Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-12-11


gencies, it would therefore be desirable,
that the assistant cashier, together with
some confidential person appointed by
| the board, should be authorised by law
| to sign such notes.
The committee, in common with the
rest of their citizens, have heard
the reports and opinions which have SO
generally been expressed respecting the
cost of the building intended for tho
Bank of the United States in Philadel-
phia, and the injuries which have been
sustained by the state or local banks from
oppressive demands for specie made
upon them by the parent bank and its
offices. As these reports and opinions
are founded in error, the committee,
from official documents, will represent
the facts as they really are.
The land upon which the bank is to be
erected, was purchased in May, 1879
for $4,000. According to the con-
tracts which have been entered into, and
the estimate of committee appointed
| by the board of directors, the building,
when finished, will not cost more than
SI25,0oo.
In the city of Philadelphia, the local
banks have received from the parent
bank 8l,l5o,e72 in specie, more than
they have paid to it. No documents
which the committee have been possess
| ed of, exhibit the specie transactions be-
tween the Bank of the United States and
its offices and the local banks generally,
but the books of the institution in the
city, show, that the balances due to it by
the local banks amount to S2,5O2,758,
| and that the balances due by it to the To-
cal banks, amount to S941,ooo, mani
testing that the large sum of Sl,56l,6 58
remains due to the institution, for which
it is entitled to demand specie, but which
it has forborne to do, although, in order
to support the credit of the country, it
has purchased great quantities of specie
at considerable expense.
AS the degree of confidence which
will be, and which ought to be, annexed
to the prospects held out in this report
relative to the future productivenes OF
the stock, must not little depend upon
the opinions entertained Of the admins
tration of the parent bank, the commit
tee deem it part of their duty to give
publicity to their sentiments upon this
subject. From the time of their ap-
pointment, until this report was prepared,
although they sat usually from an early
hour in the morning until late hour in
the evening, with the exception of inter-
walls allowed for dinner; although, DUR
ing their sittings, they were very often
obliged to apply to the president of the
bank for information, they always found
him present, always ready, at all hours,
to comply with their wishes, and always,
when applied to, communicating to them
statements, facts, and explanations, with
unreserved openness, with honorable
candor, and with luminous perspicuity.
From his conduct upon this occasion,
from the means of Judging of his Official
conduct afforded in the course of this
investigation, as well as from opportuni-
ties of knowing him, enjoyed by many
of the members of the committee, both
in his private life and in his public ca
reer, they speak from the conviction Of
| truth, when they declare that they believe
in their consciences, that his administra-
ton has been, and will continue to be,
firm and temperate, wise and concilia-
ting; that he will pursue the sound in
terests of the institution, Invested offearx
favor, or affection, and if ever he be
chargeable with any errors of the head,
from which the most enlightened possess
no charter of exemption, that he will
never be guilty of any errors of the
heart
WILLIAM DRAYTON, Chm.
Bank of the United States,
Philadelphia, 5th Nov. l8l9.S
Ordered, That the said Report be ac,
cepted by this meeting.
Ordered, That the same be made pufn.
lie under the directions of the secretary.
j. GALES, Jun. Sec'ry.
cHILLICoTHE, NOV. 10.
On Monday last, Judge Thompson
gave his opinion in the case of Messrs.
John L. Harper and Thomas Orr, who
had applied for the benefit of the writ OF
Habeas Corpus. The judge, we UNDER
stand, decided that he had no jurisdiction
in the case, and Of course they were re-
manded back to prison. BY order Of
the marshal, the prisoners were yester-
day removed from this place to the prison
in Lancaster, where, it is said, they will
remain in confinement until the next,
term of the United States District Court,
to be held at this place nj February