The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1839-11-13

a like suspension on the part of OIL, Ranks. |
trust that shall not be thought imperinent 10
presenting TO your consideration. the views
which have occurred TO one Of yonr number
IN relation This most important topic. Highly
important it certainly is. Boston in this mat
ter represents all New England. 1t depends
therefore. on the action Of the Boston Banks
whether New England shall have a sound or
deprecated currency-a currency representing
somethIng-or nothing.
IL IS 10 many people very simple affair
TO pass vote to suspend specie payments,
but TO my mind the question is one Of the most
solemn and somentous which can be present
ed. Perhaps my notions on this subject have
become antlqnated; il is in fact some thirty
years since | first imblbeG them-but I consid.
er suspension of specie payments neither
more nor less than an agt Of bankruptcy.--a
failure. Disguise it as yon will, / can give it
no other name. IL is refusal to perform the
promises OF the iDstitution-and il would seem
can ouly be justified by the most absolute. the
direct necessity. The first question therefore
is, does that necessity exist Itcannot be pre-
tended that it does The Banks of Boston are
known to be IN "A position Of great strength.
/ Their Liabilities are very moderate, aud their
specie much above the average Of the last
twenty years. Under these circumstances
the Banks 10 commit an act of bankruptcy.
As Bank director ] feel the responsibility
and beg of other Bank directors the relation
in which we stand. We are the trustees of
the stockholders.--theyh have con6ded to us
the management OF their property under the
various Bank chartors,--this trust we have ac-
cepted. Is II mere mockery! Can we shut
down the lid on our full Golfers, and say to
these depositors. you may whistle for your
money II is true we have got il safe--the
gold and silver you entrusted TO us, or what
we received as such, is under our lock and key
but we will not restore it 10 YOU whether you
like it or not--lOc do not think IL erpedicnt.
Perhaps we may give You note promising to
pay it You on demand-but which promise, we
tell you before hand will not be kept Can
this language be held by honorable men! Is
II consistent with honor or honesty ] strikes
me as breach OF trust highly disgraceiul.
This was the view which Bostonians took OF
similar transaction in lSl3-when a New York
Bank kept fast hold Of our money under the
pretext that we might make bad use of it by
buying bills in Canada. 1t seems to me the
only view that can be taken Of it by those who
consider II the proper institution Of Banks to
set an example TO the community OF punctual
and honorable dealing, 1t is true that the la
menabe catastrophe of 1887 has introduced
laxy OF moral feeling on this subject. especial
ly 10 Philadelphia and the South, which bids
far seriously 10 affect our national character.
| cannoi but hope, however, that Boston will
continue true to herself to her interest. to her
honor.
But we are told Of the difficulties Of the case,
rs If difficulty were an apology for breach of
duty. But is there any difficulty Mono
whatever, in my apprehension None, certain
ly whilst the Banks of New York continue to
pay. Many doubt, it is true, whether New
y Nork will hold out---but for myself have full
confidence both in her determination and her
ability. Her Banks are directed aud influenced
by the same men who, during the suspension
of 1887, Determined that New York should
emerge from the general disgrace aud assume
sound currency at the earliest possible moment
they accomplished it in the face OF real diff
cultes-in the face OF an appalling public opin-
| ion, which declared the attempt visionary and
certain TO fail. The difficulties in the present
case are eCidedly less, and by means form
dable. The same determination will carry the
same institutions through il. New York will
now stand, since the suspension of the South,
! IN the same position which Boston occupied
during the two years following the peace OF
| 1873. Specie will flow from every part of the
United States to New York as it did then to
Boston. as the only mart where its value is ap-
prccIatcd-whcrc II can be used. To what
use eau coiu be applied, where it is not rrqulr-
ed as circulating medium Ii can only be sold
as merchandise, 10 be sent to those markets
where ii is wanted. New York will be that
market-and there It will 90.
But will suspension prove so easy a matter
as many imagine In my opinion it will involve
us in difficulties thousand times greater than
q, uffs OH 4 ln ard, ,pI
Here may be met with the suspension Of 1887,
from which we escaped so happily. and may
add, almost miraculousy. But some things
will not bear repeating.-ln my opinion, sus-
| pension OF specie payments is one of them.
The state OF things in 1887 was entirely diff
ierent from what II ~ at present. The years
/ 1885 and 1886 were years OF the widest specu-
/ lstiou and the greatest overtrade. The Banks
were expanded excessively basis of
specie wholly inadequate 10 sustain their im-
prudent issues. la this state of things, few
London houses committed the incouceivable
/ imprudence OF assuming the whole American
debt, by giving out their accommodation ac-
ceptanccs to the amount of some fifty or sixty
millions of dollars, TO be negotiated on the
London Exchange-reyng upon the drawers
IN America for rcmittances 10 meet them.
! These remittanccs TO one house came in ac-
commodation bills on another The London
bankers became alarmed. The bills could no
longer be discounted The London houses
informed their correspondents that real remit
tances to the whole amount of these Bills.
could alone save them from protest, aud the
acceptorS from bankruptcy. This. Intelligence
reached America on the lst Of April A period
at which the crops had already gone to market.
Specie was the only available remittance. and
all the specie in the Atlantic cities was but the
drop OF bucket, to the enormous amount so
suddenly and so mpcriously required.
4 violent struggle was made by the Banks %
New York Tor month. They then yielded ID
what. by universal consent was admitted TO bf
under the peculiar circumstances, an ove{
whelming. an imperious necessity.
/ How different is our present positon.-With