Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1834-12-18

the Professors CT ruin and rascaliiy. have bceu
tru,ferred to more ample theatre that their
large capacities for mischief may have fuller
scope and that they may, like the " wretch who
fred the Ephesian dome,' be " dann'd to ever
lasting fine"
Their employers have no reason TO be dissatis-
fed with them. Blair and Kendall imagine they
have done for the bank Of the United States, and
it must be admitted that Barry has the Post Of
fee in fair way.
We have been led into this train Of reflection
and remark by an article in the Richmond En-
ouirer, credited TO the Norfolk Beaeon--detail-
ing the proceedings Of public meetings held in
the town Of Portsmouth and in the borough Of
Norfolk, the object Of which appears to be, the
increase Of banks and banking capital in those
places in particular, and throughout the State
generally
The Portsmouth meeting recommends in re-
solution, that similar meetings be held in all the
towns in the State Of Virginia, to establish banks
or devise an increase Of their capital.
In the preamble 10 the Norfolk resolutions,
!. the admitted superiority Of the North over South
4 in mercantile pursuits is ascribed 10 the advant
age accruing to the former from the possession Of
extended banking privileges not possessed by the
latter The inferiority of the ancient borough of
/ Norfolk, in population, wealth, commercial acti
vity, and advantages to Boston, n. York, Phila-
adelphia and Baltimore, cannot be ascribed, &C
cOrdng to the preamble, to its location or to the
want of talent, industry, and economy of its cit-
zens-but to the want of available capital; to the
want of proper system of banking. With these
views petition is to be addressed TO the Legis
ture TO procure the establishment Of one or
more banks in the aforesaid places. To this we
nave no sort Of objection. II is affair between
themselves and the Legislature with which we
have no inclination TO NEEDLE. We hope, how
ever, that they will confne their remedies TO
their own cases, which they may be supposed to
understand, and not seek TO extend their kindness
10 "aH the totcns in the State Of Virginia" most
Of which, we are pursuaded, are suffering from
a1y thing rather than the want Of extended
banking privileges" In reference TO the exten-
sion of the system Of banking, we do earnestly
hope that the present and future Legislatures OF
u This State will adhere to The prudent reserve and
u wise inactivity that has heretofore marked
the conduct of their predecessors. The people
Of the United States rapidly approach
ing that point in the circle from which they
started in 1911.
The old Bank of the United States succumbed
n the spirit of party. The protested & perhaps
the real motives of its opponents are entitled to
n respect 1t was not lied down by fasehood heaped
u upon falschood and Misrepresentation piled
II upon Misrepresentation. II was deemed TO have
been founded upon miscontruction of the orga-
mic fundamental law Of the nation, & to have been
inits tie ndencies unfriendly to the spirit & drift
+ Of our institutions. Time, which overthrows the
illusions of opinion, but establishes the decisions
Of nature" brought conviction to many OF its a
best most candid opponents that.thc evils attr-
buted to its presence s. operation were fancied or
exagg Grated, whilst the inconveniencies and mis-
CHIEF growing out of its absence, were beyond
MEASURE greater than had been forcseen In less
Van seven years, the very party, and to
,apsiasrublo extent, the identical individuals
who had refused to rechartcr the old bank, es-
\ ablished the present. Among the most promi
nent and extensive of the evils growing immedi-
atey and directly out of the extinction of the old
n bank was the enormous increase OF raggeries,
y the spawn of ignorance and folly, or the machn-
q cry of swindling, all over the country, by
n which il was inundated with spurious trash
u purporting TO be money.
a Considerable increase in the amount Of the
n CIRCULATING medium of a country is sure tobe fol-
owed by an increase in the money price OF eve
al thing that is bought and sold in that country
The produce of the land rises in price, and the
RI vice OF land speedily rises also. Where the
I'd Increase in the amount of money suddenly thrown
into circulation is enormous, as il was in Penn
ina glyania Ohio and Kentucky, at the time allu-
ded to- the rise in the prices OF land is calculated
10 bewilder and mislead the most prudent, can
n jous and thrifty. They do not know and ire
al iuently cannot be made TO understand that the
i. fse in price is merely apparent and not real
That il is owing not to real increase IN the
~ Iaue of the land, but TO real decrease in the
eat value of a redundant and spurious currency -
Hence they are led, with view TO speculation,
10 purchase lands they do not want, at four times
len their intrinsic value-when suddenly the bank
Al bubble bursts and hundreds and thousands OF
men, who in a sound state Of the currency, would
he hever have ventured TO incur single dollar
and debt beyond their ability TO pay, are irretrie-
va ably ruined. This is the state OF things we are
approaching now. We can see the foam CT the
on breakers ahead-we can hear the 'remorseless
a. lash Of the billow' upon the sunken rocks The
y Z, hobe ship freighted with fortunes with all
alls set, is driving right before the wind, and
:" 60 bill upon the ruin.
at 70 We have.now between four and five hundred
-, anks, chartered by twenty four distinct and
w" dependent sovereignties,' to use the current
tb lang Of the day, and constant additions are ma
H. ling to their number or capital. BY the des
taction of the Bank of the United States, al
n keful control of the currency is taken from the
hy eneral government. In defiance OF the constl
btion the states have established the practice O
CIV Emitting bills of credit The coming OF money
Outa hd tho regulation Of the currency expressly
M N the constitution, taken from the states, anc
n6ded to the general government, are not teen
on cally, but in practice and in fact. in the hand
Sod the states. From the five hundred establish
rant hcnts, deriving their origin from no common
I, Hturce, and subject to common control-no
IN ctng together in concert, but separate and $50
l. S ted and for the nnst part each ignorant oil tn
,us khers business and proceedings, or II near en-
,.au ugh in location TO come nc COLLISION ac'"g
'r pc spirit Of Jealous and hostile rivalry iron
uos anks so numerous &;so circumstances; by som