Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1838-01-18

Deen DdDkS vi tnIS SuiIlc ueSCTiptiOIi, l. "a
|. VORlTES AND REPOSITORIES
OF THE GOVERNMENT!
The Com nnnOnwealth Bank
and its Management.
l The Commonwealth Bank Of Boston,
the failure Of which was announced on
Saturday, has been ever since the sell
zure of the public monies the great gov
ernment bank of New England. A
round il have clustered the immediate
counsellors and confdants Of the Fed
eral administration in this quarter Of the
country. Its management has been eX-
clusively controlled by agents friendly to
the administration, and we may say has
been conducted Immediately under the
eyes Of the President and his cabinet
Those who have partaken OF its facilities
have been, almost without exception, the
jealous partzans or official s,ipendiaries
Of The administration. Isaac Hill, +.
o. J. Smith, David Henshaw, VIM.
Parmenter, Amos Kendall, and few
more of the original contrivers and abet-
tors Of the removal of the public money
from the u. S. Bank are the men, who
have been Immediately aggrandized by
that foul deed Of violence and plunder.
The developments Of every successive
day prove this assertion bey yond cavil
or n doubt.
But there are two or three facts in re-
laton to tho explosion of this Jackson
and Van Burcn banking institution,
which we would lay before our readers
before indulging in further comments.
The capital ofthe Commonwealth Bank
was S5OO,OOO Its president was John
k. Simpson Cashier, Charles Hood.
The following is list Of its directors:-
j. X. Simpson, (pension agent), adams
Baileu, John Mills, Olirer Fletcher, II.
j. How, Wm. Freeman, Elisha Parks,
Samuel S. Lswis, +. S. Carruth, Oils
Rich, Charles Hood.
There is n provision in our statutes
expressly prohibiting any bank from be-
coming indebted more than double the
amount of its capital stock, and holding
the directors personally responsible for
the excess, except in case Of absence or
dissent, which must be forthwith made
known to the governor and council. In
direct violation Of the statute, we learn
! that the Commonwealth Bank, with a
capital of $500, 900, has extended its
liabilities to the amount Of s 400, ,OOO-
leaving an excess Of four hundred thou
! sand dollars, for which the directors be-
cone responsible. 1t is understood that
only one of the directors, Elisha PARKS,
Esq, has been enabled to avail himself
of the means of exemp ion presented in
{ the statute, thereby exonerating himself
from the guilt OF participating in This in
fraction OF the law.
II Among the remaining directors, who
are Immediately implicated, we find the
name of John Mills, the prosecuting at
torney Of the United States for this dis.
trict. The officer, whose express dut,
it is TO prosecute all offences against the
general government, is here seen lending
his counienancs and authority TO the cor
rupt management Of aD institution, IL
which large dcposites ofthc public money
are made, and which has violated il
/; faith 10 the community and the govern
meDt in manner that called for the Sc
verest application ofihc law. The man
who by his official oaths was bound Il
+; observe the laws Of the land and TO wa'cl
+; over the public interest IN tho discharge
; Of his function of prosecuting attorney
has acQuiesced IN The violation Of th'
law bc should have revered, and bctray
; cd the interests, which il was his duty
to guard |!