Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1841-03-01

huNo hoAthOuHn VI lie MI ietlDOne Wuuo nle
report the legislature, and it is before the public;
Mr., Gay replied; Mr.. P. rejoned and now Mr..
Cay answers TO the reioinder Our disposition
is to stop here, so far paper has become the
medium OF the controversy. If, however, Mr..
Pottibone has any thing to say, which appears ne
cessary 10 do him justice, we do not intend by
these remarks to preclude ourselves from dealing
with him fairly.
NEw-YoRK, 25th JAN 1s4l.
john s. PETTIBoNE, late Bank Inspector of The
State Of VermJnt;
SIR:-l have procured a copy of your hitter
published in the Vermont Waterman and State
Journal OF the 4th ns'. in answer to my article OF
the 24th of October last. The erroneous state
mens in your Bank Report of last year | noticed
only because they were officially made but in your
reply | find some assertions which 1t may he
proper to examine and in doing so shall conflne
myself to those subjects only which were mlsre p
resented in your report.
The statement exhibiting $4,000 in my hands
was not, MS you nssert taken from "ilIe books OF
the Bank" for they never contained such a state
ment, or entries from which such n statement
could have been made; nor did events ever trans
pire which would have made such entries proper.
If made, those funds would have become my
property, so far that ] might have used them
without committing formal breach Of trust But
you do not know what " the books OF the Bank
are, and instead Of making out statement from
the "books of the bank" themselves, (wffieii you
was incapable of doing,l you have copied one Of
those mere estimates or memorandum usually
written upon loose pieces Of paper, but sometimes
on the spare paper in n hook, ana taken IN part
from letters, in part from memory, and III part
from former estimates, which were senseless and
useless, without the proper verbal explanations,
and which, after answering their purpose on the
e thnir data
once worthless. These formed 10 part of The
shocks of the bank, but were materially at vari-
ance with them, aud had no pretensons to accu-
racy and you call this n statement" and de-
clare that it was taken from " the books of the
bank" No competent man would have made
such an assertion, for every item Of the " stae-
menl" is wrong. The circulation was less Than The
sum stated to the amount OF bills redeemed both
in Troy and Boston, since the last accounts were
rendered. The balances due from the Farmers
Bank of Troy and the Suffolk Bank Of Boston,
were nothing but mere estimates, aud whether
they varied $1,000 or 10000 from the truth, de-
pended on the amount OF bills redeemed after the
dates OF The last letters received. The bills of the
Bank of Bennington have been rejected ut the
Suffolk Bank for want Of funds IN Boston, while
by similar estimate or " statement" it had credit
there for more than both these Sums put together.
The sum put down as in my hands, had disposed
Of agreeable to the direction Of the board, twenty
days before the date of that statement; !" and The
cashier knew this when lie made it out, and the
directors knew it when they saw it; and yet il
answered their purpose at the time. for they knew
that it was so written, only because the cashier
had not yet found leisure to place those funds in
different position. The Inspector is legally au-
llorised to require the proper officers TO certify
that the entries in "Me books Of The bankS,' are
correct; but are you so stupid MS TO suppos, that
any one of them would have testified to the cor
RICHNESS of this g statemenf'?
Transactions giving rise to such statements
are of daily occurrence. The bills of the bank
redeemed in Boston generally brought home
by persons who obtained them on the order of the
President or Cashier and after receiving notice
from the Suffolk bank of having handed them
over, they were considered in making out such
statements" MS in the hands of the person who
received them, Tor many days after he delivered
them and until every package had been examined
and couned-the amount sometimes exceeded
the capital Of the Bank. But what a predcanent
an Inspector might find himself placed in, who
should apply TO a Chancellor for an injunction a.
| gainst bank, and seeing such an item in such a
statement" and under such circumstances,
should assert in his affidavit that 1t tpds taken from,
the books Of The bank In Banks Of large capital.
similar statements" represent great amounts of
money in the hands of The clerk who pays out the
cash, hut what baseness and depravily would be
evident in an Inspector who should represent, IN
an official report, that according to "the books OF
banks" he held and used it for his own purposes
objectionable ignorance, even of The first rudi-
| Inents of your calling, and II vain and conceded
| mind, naturally perverse in its views, could alone
have enabled you TO publish bank reports founded
upon such authority.
You seem TO he very anxious to produce the
| impression that was engaged in The brokerage
business AT the time of executing this agency
Allow this TO he true, and how does il yo,
| or the public: Does your political creed teach
| that an individual shall be dictated in his pursuits
and trammelled in his private affairs, and his cal
ling in life denounced by those who know moth
| ing oft, il he happens TO be chosen Bank di-
rector, Is there not a l:ttleness, unworthy even
of very little mind, in a Bank Inspector going
| beyond n mans conduct as director, and oGicidtll
| inquring how he earns his bread But at the
time you refer TO- was neither " doing business
alone ms a broker, nor connected with others,
and never had been engaged in brokerage bust.
ness, directly or indirectly, in any way Or any
where.
You appear to think that did not obtain AID
loan that money without loss OF time: this may
he very natural for you, who seem TO labor under
an obliquiiy of mind in every thing but no one
else ever thought The funds were collected
the arrangements made, and The moneys loaned
| Con the LIST OF March) within nine days after the
passage of the resolution in the midst OF winter
after had travelled oTroy, to Boston, &toN ork
10y direction of the Board on that business, with
the mercury below zero, and the Hudson river
frozen to its mouIh--with the exception ofa snail
portion which The Farmers bank could not al the
moment well pay in New York funds, but which
it did pay in drafts on anore distant city, with
directions that they be collected at the expense OF
that bank. This was done, aud then made a
second loan in behalf Of tho bank on the same
conditions and security as the first. The evidence
OF this is To be found in ils proper place in the
hal lo,a Ia. Ia
the dates Of mere statements" would never have
deceived you. There was an understanding with
the takers of the loan, that if the Bank of Ben
nington should need any portion of tho amount
before due, it should he paid. A portion of the
loan was called for by tho proper officer of the
Bank (not myself) agleeably to this understands
ing and fully paid TO the extent asked. And now
you attempt 10 read me mordllecture ior having
lent money upon unquesionnble security, when
il Mns my husneSS md occnnliinn To lnnil. with