South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1837-05-20

ent distressed condition of that city, and re-
questing an audience at as early an hour as
my convenience will admit.
| will receive the committee at two O'Clock
to-day and will at that or at any other time
more agreeable to them, be pleased to receive
any communication which they NAV desire
to present to me. To avoid the misapprehen-
sions to which oral communications are liza
Bile, and also to avoid the errors which with
the best intentions, are SO apt to occur, on
both sides, III giving accounts of such inter-
views, think it most proper that the repre-
sentatlon of the committee be made In writ
ing. In that form, shall be happy to re-
ceive 1t, and when SO received, it shall be res
pectfully considered, and answered in the
same manner. am, sir, very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
NJ. VAN buren,.
To ISAAC S. HONE, Esq. Chairman, &C.
At the appointed time, they presented them
selves, were courteously received by the Pre-
sident, with whom they found the Secretaries
of the State and Treasury Departments, and
read the following address;
To MARTIN VAN buren,,
President of the United States:
SIR-We have the honor of inform.
ing you that very numerous meeting
of the merchants of New York was
held on the 25th of April, for the pur-
pose ofconsidering the present distress
ed condition Of the city, and deliberat-
ing upon the means of relief. 1t was
called by more than three hundred
firms, and was attended by large pro-
portion Of those merchants who are con-
nected with the internal trade of the
country, and who have an especial and
direct interest in the State of Domestic
Exchanges.
A Committee was appointed to re-
pair to Washington, and demonstrate
with the Executive against the contin-
uance of the Specie Circular, and to
urge its immediate repeal; also to ask
that instructions may be given to pre-
vent the commencing of suits in any of
the collection districts, upon unpaid
Bonds, until after the first day of jan
uary next; and to urge upon the Exec
utive the propriety of calling an extra
session of Congress at as early day as
possible.
In obedience, Sir,to these instructions,
we present ourselves before you, and
ask your deep and solemn attention to
the unhappy condition of that city
which has hitherto been the promoter
and the index of our national prosperi-
ty, and whose fall will include the ruin
of thousands in every region of our ter
ritory. We do not tell a fictitious tale
of wo; we have no selfish or partizan
view to sustain, when we assure you
that the noble city which we represent,
lies PROSTATE in despair, its credit bligh-
ted, its industry paralized, and without
a hope beaming through the darkness
of the future, unless the government of
our country can be induced to relin-
quish the measures to which we attIib-
ute our distress. We fully appreciate
the respect which is due to our Chief
Magistrate, and disclaim every inten-
ton inconsistent with that feeling; but
we speak in behalf of a community
which trembles upon the brink of ruin,
which deems itselfan adequate Judge
of all questions connected with the
trade and currency ofthe country, and
believesthat the policy adopted by the
recent administration, and sustained by
the present, is founded in error, and
threatens the destruction Of every de-
partment of industry.
Our merchants, manufacturers and
mechanics, have repeatedly predicted
the fatal issue Of that policy" "lVhat
was prophecy, has now become histo-
ry;" and the reality far exceeds our
most gloomy apprehensions. Under a
deep impression of the propriety of
combining our declarations within mod
crate limits, we affirm that the value of
our real estate has, within the last six
months, deprecated more than forty
millions; that within the last two
months, there have been more than two
hundred and fifty failures of houses en-
gagged in extensive business; that within
the same period decline of twenty
millions Of dollars has occurred in our
local stocks, including those Rail Road
and Canal interpretations, which tho
chartered in other States, depend chief
ly upon New York for their sale; that
the immense amount of merchandise
in our warehouses, has within the same
period fallen in value at least thirty per
cent; that within a few weeks not less
than twenty thousand individuals de-
pending upon their daily labor for their
daily bread, have been discharged by
their employers because the means Of
retaining them were exhausted-and
that a complete blight has fallen upon
a community heretofore SO active, en-
terprising and prosperous-the error Of
our rulers has produced a wider desc,