The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-10-17

nau pseh Chsckeu ma dances were expected 10 aid
IN adjusting the foreign deb This debt every in
telgent merchant saw, must now press upon Us 10
very considerable extent The foreign exchange
would have pressed upon the seablard the seablaPd
would nave pressed upon their Western, Southern
and Southwestern deb .ors, Much Of The specie of
the banks of this section would have gone ick 10
the seab)1rd, from which il had been taken and
gone to Europe from whichit had been rsl b lrrow-
ed We should have had a great pressure some
bankruptcies among merchants, and many failures
among SPECTATORS many Of whom, h Jwevcr, never
had any thing and therefore could lose nothing bIt
WeT credit great number Of impTudent and
uhsound blnk, would also have exploded, they
should have done and The impurities OF the system
would have run of Many Of these banks were
mere fancy aHdifs-ihc mere fuagaSeS OF the Trea-
sury-hlilt up Wilhoa capital and man " d without
prudence. INKS that could not sustain themselves
under the legitimate operations Of trade and com
nrrcal dem nd, should have zen permitted 10 stop.
The public good, and even Of prudent and solvent
bnEs required H. What signihcd few millions
OF unavailable funds, in few imprudent deposite
bhKS (cren il this measure had saved them, which
had no. compared with the mischief and loss re-
sni'ing from breaking up the exchanges, destroying
credit choking a., lhc natural channels Of commerce
and preventing the resources of the country from
flowing 10 those point, where the demands OF com
mercc required theml The condition Of The coun-
try was known and the necessity of preparing for
heavy revulSOn b gan 10 b. iet As usual, however
in The fnaneering Of the eX-PTcSden' what was
raised b. unsuccessful experiment, must b. torn
down By passion Never, al any period in our his
tory, did we so much need the privilege of making
the BEST OF our resources BY free and undiStulbd
circulation of our means Because The p4en. was
disc lSed BIZ experiments was this 4son that he
could no b. killed b. qulckery His condition e
CURED the greater Ire and ifeer circulation bit
the Presidents remedy was like turning the paien.s
heels upwards 10 cure him OF The apoplexy; or put
ling him 10 the rack, - reduce plroxysm Of The fe-
yer. Fifteen millions Of specie-peThaps much
less-shipped precisely al the Tins, from The pon 5
and at the rates which should have sen. il to meet
or foreign deb, would h we satisfied foreign
creditors for the present maintained the v'ue of
our exports and given rs tim, 10 meet the lance,
b. economy and ano.ner crop.
Men. are operated upon by the same PASSIONS,
whether acting in numb r. or as individuals. II
one man. b. extravaganza or bid m mage men, b.
comes nleb ed 10 ano her more than he has mma-
d tie me ms paw blt homes " ackn lwledges the
deb pays down, with punctualiv all the ready
means he has 10 spare, and asks for time 10 collect
hi, means, and make another crop, The indulgence
will b. gran ed Bal if he nSuf ingy tellS the ere
d or he had no Business totruSt hin-hit this debt
shall no b, ptid and adopts me isureS TO run off his
mesh, in the wilderness, TO keep his credi or from
getting hold OF hen openly boasts OF The tricks by
which the creditor is thus deirduded the latter i'm
mcdately stops all credit and instead OF receiving
plr, he dem nds the whole, and resorts to the most
summary and violent process to colleci the deb.
This was precisely the relation between England
and this country when this order went mo opera
ton The b INK Of England asceriancd early in
1886 that the United States had been draining them
OF their bullion /" on credit" They adopted he
most gentle means in their power 10 restore the
changes and bring ck part of their bullion. The
drain was stopped BIT nothing or but very little re-
turned 10 them BIZ the ddOpti0R Of Tie circular,
SPECIE drorn om Of actire circulation 10 great
eriont and bore premium irich drefr IN The irr0ng
direction. This premium in the West was al one
time 5 and 10 per cent 1t was drawn from the
commercial points BY some TO sell 10 small dealers;
all emgrants drew and carried it. besides what was
drawn By others Tor larger speculalions. But 10
,ras not onfy carried of by premium IN The hcroag
mi hat
othcr sD"ct iocked mp md precened fr0m foctng
10 the points whcre Il 'nas rqared WIN It was the
result :! Why, the usual rate OF exchanges did not
carry off the specie except To very small extent.
While the foreign exchanges pulled one way, the
strange policy Of he President pulling the o.hcT;
and exchanges II or II per cent before the sus
pension Of specie payments Our enlerprisinS mer-
chants saw their danger from this unnatural warfare
against them bat sill continued maniully struggling
to save their own credit and the honor OF The nation
This fact shows how uni just and cruel have been
the charges heaped upon The merchants, oil con>plr-
ing against their own country BY run upon The
banks IHeV c0nspired 10 prereM a ruR as APPEARS
bv ttc premnms Thy consented 10 pay tor exchanges
RI her than demand specie Even their in ereSts, in
fact is a sufficient answer to the reckless charges
which have b,en made against them
Well sir, we left England in expectation OF get
Ting some remitances 10 restore parI OF The money
,c, had borrorcd from her These remitlances, how
ever were m tdc To a very lrifiing extent. In the
moan tme thc President and atS friends rcrc booaing
Of the rise poiicy Of the PrcStdcm IN torctby pre-
renting he operations 81 exchange and preventing
he pqVmsat Of our iorct2n dt6t This circular,
with the euloyiumS on this wise policy" reached
England and The enemies OF the nix Of England
began To taunt them with The lmpo encv OF the
means they had adopted TO get b OK The gold which
il was alleged their own miSmanagemenl and want
of foresight had suffered 10 be drawn from them
The temper inspired by this measure and The tanlS
and boastings which followed it, was natural enough,
and NAV b, seen By the language OF The deputy
Governor Of The b nix 1t will be iecolected that
Al ,sli hal
of the Bank OF England on American credits that
produced our suspension. II prove hat this action
was made necessary or proroked by the specie cir
cular and what followed il, have fully established
nv conclusions from admitted premises.
What saws this officer Of the b nix IN reference 10
the yaporings OF the deb who trick and deies his
cred or instead OF paying him, or showing Will
inpneSs 10 pay himl will read 10 the Senate his
own rdS,
MIR KING then read from late English pamphlet
written by Horsley Palmer, the deputy Governor of
the b INK in answer 10 the charges OF Mr.. Lloyd
In answer to the fifth objection, ii is to be stated
lhat no expectation was nended to be held out mat
poA would return from America SO long as 1t proved
more advantageous to ship silver; but The exfccta-
tion meant to b. conveyed was that Notwithstanding
all the bombaa Of the American President, bullion
would shortly return 10 Europe IRON the uhiled
States and that belief is now in the course OF beng
fulfilled by the daily expected arrivals OF silver,
with which gold is procurable in the markets Of
Europe"
The expected arrivals Of silver" or gold either,
however did not come, or at most were very trifinS
Our modern hnanclerS had put ciaihp upon u, WIN
.h,n, ms much wisdom as would have been indi-
Gated by Selling upon and Stopping lhc expectation
If our cotton ,rhca more r0luaJe IN England than
Aerc The principle OF exrediency IS precisely, The
same There was one mode by "hiGh we cou'u DC
crushed in an instant II was ITO blow up Ameri-
can credits" when offered for discount or redlseonm
by The American houses, or The loini-Stock b4nks.
This was postponed to the last, from The disastrous
consequences apnrehcnded to the manufacturing
Interests, The temper displayed in the above ex-
tract however will show that they were ready to do