The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1837-12-01

\ Ns1s1e1 WIG uehkrf uA ucmahu uflnu we
banks BY tie merchants. ~hllsl they had
also 10 answer lhe demands II their bill.
holders. who might want 90 purchase the
public lands. What Northern exchange
they had was soon exhausted in reducing |
their cireulsIiOn. whist they coeli not
prudeany do any business Iha, would |
place their own issues in the hands nj the |
business psrt Ofihe eommsnity. .4gainsf |
The business part Of fhe community, both |
merchants and planters, they irers sui |
denly md sfecfually closed. They eonid !
no. pay ouI paper Tor fear spse,e would
be demanded for IL, for the reasons before
named. They could not pay out specie,
or discount for merchants. because the
high rate Of exchange and officially of
procuring u 81 any price would have start
ed il back % twenty-fOur hours 10 the
section from which IL had been unnalu-
rally sxiled. They could not pay gu,
specie 10 the planters, for they owed the
merchants aud is destination would have
been the same. II, then. they did any
business al all. they must do II Nth the
purchasers Of public lads, in lDhich they
ioere secure ef a return Of specie depOsifes.
Accordingly they favored this class Of
customers, 10 order TO do any business ct
all, and the Presiden. himself, in his mes
sage. refers 10 the circular operation by
which they contracted many millions Of
debt upon few millions Of specie; and
yet one popular catch 10 recommend This
measure has been, that IL was aimed al
land spectators! H.
The measure, Mr.. X. said, seemed TO
have been attended with unmItigssed nis-
chief. Even the the sales Of public lands
had most probably been increased BY il,
before the SUSPENSION ofspeeie payments.
There was no alher way Of accounting
for the heavy amount of those sales. after
me mania for speculation had already he
gun To decline. Money became dear and
difficult 10 procure. and all The public
lands in market very much culled and Sc
lec'ed. The deposite banks in the new
siaIrs had been devoted almost exclusive
~ 10 the use Of spectators, a. before
stated. and, moreover. great number
acre induced 10 90 into business AFTER the
adoption Of the order, who otherwise
would moi have thought OF it Ours, he
said, is al enIerprising. speculative peo.
pie: and Whenever Government commits
an error. or adopts an unusual measure,
they begin In think what can be made OF
Il IN financial point OF view. Accord
ugly, the impression was very general
thai this measure would greatly check
purchases, add that the monopoly Of those
who would raise specie for the purpose
would b. much more valuable than il no
step had been taken to destroy competi-
ZION. lie said he kgew Of several hun
sell who collected their capital, turned it
iniu specie, aud went rnt1 the business,
who nut for the order. would not have
thought Of il. For these reasons. an in-
leiIlgent gentleman from the West had
, given u To him a. ms opinion that the
: sales had been much increased bv the
operation of the order, and he tMr H. }
believed II. II. then. il were SD deslra-
ole 10 check the sales Of the public lands,
: the object had failed: even the President
: acknowledges. IN the message. thai the
: effec, Of the order IN That particular had
! been over-esuma,ed. But this Was not
the obiec, Of the order. The object of
the order was 10 prop up fc" Iot,ering
1 depasIte banks, agaius! lie combined but
2 salutarg operation If the distribution law,
/ | and heavy exchange. The President,
or his advisers, saw that some nj the de-
A posite banks in the West and Southwest
had expanded enormously. and we're in
I a precanous condition, aud exchange al
. ready sufficiently high to eudanger de-
: mands IN them for specie; and ne feared
4 that. when asked also for portion OF the
{ public money, they would explode. and
J give a triumph to his enemies, by The
. failure OF his lsvorite experiment He
| determined TO sustain them al every ha-
Y gard, and without sufficient regard to
/. the interests Of the people. Did he sue
coed in this object! No. On the contra
n nv, in this last grand coup d'e,at, or, ra-
i Their, coup d'argent, TO sustain his expe-
j. riment. by succoring a few lettering pet
e banks, he broke the whole; yes, sir,
e broke the whole; for, although | do not
intend TO attribute TO this order more
n importance than ii deserves in bringing
l. the country into It's present condition,
d We, have not the remotest conception
}, that we should have had general sus.
e pension Of specie payments. and nation.
e al bankruptcy, but for the adoption Of this
Al order. He said he believed he should
il prove this to the satisfaction Of all who
e would listen to the facts. and imparlially
Ie attribute to human passion its natural
r agency in stimulating human action.