Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1838-05-18
Politics.
THE 0lRREDEEMABLE" MR.. BlDDLE.
(Fiom the Boston CUurier)

cotton crop to pay the debts OF the south western otatcs,
before you resume, would be excellent, If 1t did not
throw out of sigh, one exceedingly important feature IN
the case. And this is, the probable price OF the cotton
after il is cropped. The thing is not beyond the bounds
OF possibility, in the present dIsnrdered state OF aha'fs,
that upon all but the very best lands, or under Inc most
favorable circumstances, cotton may not repay the cost
Of its production. And if it should so prove, al course
the South. western States would instead Of paying oul
their debts, be actually running into them deeper 30
that, far from accelcrating your proposed redemption,
they would be shortening you OF your ac'uai resources
with which 10 redeem.
l do not propose 10 ~prcphesy what Will be the case
But, in all human affairs, it is not unreasonable to exa'
mine what il may be. Assuming for data, | The pre-.
sent price of exchange upon England, which makes a
loss to every cotton grower-2. The continuation OF Inc
contracting system, ~agreeably to your advice, at the close
OF your letler-and 3 The consequent difficulty OF max
inE ary impor,a,ions, with a reasonable prospect OF stea.
DIV prices, and hence n profit-my proposition may ap'
pear to many rather more startling than untrue. hope
/ shall be able TO explain it 10 others i'll the manner IN
which view il myself, because il bears upon the ques
ton Of an immediate resumption, IN the following man
ner.
II we 90 import foreign goods, a, a profit, the tendea
CIV to speculation will revive, and then the chance OF
returning TO specie payments becomes daily weaker.
If We do not import foreign goods, especially OF cot
ton, the demand for the raw article is s%lackened, al the
very time when we pour IN an immensely large crop
Great Britain, of course, will not be willing TO pay US
two years in succession in coin, while she is doing q
losing business in her manufactures. \ gln, may COME,
and then how is the Cotton grower 10 get back h!s outlay
in the crop:
You NAV take either branch Of this alternative, and
how ure you going to be better able 10 resume specie pay.
ments BY your delay: The people IN he Sou,lwrs, wi!
no, thank you fur srainlng them 10 an over production.
unless you will buy all the surplus; and If yoa do buy
all the surplus, your creditors VIII not thank you tor
thus importing the cxtca, of your resources. In truth.
The whole reasoning about This cotton crop vii! prove
bad, If Your basis is bad; and that i. is, ], for one, have
m kind of doubt. YOU, in subst0ucr, deny the fact Of
over,ading in the Southwest. You tell us l'ri' DID, ""
good, and only requires time 10 settle; that their icgsIa
lures are ~piedging their funds to meet this debt, NC
and, TO ~accommodat. them, The false state of the cur
rency must be kept up Il year l"ngcr, IN order that these
debtors should have the advantage OF IT,
In nv humble opinion. this whole strain of reasoning
is perfectly false-the cdiice is rotten, from its tounda
tioa upwards-bccause il makes 10 use of the true ma
terial. Over trading and owe! speculation is now the
curse Of the South west. The planters have run In deb
to buy land, and they have run IN debt 10 buy negroes.
at fxorbiisnt and ruinons prices, whom they run In debt
to maintain, in the hope Of realizing twenty and twenty
1--WE cents a pound FOR til"ir cotton. What are they 10
do when i; 4 fails TO Elk; ask you, Mr.. Biddle, if your
artificial exer,ions 10 keep i up can. by any possibility,
SAVIOR Of any thing bt G~Iackrry, y"u keep 1t up, By
making a nominal price, and by taxing all the res, Of
the country to sustain it-bn, after all, it is not real.
