Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-06-26
COMMUNE CATION.

The Editor Of the 81. Louis Enquirer.
Though this gentleman has stated and
insinuated several things against the
Bank of Edwardsville, which were to-
tally Incorrect; though even, in his paper
Of the 10th inst. he asserted g that the
bank had stated that her notes were re-
ceived in the Missouri land Offices"
which he pronounced to be " false" and
a lie," when in fact neither the bank
nor any of its directors had ever made
any such assertion; yet we feel no dis
position to retort upon him language long
since exploded and prescribed by decent
society; and which he, in cooler mo-
ment, would be as ready to condemn as
any other gentleman--nor to remind him
in his own Words" that there is a PRO-
| oerb which heohle ought TO remembers"
nor even to question that his errors were
unintentional and his motives honorable.
But being convinced, as we think he
must have been, that he had been be-
trayed into several errors in relation to
the bank, we really think it was due to
his own magnanimity, and to his public
pledge to hold his PAPER above the
| fith Of Personal abuse" that he should
have abstained from applying to the d.
rectors of the bank, the above oppro-
brious terms, without any evidence what
ever to establish the fact upon which
they were predicated---and with evidence
too, before his eyes, that the mistake al
luded to, was an error of the editor, and
not " false statement" or &C lie' of the
bank. In fact, the bank had no motive
| to make such a statement, for SO long
as the money received in all the Mis-
souri, land offices is to be deposited eac-
clusiveiy in the Bank. of Missouri, in
addition to the immense amount of pub
lie deposits heretofore made in its vaults,
-thereby giving it unrivalled pre-emi-
nence over the most respectable state
banks in the western country, and ena-
bling it to use the public money to their
ANNOYANCE, this bank will never consider
it an advantage to have its notes made
receivable in those land offices. And if
the banks of Kentucky have heretofore
considered it an advantage to have their
notes made so receivable, there is some
reason to believe, that since the arrival
of the large importation Of specie for
the Bank of Missouri, which was recent
ly announced in the Enquirer, they are
beginning to be very willing to wave any
such advantage in future.
We think it was hardly candid in the
editor of the Enquirer, and in some
measure tri1ing with the understandings
of his readers, to endeavor to prove,
that this bank was insolvent, from its own
showing in the Spectator of the 5th inst.
1t is evident from the statement alluded
to, that all that was intended by it was to
prove that the bank had, in specie, few
thousand dollars more in its vaults, than
notes in circulation and to rebut his
own insinuations that it had no other spe-
Gle resources than the 81 1000 reported
to the legislature in February last, which
he had predicted would soon be exhaust
ed-and if, for this purpose, he is not
satisfied that the statement was amply
sufficient, he can have additional proof
considerably more favorable to the bank.
And here let it be observed that when
Mr.. Wash, Mr., Mears, and Mr.. Cook,
were invited to examine the notes re-
deemed, and the specie on hand, there
was no intention of referring to either of
them in the public papers, because it
was not anticipated that the statement in
the Spectator would have been SO pub
licly questioned and in referring to Mr..