Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1836-12-22

oftrade---snd thus making the whole rcvcn-
Ne of the country work against the whole in
dustry of the country.
His secret il thus revealed in the letter to
Messrs Griswold & Swan:
II have therefore, in cases where the pub
lie money had accrinutsfed IN anys Banks I'M
any one State, md new Banks could be sea.
sonpbly obtaif.ed 10 other States iohtre only q
hhte public money already erisfed. pade but
one transfer To accomplish both ohjccts, anu
by u single operation have reduced the exces-
ses in certain Banks IN certain States, and
placed it in the States iciere Il ioOu!i be- need
ed next year, and where they before bad not
an equal portion Of he public money"
We thus perceive, what on less authori-
" would be Incredible the extraordinary
mspner in which the public revenue has been
scntterctl. The Secretary secs an accumua-
ton OF pnblic revenue in any one. Stale. he
sees another place in another State, "where
only n little public money already existed,
-whcreuoon be resolves, without the least
authority from Congress, TO bestow upon that
place ian equal portion of tha, money" and
as he viii have twelve months hence, To pay
some money in that State, he makes "a single
operation" Of it-ond accordingly he confess
seq that he has actually transferred public
moneys into States which cannot receive
ry community which raised thc money OF the
'nse Of II during that whole period.
Such a measure was Of itself sufficient tn
disorganizc the currency. But II was accom-
panied bv another which armed it with ten
fold power of mischief. y his was tn. Trea-
sury ord prohibiting the receipt AZ the Land
Offices Of any thing hut sprcir-an act which
seems to me a most wanton abuse of power.
If not fragrant usurpation.
Tho whole pccuniary system of this coun-
try, that tn which, next to its freedom, j, owes
IT'S prosperity, is the system Of credit. Onr
ancestors came here with no inoncy-'bnt
with far better tiiings-with courage aud in
du.try---and the want of capital was supplied
by their mutual confidence. This is the ba-
sis Of our whole commercial ard internal in
dustry. The Government received It's duties
on credit md sold its lands on credit. When
the sales of land on credit became inconven-
lent from the complication of accounts, the
lands were sold for what is termed cash. But
this was only another form of credit, for the
Banks, BY lending to those who purchased
lands, took the place Of the Government ms
creditors--and the Government received their
notes a. equivalent to specie, because always
convertible into specie. This was the uso &c
this may be regarded as the law of the
country. By the resolution Of Congress pas
sed on the 30h Of April, 1916 it was dcclar
ed that mo duties. taxes, debts or sums Of
money, accruing or becoming payable to the
United States as aforesaid, ought 10 be col
lectrd or received otherwise than in the le-
gal currency Of the United States. or trensn-
. ry notes, or notes Of the Bank OF th" United
States, or in notes Of Banks which are paya-
bic and paid on demand in The said legal cur
rency ofthe United States"
nltprD1-
tives--the legal currcncy--or Treasury notes
" or notes of the Bank Of the United States
or notes of spccie paying Banks. a citi
=. zen had Alright to choose any one of these
modes of payment lie had as much right 10
pay for land with the note of specie paying
Bank, as 10 pay it for duties at the Custom
House. If this be denied. certainly any one
of them might BE- accepted by the Treasury
but to prescribe all hut onc-to refuse every
thing but the most difficult thing to do this
without notice of the approaching change in
the fundamental system Of orr deallngs--ls
an act Of gratnitous oppression
Under the operation Of this resolution, the
Banks have gone on. fearing nothing. as they
had only to provide for the usual specie cnlls
upon them-and saw the country foil ofspr-
Gle, with no foreign demand 10 drain it from
them when, on sudden without any inti /,
nation of the coming shock. an order was is
sued by the Secretary, declaring that their
notes we're no longer receivable, and OF course ,
inviting all who held the notes or had depos
ties in these Banks, to convert them into spc ,
Gle. II in fact made at once the whole n
mount of their circulation and private depos-
It's specie demand upon them The first
consequence was that the Banks nearest thc
land Offices ceased making loans. The next
was, that they s,rove to iortity themselves by I
accumulating specie. II was lust at this mo- !,
mont that the warrants for transfers were put
into their hands. The combinaton of the
two measures produced double resut--frst,
to require the Banks generally TO increase
their specie. and next,to give them the means
Of doing it, by drafts IN the Deposit Banks. /
The commercial community were thus taken
by surprise. The interior Banks making 10
loans and converting their Atlantic funds in .
to specie, the debtors in the interior could
make no remittances 10 the merchants iTthe ,
Atlantic cities, who are thrown for support on
the Banks of these cities at a moment when
they are unable To afford relief on account Of
the worry abstraction of their specie in the
West. The creditor States not only receive
no money, but their money is carried away 20 .
the debtor States, who in turn, cannot use it,
either to pay old engagements or to contract
new. BY this unnatural process the specie
Of New York and the other commercial cities
is piled up in the Western States-not circu-
lnted, not nscd, hut held as n defence against
the Treasury and while the West cnnnot
use it-,hc East is suffering for the want Of
il. The result is, that the commercial inter
course between the West and the Atlantic,
is almost wholly suspended, and the few OPP
erations which are made, are burden6d with
the most extravagant expcnco.--ln Novem-
her. 1870 tho interest of money hpe risen n