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

y In The Morning post oil IhurSday last,
we find the following advertisement,
bearing the date olits first appearance; =
NorIcE.-p Persons holding checks asaios, the
Custom House, requested 10 present them
either at the bank, or this Office Tor payment, i'm
nediately,
:, DAVID HENSIIAW,
/ Jan H. lws Collector.
4 Is it not most remarkable that this no
tice, calling upon the holders of checks
to present them at :EJ"THE Bank~fla
for payment, or at the Office, where we
may fairly presume they would have re-
ceived the bills Of the bank, should have
been published just thiriy-six hours be-
fore the failure Of the Bank was made
public, and on the very. day that the di-
rectors determined to stop payment
Why should the holders of checks against
the Custom House have been called
upon at that particular and most suspi-
cious time, TO exchange them for the
bills of bank OH the verge Of bank
ruptcy What need was there Of u
public, imperative call upon the holders
Of checks at that time ? Did The Col
lector wish TO save farther losses to the
government Il! the expense Of the com
munily, or did he wish to rid himself in
the easiest way Of his own personal re-
sponsiblites The transa elton wears
bad aspect. The public may be wrong
in their suspicious but immediate and
ample explanations must be made 10 the
public, before those suspicious can be
removed.
This explosion of the great administra-
ton bank of New England naturally
calls to mind an incident, to which we
may trace the origin Of the financial dis
asters, which have harrasscd the people
ol this country for the last three or four
years. 1t was in this city, while en- joy
ing the hospitalities of our municipal
authorities, that General Jackson, at Il
time when his physicians had despalred
of his recovery from prostrating illness,
signed, in obedience to the solicitous i'll
stigations of Van Buren,, Henshaw, s.
Co. the order for the removal Of the pub
lie money from its authorized place Of
deposit. 1t was in this city that the plan
OF pariizan aggrandizement and plunder
was matured and carried into efiect-and
it is in this city that the fruits of that de-
testable system have been developed in
the overthrow Of the bank, which was
the first to solicit and contract for its
portion Of the spoils. ave still have
justice here ~ The bloody instructions
have returned "to plague the inventor!
The spoilers have been spoiled The
plundsrers plundcred
We can now understand why MIR.
Woodbury. refused, so pertinaciously, TO
publish the returns Of the pet banks
We can now understand why the gag
ging system was adopted by the admin
istraiion in respect to these institutions.
Day after day-tor months together
the Wing presses called on Mr.. Wood
bury for the returns of the hanAs under
his supervision. Still he refused to pub.
lsh them. "A my ysterious silence was
the only reply TO the reiterated demands
of the public. When MIR. Wise attvmpt-
ed his investig gation-what was the re-
ply /? The PRESIDENT HAD voUcnED
FOR Mr.. WooDBURY's INTEGRITY AND
ABILITY, AND ALL ATTEMPT AT INvEsTI'
CATION WAS DENOUNCED AS AN ISSUE WITH
THE HERO OF New ORLEANS. Inquiry
was repcllcd-investigati alton was batfled
the Just demands Of the public were
evaded or treated with contumely and
neglect. Mr. Woodbury. knew that the
system must explode, and he was afraid
to let the public know it.
We are no longer left to wonder why
the leading men Of the administration
those, who have enjoyed the facilities
based upon the public deposits-those
who have expanded 10 an unnatural de-.
gree the banking capital of the country
on that basis-who were the first to seize
the public money, and then to squandcr
and misapply it, converting it into an in
strument for their own aggrandizement
and the reward Of faithful co-adjutors-,
we can no longer wonder why these men
were so strenuously and anxiously OPP
posed to any investigation into the con-
Gems Of the repositories Of the national
treasure. Their corruptions were too
hideous for the light. The event has
proved it, One Of the circumstances
made public by the explosion Of the Bos-
ton pet bank is the fact, that six Of the
immediate friends of tho administration
in New England, namely, John X.
Simpson, Hall j. How, Charles Hood,
S. S. Lewis, VIM. Parmenter, and Isaac
Hill, are collectively indebted to the
Com monmealh Bank in sum exceeding
the whole amount Of its capital ofS5O0,-
600.
Let it be borne in mind that these tre-