You clutch at n shadow. The South western planter
may pay you 10 cotton, at ten cents a pound; but It, to
accommodate him, you have deprecated your paper mo-
ney to the amount OF the difference between ten cents
and six cents, the only consequence IS, not that there Is
not the same amount, OF loss, but that you divide it with
him. He pays your debt in cotton at ten cents a pound.
and he Is the gamer, 0y Tour cents. But II you sell IL 10
others, and expect TO realize specie, with which To pay
your notes, you must subinit to the loss Of the rates Of
those notes below it. Hence you are the loser.
an afraid do not state this process with quite the
clearness which ] wish; because deem II so important
TO the right view Of our present condition, that it would
be well that every one should al least be able TO reflect
upon it. The error Of your letter appears TO me 1" IL"
in a very imperfect conception of the financial crisis Of
the last two years. II is the holding on TO a portion OF
the mistaken theory which appeared in your former let
,ers, and which led TO that greatest Of your financial err
Tors. your two million loan in New York, for which yon
saddled yourself with bonds payable in London. While
you admit that the disease Of the country was ian over
strained and distempeTed energy, you nowhere describe
Sis symptoms How did this energy overstrair itseh:-
Was it not by buying more of every thing than was
wanted, at prices much greater than they were worth:
Was j, not by raising into value. things which had no
value at all: And, IN order 10 effect this, were not pro
misses made far beyond any ability TO perform them: And
did not the violation of these promises constitute what
is called the suspension of specie pnymeDts-ln other
words, the grand catastrophe? Who on earth, then, can.
by any artificial process, restore a value which existed
nowhere bot in sanguine expectations:
Under such circumstances, it appears 10 me, that the
course of The State Of New York was the only natural
and sound one. The entire scale of fictitious prices had
given way, not by sny aetof this or that person, but be
cause confidence was gone. 1t was in the nature Of
things that il should be so; just as with the mir, which.
when too highly charged with the electric fluid, will, in
the end, make an explosion. No safe resource remained
6ut to come back to the well known standard of value.
To begin again with The proper foundation. To estab.
fish a new scale OF prices as soon az possible, and with
it, to enable all traders to depend upon its continuance
All this the State of New York has done, with as little
suffering, take the case all in all, as the dreadful nature
of the process will probably admit. This we have also
done in New England, at much greater cost, because we
did not begin so soon, and suffered ourselves to be de.
luded by false doctrines in the interval. But you and
your Pennsylvania brethren have not thought proper 10
do it yet, and still imagine you will not have 10 do il at
ell. Perhaps you ATE right. The event must decide
Your process may be the least painful, but il is the most
daDgerous-and presuPposes the command Of resources
not always subject TO human control.
Take for example, your own statement respecting ex
change. You tell Us that, in the mature Of things. it
must rise, because we must buy from England what ma
nufuctures it has to spare. Very well, ! admit it. But
can we regulate the quantity We shall bny' Can we
pre- vent il becoming excessive, and Thus forming a new
debt? And then we shalt hear Of the uniavorable rate
Of exchange, asa reason for not resuming, exactly as
we did FIVE months ago. The moment when a paper
dollar here will more than place lis equivalent in Lon.
don, is a tempting moment for the purchase of goods,
because they come cheaper than usual. Is II to be ex
pected that it will not be impIoved? l, tnr one, am not
so unreasonable. But in order 10 the safety Of the com.
munity, this ought to be begun only when the specie
standard has been fully restored, asst regulator of prices,
and not so long as there is a doubt about it. The differ
ence then between an expansion of the currency, by the
banks Of New York, before and after a resumption, is
more important 10 the community than you appear will.
ing to believe. 1t is the diferep nee between having a
compass 10 90 by, and being wide ahoat without 1.-THE
difference between a road we'll beaten, end an open,
,rackless plain-between a watch and an hour. glass.
An expansion by the banks, after resumption, must
necessarily be a carefully guarded operation; but before
that event, where is The check upon individual enter
orize Where is the probability that FIVE or six thou.
sand bank directors will think alike about the propriety
of restraining themselves: ! confrss | cannot see it -
confess that the stimulus Of private profit appears 10
me too dangerous, in this connection, to hazard It's exist
ence and action upon our present i'll defined Pecunlary