Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1838-04-19

pent almost Inaccessible to lis debtor--re-
ucln. al the same time the rates OIL exchanSe,l
and the prices OF every thing. Tins rigor
instantly rccoils on the creditor lfpayment
is made in the Southern and Western states,
the Atlantic merchant loses the whole de-
IN the exchange. II payment is 10
be made in the Atlantic cities, and the debtor
sends produce to pay his debt, the scarcity OF
money obliges him TO sacrifice It'll he sends
the bank notes OF his country they sink to
sc venty five per cent in value-and he loses
the difference. II he brings the stocks OF his
state, the scarcity of money renders negocia-
ton impossible. Once disappointed III tins
way, he sends no more produce-no more
bank notes-und the creditors in turn suffer
more than the difference by the delay.
So in respect to Foreigners. We owe
large debt 10 France aud England. why
should we destroy the value OF our only
means of paying il? We can pay 1t only IN
cash, or produce or stocks. AS TO cash-this
debt was contracted IN an abundant currency.
By this artificial scarcity Of money we are
Obliged to pay it in a currency more vaiuaole
by one hall or one third. Even at that rate
we can neither borrow the money nor raise II
by sales except by rulnous sacrlhce. we
then may pay II m produce or IN SfochS' oul
the same scarcity sinks the value oi oolh'
debt contracted when cotton was al twenty
cents, we have to pay when cotton Is ten
cents u pound. Ii we propose 10 pay III
stocks, these too have sunk perhaps twenty
tive per cent OH their price last year. Our
resources then are diminished in value "hlle
our debt is increasing by interest. The con-
sequence is that the iurelgn debt Is pos'po-
ned. This operates injuriously to Ooth par
Ities-the domestic debtor by reducing hls
means Of payment-to the foreign creator
by the delay and the hazard OF his deot. IL
is true if he could now receive his money ne
would remit il home at a low rate. But thsn
the same scarcity which lowers the rate OF
remittance, prevents his receiving any thing
to remit-and SO far from being interested III
the early resumption, IL Injuries hun csseniiai-
/ ly, because the forced preparation Tor IL ny
| crushing the resources Ut his debtors rehdeis
| them alike unable and unwilling to pay
II What the foreign creditor wants Is pay ylieh'
II payment OF the debt, not IN better cur
relcy, but in al equal currency, or II neceS-
| sary, IN an inferior currency, because he can
| better support high rate Of remittance than
reduced or postponed payment.
/ There prevails notion that the credit OF
the country abroad will be injured by not re
suming. Not in the least. Every body con-
| nectcd with America knew the reasons ol
suspendlng, and entirely approved oi It as
the only measure that could have saved The
! country. What Europeans want now is that
we should pay our debt. That Is our iirS'
duty, and il they sec, as they cannot fail Ia
| see, that these premature efforts to resume
specie payments prevent the collection OF
| what is due to them, they will perceive, that
in cndeavoring to secure al object wholly
i domestic, they have been sacrificed in re
| spect to the dividends and the stock, payable
abroad, many OF them are payable in pounds
sterling, or guiders, or francs, so that We
place the money there at our own cost-ant
AS TO dividends payable here, they have al,
most universally been RENTED in the cquiva'
lents 10 specie. What the general mer-
chants Of France or England desire, is that
we should take their mcrchandise-that we
should trade with them. The state OF our
currency Is a very subordinate concern. You
deal with them and pay them in their own
currency. They know little and care less
about the sort OF currency in which you dea
with the South and West. Besides, who are
to repreach US with the depreciation Of OIL
notes The English? But the Bank o
England suspended specie payments 70
: twenty five years-during nearly all whlcl
) time every American bank paid specie-an'
men in England were forced by law to taxi
the notes Of the Bank of England when the!
: were at thirty per cent discount-wherca'
no man is obliged here to take any note
} any bank--and ut this moment paper dol
lar in Philadelphia or New York, will buy
} silver dollar delivered in London. Th,
question then of the resumption is one ex
clusvcly domestic-one which, however i'm
portant at home, does not affect the credit o
the country abroad.
H VI. We now come to the question whether
if an early resumption be practicable, the
month of May is tit time. My impression
is that the month of May is very unfit time
The resumption, to be useful, must he gene
raj and no arrangement can be satisfactory
which does not include the southern ant
southwest states. These do not think arr
} yet ready to resume. They are stralnln4
: every nerve to pay their debts. Their crop
are going forward to provide funds in Europ'
, and at the North-the banks are laboring t
: meet their notes at the North-the Leglsla
: lures are pledging their credit to raise funds
in order that their people may pay their debts
Why should we repulse them! All the.
want is time. They have not yet had tn
UcueII OI SlIlplt CTOI', dIIu tucy tDI"h'
) another; and instead of dscrcditing them, o
diminishing the value Of their produce. o
curtailing their facilities in sending thei
crops TO market, it is better to help them, ant
wait till they are more advanced in their pre-
parations. The employment Of credit, either
of banks or of individuals, most useful to the
country at this moment, is to forward its pro
duce to Europe. Instead of this, the banks
are reducing these facilities and calling upon
their debtors for payment. This seems yer.
unreasonable. 1t Is stopping the locomotive
as they are carrying the crop to market
} The month of May, too, is not the right ,iln'
Of the year. For example, 1t requires al
average of about fifty days to take cotto'
from New Orleans to Liverpool. SupposinI
it Immediately sold, the usage is, at the en'
OF ten days 10 give a bankers acceptance
payable in two months, so that by the mont
OF May there would not be actually realized
more than the cotton which left New Orean
before January, when not more tl'an one
fourth or one-tiilh of the whole crop had beel
; shipped. Much, Of course, is drawn for whel
! shipped, but speak now of the actual Oh
r tanning possession Of the proceeds of th
} crop and, at all events, not one-holt of TIN
: crop will have reached Europe by the mon,l
: of May. The spring is, moreover, the reaso
when the credits given for the shipments Q