| IS, that in one ri CO " rs us that no We
| ry extensive injury" has yet bccn doae By
| private bankers, and IN another, that re-
! nj advantage has been derived from them {:
| 1st. BY aiding the collection Of tax s I'd.
| BY re airing - Gle 81. BY relieving the
| country from pre-sure.' NOw, I would
! ask the venerable Seoe., whether IN his
| long life I've has net discovered that most
| four blessings are accom- panied - TN some
| evil NChefhcr q tc f,rf r,o-e Lilo Fc, p N, % .