Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-12-07

niotiDn of Mir. Taylor, (Ch) the words in
the proviso, haveresu,Geda and continued
the payment OF were stricken out. and
:" have commenced paying and shall con
tinue to pay" inserted in their place.
Mr.. Mercer (of L. then offered the Sub
stitute, which was yesterday rejected .Jy
the Committee-which goes TO suspend
the act till the 10Th Of February, or TO
such later day as Congress may adopt III
lieu OF this one-procidcd, also, that the
banks shall pay by the 10th day of Janu-
AIRY, III the current coin of the o. S. all its
notes or tickets, for any sum less than one
dollar.-hlr. NJ. urged, as an argument in
favor of the measure, passage i'm the
last Message ofthe President, from which
he inferred distinct ntimation that the
General Government would persevere i'm
the resolution which they had adopted
Ito call for the public dues in specie, &c.
on the Doth of February. )-IIe contend
ed that no State pride ought 10 be excited
Gas he was sorry tosee had BEEN by an
attempt to produce a concurrence between
our own measures and those of Congress
Congress having exclusively The power,
under the constitution TO regulate our
currency. He asked if it was not better
To cooperate with Congress upon whose
measures we might calculate with some
degree of assurance, rather than with the
banks of the middle states, whose interest
had induced item 10 select the 10th July.
and whose interest might induce them 10
change 1t. Besides. they were about To
send Mr. Sergeant, one OF their board, to
England, tor5 millions of specie; that he
would getllem on good terms, as Spanish
Dollars were scllingin London at III per
cent below par, and after all the expences
beng deducted, would leave clear profit
or 2per cent.-So, that the u. 5. Bank
might lend its own stockholders the spe-
Gle TO pay up their last instruments, IN
stead of their coming into our markets
To obtain the specie from our banks, If
they should open on the goth of Februa-
airy. MIR. Nj. said, thatif this House CON
tinued To SIT only till the I5th January.
they would be ableto know what steps
Congress would take; as Congress must
terminate on the 4th of March, the public
dues must be collected, and timely notice
would have to be given to their Collectors
OF the Neyenie, scattered in Indiana, the
Missouri, &c. sometime before the Goth
OF February, whether they meant TO adj
here TO their resolution-Mr. M. also
contended, that our banks would be able
to pay specie by the Goth of February. as
all they would have to do, would be TO
convert their public stock, foreign notes,
&c. into specie.
Mr.. Smyth was not satisfied with the
idea OF passing an Act, depending on
resolution OF Congressional it was our
business to administer reliefto our own
banks; and that Congress was powerless
Tor this purpose for, if they should adj
here TO their resolution, how should we
stand Congress would thus say, ON.
vaults should be open, while those of the
other banks were shuttle stated, that
the gentleman from LOudOun wished the
banks to buy 100000 dollars of specie
with their stock, &c. 1t j sacrifice of $780,
600 only but as the instalment of the
National Bank would req uire So, 500. coo
there would Dea greater demand for spe-
cle-lts price would rise, and the cost TO
our banks would be more than $4,000.
Mr.. Boher moved to amend Mr.. Mey-
GERS substitute, so as to cause il to read
that the Act of last winter ''6e and
the same rs hereby repealed"
lie was opposed to the original bill, Sz
the substitute, because particular dav
was named IN eaclI-tor the same reason,
he had been last winter opposed to the
law which had been adopted. We were
then told that on the 18th of November
the banks would pay, as if there were
magic in that day he had then the mis-
fortune to lind himselfin small minority.
but now the tables were turned, and he
found himself III large majority on that
qucstion-He asked i!'there were now any
particular magic in the goth of Feb. or
the LIST OF Julyt Could not the people of
Virginia legIslate for themselves, without
looking to Congress He thought il e.
nough that in legislating for Virginia he
passed no law which contravened the
powers of Congress.
There was 10 more magic in the LIST of
July /; because we were not sure that the
Northern Banks would adhere TO that dav
and he had no idea of any dependence on
m0nled corporatlOnS.-He begged leave
to remind the House Of trite adaee-Ne
Sntor ultra crcpidam had better stick
to our last, and confinc ourselves TO sub
lects. more within our comprehension.
we had better leave it TO those who had
the greatest interest in the matter.
MIR. Scott called for the ayes and noes.
MIR. Lane pointed out one view which
should lead TO the repeal Of this law-it
was 10 operate only on SUNS above $40 !:
as III only gave cognizance TO courts hav-
ngcompetentju jurisdiction i'm such matters.
lhen, what was TO become OF thepoor.wbo
might hold bank-notes for less than $50 ?
Again this law did not forbid the banks
giving delivery-bonds, and thus proiitiup
by delay Besides, we lIad already law
more efficient at present than this new d
uBbeaten track.
Mr.. hercer conlended that the argu-